Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Kasai käsīˈ [key], former province, c.124,000 sq mi (321,160 sq km), S central Congo (Kinshasa). Luluabourg (present Kananga) was the capital. Between the Kasai and the Sankuru rivers the Kuba king...

(Encyclopedia) Rossellino, Antonio äntôˈnyō rōs-sĕl-lēˈnō [key], 1427–c.1478, Florentine sculptor, whose name was Antonio di Matteo di Domenico Gambarelli. He was the youngest and most celebrated of four ...

(Encyclopedia) ether or aether, in physics and astronomy, a hypothetical medium for transmitting light and heat (radiation), filling all unoccupied space; it is also called luminiferous ether. In Newtonian physics a...

(Encyclopedia) Murder, Inc., name given to the band of professional killers who operated (1930–40) throughout the United States as the enforcement arm of the Syndicate, composed of the national heads of organized ...

(Encyclopedia) Palade, George Emil päläˈdē [key], 1912–2008, American cell biologist, b. Iaşi, Romania, M.D. Univ. of Bucharest, 1940. He was a faculty member at the Rockefeller Institute (now Rockefeller Uni...

(Encyclopedia) Boston Strangler, American serial killer who terrorized the Boston, Mass., area during a killing spree (Jun., 1962–Jan, 1964) that claimed the lives of at least 11 women. The first six victims were ...

(Encyclopedia) Akeley, Carl Ethan ākˈlē [key], 1864–1926, American naturalist, animal sculptor, and author, b. Orleans co., N.Y. He served (1887–95) at the Museum of Milwaukee; from 1895 to 1909 he was at the...

(Encyclopedia) Cozens, Alexander kŭzˈənz [key], c.1717–1786, English draftsman and writer, b. Russia. Cozens is thought to have been the first principal English master to work entirely with landscape subjects. ...

(Encyclopedia) Windsor wĭnˈzər [key], name of the royal house of Great Britain. The name Wettin, family name of Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, consort of Queen Victoria, as well as Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the name of th...

(Encyclopedia) Giles, William Branch jīlz [key], 1762–1830, American statesman, b. Amelia co., Va. After practicing as a lawyer in Petersburg, Va., he entered the U.S. House of Representatives as an Anti-Federali...