Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) almanac, originally, a calendar with notations of astronomical and other data. Almanacs have been known in simple form almost since the invention of writing, for they served to record religious feasts...

(Encyclopedia) Howe, Julia Ward, 1819–1910, American author and social reformer, b. New York City. Although unhappily married, she assisted her husband, Samuel Gridley Howe, in his philanthropic projects and in ed...

(Encyclopedia) Fès fĕz [key], Arab. Fas, city, N central Morocco. In a rich agricultural region, it is con...

(Encyclopedia) Gaddi gädˈdē [key], celebrated family of Florentine artists. Gaddo Gaddi, c.1260–c.1333, painter and mosaicist, is said by Vasari to have been associated with Cimabue and Giotto. Among the mosaic...

(Encyclopedia) Iran hostage crisis, in U.S. history, events following the seizure of the American embassy in Tehran by Iranian students on Nov. 4, 1979. The overthrow of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlevi of Iran by an Isla...

(Encyclopedia) Last Judgment: see Judgment Day. ...

(Encyclopedia) Palm Sunday, in the Christian calendar, the Sunday before Easter, sixth and last Sunday in Lent, and the first day of Holy Week. It recalls the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem riding upon an ass, when h...

(Encyclopedia) Hess, Victor Francis, 1883–1964, American physicist, b. Austria, Ph.D. Univ. of Graz, 1906. After teaching at the universities of Graz and Innsbruck, he came to the United States in 1938 and was lat...

(Encyclopedia) pyrotechnics pīˌrōtĕkˈnĭks, pīˌrə– [key], technology of making and using fireworks. Gunpowder was used in fireworks by the Chinese as early as the 9th cent., and it was they who brought fir...

(Encyclopedia) Telemann, Georg Philipp gāˈôrk fēˈlĭp tĕlˈəmän [key], 1681–1767, German composer. From 1721 until his death he was director of music for the five major churches in Hamburg. Extremely proli...