Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) alpha particle, one of the three types of radiation resulting from natural radioactivity. Alpha radiation (or alpha rays) was distinguished and named by E. R. Rutherford in 1909, who found by measurin...

(Encyclopedia) Gibbons, Orlando, 1583–1625, English organist and composer. He became organist of the Chapel Royal about 1603, court virginalist in 1619, and organist at Westminster Abbey in 1623. His compositions ...

(Encyclopedia) Golden Dawn, Hermetic Order of the, occult-oriented fraternal organization established by the Freemasons in England (1888), led by S. L. MacGregor Mathers (1854–1917). The order's rituals were deriv...

(Encyclopedia) Green, Theodore Francis, 1867–1966, American politician, b. Providence, R.I. After studying law at Harvard and in Europe, he was admitted to the bar (1892) and practiced in Providence. Active in Dem...

(Encyclopedia) Fronto (Marcus Cornelius Fronto) frŏnˈtō [key], fl. 2d cent., Roman teacher and rhetorician, b. Numidia, Africa. Antoninus Pius made him consul in 143. A successful teacher and government official,...

(Encyclopedia) Fury and Hecla Strait hĕkˈlə [key], narrow channel, c.100 mi (160 km) long and from 10 to 15 mi (16–24 km) wide, N Canada, between Baffin Island and Melville Peninsula. It connects Foxe Basin wit...

(Encyclopedia) Auden, W. H. (Wystan Hugh Auden) ôˈdən [key], 1907–73, Anglo-American poet, b. York, England, educated at Oxford. A versatile, vigorous, and technically skilled poet, Auden ranks among the major ...

(Encyclopedia) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), civilian agency of the U.S. federal government with the mission of conducting research and developing operational programs in the areas of space e...

(Encyclopedia) Darrow, Clarence Seward, 1857–1938, American lawyer, b. Kinsman, Ohio. He first practiced law in Ashtabula, Ohio. In 1887 he moved to Chicago, where he was corporation counsel for several years and ...

(Encyclopedia) Schubert, Franz Peter fränts pāˈtər sho͞oˈbərt [key], 1797–1828, Austrian composer, one of the most gifted musicians of the 19th cent. His symphonic works represent the best legacy of the cla...