Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

467 results found

blackhead

(Encyclopedia)blackhead, yellowish or blackish plug of material accumulated in the duct of a sebaceous gland. The material consists of keratin (horny cells of the epidermis) and modified sebum (oily secretions of t...

Smith, Hoke

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Hoke, 1855–1931, American political leader, b. Newton, N.C. A successful lawyer in Atlanta, he acquired the Atlanta Journal in 1887. He served (1893–96) in President Cleveland's cabinet as ...

chalcopyrite

(Encyclopedia)chalcopyrite pīrīˈtēz, pə– [key], brass-yellow mineral, sometimes with an iridescent tarnish. It is a sulfide of copper and iron, CuFeS2 . It crystallizes in the tetragonal system but is usua...

Joliet

(Encyclopedia)Joliet jōˈlēĕtˌ [key], city (1990 pop. 76,836), seat of Will co., NE Ill., on the Des Plaines River; inc. 1857. It is a river port and an industrial shipping center, with limestone quarries and c...

Johanan ben Zakkai

(Encyclopedia)Johanan ben Zakkai jōhănˈən bĕn zăkˈāī [key], leader of the Pharisees of Jerusalem before the destruction of the Temple in a.d. 70, afterward founder of the Jewish academy at Jamnia. He empha...

Ekelund, Vilhelm

(Encyclopedia)Ekelund, Vilhelm vĭlˈəlm āˈkəlŭndˌ [key], 1880–1949, Swedish essayist and poet. Ekelund's writings were influenced by the works of Nietzsche, Hölderlin, and Swedenborg. After publication of...

Ensenada

(Encyclopedia)Ensenada entsənädə [key], city, Baja California state, NW Mexico. Developed in the 19th ce...

Hubble Space Telescope

(Encyclopedia)Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the first large optical orbiting observatory. Built from 1978 to 1990 at a cost of $1.5 billion, the HST (named for astronomer E. P. Hubble) was expected to provide the c...

boycott

(Encyclopedia)boycott, concerted economic or social ostracism of an individual, group, or nation to express disapproval or coerce change. The practice was named (1880) after Capt. Charles Cunningham Boycott, an Eng...

Cooley, Charles Horton

(Encyclopedia)Cooley, Charles Horton, 1864–1929, American sociologist, b. Ann Arbor, Mich., grad. Univ. of Michigan (B.A., 1887; Ph.D., 1894); son of Thomas M. Cooley. He taught in the sociology department at the...
 

Browse by Subject