Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Moses, Grandma (Anna Mary Robertson Moses), 1860–1961, American painter, b. Washington co., N.Y., self-taught. She lived the arduous life of a farm wife, first in the Shenandoah Valley and later at ...

(Encyclopedia) Canal du Midi känälˈ dü mēdēˈ [key], canal, c.150 mi (240 km) long, linking Sète and Toulouse, S France. It was built to carry oceangoing ships between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean...

(Encyclopedia) Baker, Sir Benjamin, 1840–1907, English civil engineer. He helped build London's underground railway, Tower Bridge, and the Blackwall Tunnel, and with Sir John Fowler he designed and built the bridg...

(Encyclopedia) diplomatic service, organized body of agents maintained by governments to communicate with one another. In the 20th and 21st cent. there have been numerous meetings of heads of state and foreign min...

(Encyclopedia) Neagh, Lough lŏkh nā [key], lake, 153 sq mi (396 sq km), 18 mi (29 km) long and 11 mi (18 km) wide, central Northern Ireland. This shallow lake is the largest freshwater body in the British Isles. F...

(Encyclopedia) Gettysburg Address, speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln on Nov. 19, 1863, at the dedication of the national cemetery on the Civil War battlefield of Gettysburg, Pa. It is one of the most famous and mo...

(Encyclopedia) Hunter, John, 1728–93, Scottish anatomist and surgeon, studied under his brother, William Hunter. A pioneer in comparative anatomy and morphology who is sometimes called the father of modern surgery...

(Encyclopedia) Smith, Sir Harry George Wakelyn, 1787–1860, British general and administrator. He served in the Peninsular War and in the War of 1812 and was a brigade major at the battle of Waterloo. He commanded ...

(Encyclopedia) Anfinsen, Christian Boehmer, 1916–95, American biochemist, b. Monessen, Pa., Ph.D. Harvard Medical School, 1943. He spent the early years of his career in brief research and fellowship positions at ...

(Encyclopedia) Red Guards, in Chinese history, politically active students of the Cultural Revolution (1966–69), who organized units to carry out Mao Zedong's aim of rerevolutionizing Chinese society. As their num...