Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) British Imperial System of weights and measures: see English units of measurement. ...

(Encyclopedia) Hooker, Sir William Jackson, 1785–1865, English botanist. A leading authority of his time on ferns, he formed a famous herbarium and built up the Glasgow Garden and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew....

(Encyclopedia) Oliver or Olivier, Isaac ōlĭvˈēər [key], 1556?–1617, English miniature painter. Oliver was a worthy follower of Hilliard as miniature painter to Elizabeth's court. His work, more naturalistic t...

(Encyclopedia) O'Shaughnessy, Arthur William Edgar ōshônˈəsē [key], 1844–81, English poet and naturalist. He was a member of the zoological department of the British Museum. He wrote four volumes of poetry—...

(Encyclopedia) Petrucci, Ottaviano dei ōtˌtävyäˈnō dāˈē pātro͞otˈchē [key], 1466–1539, Venetian printer. Petrucci was the inventor of printing music by movable metal type. His patent for the process w...

(Encyclopedia) Rensselaer rĕnsəlērˈ, rĕnˈsələr [key], city (1990 pop. 8,255), Rensselaer co., E N.Y., on the east bank of the Hudson River opposite Albany; settled 1630 by Dutch, inc. 1897. Chemicals, textil...

(Encyclopedia) Simon Fraser University, main campus at Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada; provincially supported; coeducational; chartered 1963, opened 1965. The Harbour Centre campus in downtown Vancouver opened in...

(Encyclopedia) Stonington stōnˈĭngtən [key], town (1990 pop. 16,919), New London co., extreme SE Conn., on a peninsula jutting into Long Island Sound; settled 1649 from Plymouth, inc. 1662. Fishing has declined,...

(Encyclopedia) Liberal Democrats, British political party created in 1988 by the merger of the Liberal party with the Social Democratic party; the party was initially called the Social and Liberal Democratic party. ...

(Encyclopedia) National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, D.C., a division of the Smithsonian Institution. Devoted to the collection, presentation, and preservation of the culture of Africa...