Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Lathrop, Rose Hawthorne

(Encyclopedia)Lathrop, Rose Hawthorne, 1851–1926, American nun, philanthropist, and writer; youngest daughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne. In 1871 she married George Parsons Lathrop. In 1891 she and her husband embrac...

CAT scan

(Encyclopedia)CAT scan kăt [key] [computerized axial tomography], X-ray technique that allows relatively safe, painless, and rapid diagnosis in previously inaccessible areas of the body; also called CT scan. An X-...

Human Genome Project

(Encyclopedia)Human Genome Project, international scientific effort to map all of the genes on the 23 pairs of human chromosomes and, to sequence the 3.1 billion DNA base pairs that make up the chromosomes (see nuc...

Mackenzie, Sir Morell

(Encyclopedia)Mackenzie, Sir Morell, 1837–92, English physician and laryngologist. A skillful surgeon, he was called to Germany to treat the crown prince (later Frederick III, emperor of Germany), who eventually ...

bluebird

(Encyclopedia)bluebird, common name for a North American migratory bird of the family Turdidae (thrush family). The eastern bluebird, Sialia sialis, is among the first spring arrivals in the North. It is about 7 in...

cardinal, in zoology

(Encyclopedia)cardinal or redbird, common name for a North American songbird of the family Fringillidae (New World finch family). In the eastern cardinal, Richmondena cardinalis, the male is bright scarlet with bla...

trogon

(Encyclopedia)trogon trōˈgŏn [key], family of tropical jungle birds related to the roadrunners and including the quetzal. Trogons are sedentary arboreal birds, 10 to 14 in. (25.4–35.6 cm) long, with short roun...

sunburn

(Encyclopedia)sunburn, inflammation of the skin caused by actinic rays from the sun or artificial sources. Moderate exposure to ultraviolet radiation is followed by a red blush, but severe exposure may result in bl...

cellular telephone

(Encyclopedia)cellular telephone or cellular radio, telecommunications system in which a portable or mobile radio transmitter and receiver, or “cellphone,” is linked via microwave radio frequencies to base tran...

Utah, University of

(Encyclopedia)Utah, University of, at Salt Lake City; coeducational; state supported; opened 1850, chartered 1851 as Univ. of Deseret, closed 1851–67. It was empowered to give degrees in 1884 and renamed in 1892....
 

Browse by Subject