Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

fingerprint

(Encyclopedia)fingerprint, an impression of the underside of the end of a finger or thumb, used for identification because the arrangement of ridges in any fingerprint is thought to be unique and permanent with eac...

Oxford and Asquith, Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Oxford and Asquith, Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st earl of, 1852–1928, British statesman. Of a middle-class family, he attended Oxford, became a barrister in London in 1876, and was elected to Parliamen...

Diane de Poitiers

(Encyclopedia)Diane de Poitiers pwätyāˈ [key], 1499–1566, duchess of Valentinois, mistress of King Henry II of France. Noted for her beauty, Diane, who was much older than Henry, retained her influence over hi...

Lesdiguières, François de Bonne, duc de

(Encyclopedia)Lesdiguières, François de Bonne, duc de fräNswäˈ də bôn dük də lādēgyĕrˈ [key], 1543–1626, marshal and constable of France. He fought on the Huguenot (Protestant) side in the Wars of Re...

Grant, Sir Francis

(Encyclopedia)Grant, Sir Francis, 1803–78, Scottish portrait painter. He was self-taught in painting, for which he abandoned a career in law. He began as a painter of hunting scenes (The Melton Hunt and The Cotte...

MacEwen, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)MacEwen, Sir William məkyo͞oˈən [key], 1848–1924, Scottish surgeon. A professor of surgery at the Univ. of Glasgow, he was noted for his work on bone grafting, on the radical cure of hernia, and...

Elyot, Sir Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Elyot, Sir Thomas ĕlˈyət, ĕlˈēət [key], c.1490–1546, English author. He wrote the earliest Latin-English dictionary (1538) and is remembered especially for his sensible and well-written treat...

Baker, Sir Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Baker, Sir Benjamin, 1840–1907, English civil engineer. He helped build London's underground railway, Tower Bridge, and the Blackwall Tunnel, and with Sir John Fowler he designed and built the bridg...

Back

(Encyclopedia)Back, river, c.600 mi (970 km) long, rising in lakes, Northwest Territories, Canada, and flowing northeast through Nunavut across the tundra to Chantry Inlet. Numerous lakes lie along its course. It i...

Johnson, Guy

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, Guy, c.1740–1788, Loyalist leader in colonial New York, b. Ireland. He emigrated to America as a boy and married (1763) a daughter of Sir William Johnson, whom he succeeded as superintenden...
 

Browse by Subject