Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

mineral

(Encyclopedia)mineral, inorganic substance occurring in nature, having a characteristic and homogeneous chemical composition, definite physical properties, and, usually, a definite crystalline form. A few of the mi...

NASCAR

(Encyclopedia)NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), organization that sanctions American stock-car races, est. 1948. It held its first race in Daytona Beach, Fla., in 1948 and began its first and...

Sinclair, Upton

(Encyclopedia)Sinclair, Upton (Upton Beall Sinclair), 1878–1968, American novelist and socialist activist, b. Baltimore, grad. College of the City of New York, 1897. He was one of the muckrakers, and a dedication...

Ward, Douglas Turner

(Encyclopedia) Ward, Douglas Turner, 1930-2021, African-American actor, director, and playwright, b. Burnside, La., as Roosevelt Ward Jr. Ward’s family ...

Zhukov, Georgi Konstantinovich

(Encyclopedia)Zhukov, Georgi Konstantinovich gēôrˈgē kənstəntyēˈnəvĭch zho͞oˈkôf [key], 1896–1974, Soviet marshal. He fought in the October Revolution (1917) and in the civil war (1918–20), which b...

Leakey, Louis Seymour Bazett

(Encyclopedia)Leakey, Louis Seymour Bazett băzˈət, lēˈkē [key], 1903–72, British archaeologist and anthropologist of E Africa, b. Kabete, Kenya; father of Richard Leakey. His fossil discoveries in E Africa ...

Phyfe, Duncan

(Encyclopedia)Phyfe, Duncan fīf [key], c.1768–1854, American cabinetmaker, b. Scotland. He emigrated to America c.1783, settling at Albany, N.Y., where he was apprenticed to a cabinetmaker. In the early 1790s he...

operetta

(Encyclopedia)operetta ŏpərĕtˈə [key], type of light opera with a frivolous, sentimental story, often employing parody and satire and containing both spoken dialogue and much light, pleasant music. In the earl...

Ophites

(Encyclopedia)Ophites ōˈfīts [key] [Gr.,=believers in the serpent], group of Gnostic sects notorious for extreme cultism and inverted morality. Certain of these sects were known as Naasseni. Almost all that is k...

Davis, Gray

(Encyclopedia)Davis, Gray (Joseph Graham Davis, Jr.), 1942–, U.S. politician, b. the Bronx, N.Y. A graduate of Stanford Univ. (1964) and Columbia Univ. Law School (1967), he entered the army and served in Vietnam...
 

Browse by Subject