Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

117 results found

Huambo

(Encyclopedia)Huambo nōˈvə lēzhvōˈə [key], city (1983 est. pop. 203,000), W central Angola. The chief town of inland Angola, Huambo stands on a high plateau and serves as a road, rail, and air transport hub ...

Aquarius

(Encyclopedia)Aquarius əkwârˈēəs [key] [Lat.,=water carrier], large constellation located on the ecliptic (the sun's apparent path through the heavens) between Capricornus and Pisces; it is one of the constell...

Tartaglia, Niccolò

(Encyclopedia)Tartaglia, Niccolò nēk-kōlôˈ tärtäˈlyä [key], c.1500–1557, Italian engineer and mathematician. Largely self-educated, he taught mathematics at Verona, Brescia, and Venice. A pioneer in appl...

Carboniferous period

(Encyclopedia)Carboniferous period kärbənĭfˈərəs [key], fifth period of the Paleozoic era of geologic time (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table), from 350 to 290 million years ago. The pl...

Huggins, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Huggins, Sir William, 1824–1910, English astronomer. Using a spectroscope, he began to study the chemical constitution of stars from the observatory attached to his home in Tulse Hill, London. He pr...

Cannon, Annie Jump

(Encyclopedia)Cannon, Annie Jump, 1863–1941, American astronomer, b. Dover, Del. In 1897 she became an assistant in the Harvard College Observatory, where (1911–38) she was astronomer and curator of astronomica...

port, wine

(Encyclopedia)port [from Oporto], fortified wine made in Portugal from grapes grown in the Douro valley; Portuguese law allows only this wine to be called port. Various grapes are blended by the growers, and brandy...

Pisces

(Encyclopedia)Pisces pīˈsēz [key] [Lat.,=the fishes], constellation lying directly S of Andromeda and on the ecliptic (the sun's apparent path through the heavens) between Aries and Aquarius; it is one of the co...

Getz, Stan

(Encyclopedia)Getz, Stan, 1927–91, American jazz tenor saxophonist, b. Philadelphia, as Stanley Gayetsky. As a mature musician he was especially known for his “cool” jazz style. He began playing as a teenager...

Perseus, in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)Perseus, in astronomy, northern constellation lying E of Cassiopeia and N of Taurus. It contains the bright star Mirfak (Alpha Persei) and Algol (Beta Persei), a visible variable star of the type know...
 

Browse by Subject