Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) lutetium, formerly lutecium both: lo͞otēˈshēəm [key], metallic chemical element; symbol Lu; atomic number 71; at. wt. 174.9668; m.p. about 1,663℃; b.p. about 3,395℃; sp. gr. 9.835 at 25℃; v...

(Encyclopedia) Caesar, Sid (Isaac Sidney Caesar), 1922–2014, American comedian, one of the stars of the “golden age of live television,” b. Yonkers, N.Y. While performing in a World War II military show he met...

(Encyclopedia) Hughes, Langston (James Langston Hughes), 1902–67, American poet and central figure of the Harlem Renaissance, b. Joplin, Mo., grad. Lincoln Univ., 1929. He worked at a variety of jobs and lived in ...

(Encyclopedia) Coxey, Jacob Sechler kŏkˈsē [key], 1854–1951, American social reformer, b. Selinsgrove, Pa. He began his career as a stationary engineer, later turning to the scrap-iron business and then to sand...

(Encyclopedia) Seeger, Ruth Crawford, 1901–53, American composer and folklorist, b. East Liverpool, Ohio, as Ruth Porter Crawford, studied American Conservatory, Chicago; stepmother of Pete Seeger and mother of Mi...

(Encyclopedia) Alsop, Marin ôlˈsəp [key], 1956–, American conductor, b. New York City. The daughter of professional musicians, she began playing the piano at two and the violin at five. Alsop started conducting...

(Encyclopedia) Ephron, Nora Louise, 1941–2012, American writer and film director, grad. Wellesley College (B.A., 1962). Witty, tough, self-deprecating, and ironic in all her guises, she was a reporter for the New ...

(Encyclopedia) mythology [Greek,=the telling of stories], the entire body of myths in a given tradition, and the study of myths. Students of anthropology, folklore, and religion study myths in different ways, distin...

(Encyclopedia) Mannheim mänˈhīm [key], city (1994 pop. 318,025), Baden-Württemberg, W central Germany, on the right bank of the Rhine River and at the mouth of the Neckar River. A bridge connects it with Ludwigs...

(Encyclopedia) Phips, Sir William, 1651–95, American colonial governor. Born in what is today Maine, he was a carpenter and shipbuilder in Boston and became interested in sunken treasure. On his second hunt for tr...