Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Portales pôrtălˈĭs [key], city (1990 pop. 10,690), seat of Roosevelt co., E N.Mex., near the Tex. line; inc. 1910. It is the trade and processing center of an agricultural area. There is food proc...

(Encyclopedia) blink microscope, in astronomy, device for determining a change in position or magnitude (brightness) of a star relative to other stars in the background. Two photographs of the same field or area of ...

(Encyclopedia) Joyner-Kersee, Jackie joiˈnər-kûrˈzē [key], 1962–, American track and field athlete, b. East St. Louis, Ill. One of the world's best all-around women athletes, she won the silver medal in the h...

(Encyclopedia) Corbin, Margaret kôrˈbĭn [key], 1751–1800, American Revolutionary heroine, b. Franklin co., Pa. Upon the death of her husband in the attack on Fort Washington (Nov. 16, 1776), she commanded his c...

(Encyclopedia) Norris, George William, 1861–1944, American legislator, b. Sandusky co., Ohio. After admission to the bar in 1883, he moved (1885) to Furnas co., Nebr., where he practiced law and was prosecuting at...

(Encyclopedia) triathlon, athletic event made up of three contests. Since the 1970s the term has come to mean especially a race combining swimming, bicycling, and running. A notable example is Hawaii's Ironman Triat...

(Encyclopedia) Merman, Ethel, 1908–84, American musical comedy star, b. Astoria, N.Y., originally named Ethel Zimmerman. Merman's theater debut was in George and Ira Gershwin's Girl Crazy (1930). Noted for her bra...

(Encyclopedia) Schwarz, Berthold bĕrˈtôlt shvärts [key], fl. 14th cent., German Franciscan monk and alchemist. It was formerly widely believed, especially in Germany, that he invented gunpowder and was the first...

(Encyclopedia) Basie, Count (William Basie) bāˈsē [key], 1904–84, American jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer, b. Red Bank, N.J. After working in dance halls and vaudeville in New York City, Basie moved to ...

(Encyclopedia) springtail, common name for any of the minute, primitive six-legged arthropods of the order Collembola. The springtail is named for a springlike mechanism on the underside of the abdomen. When at rest...