Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) promethium prōmēˈthēəm [key], artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Pm; at. no. 61; mass no. of most stable isotope 145; m.p. 1,042℃; b.p. 3,000℃ (estimated); sp. gr. unk...

(Encyclopedia) public land, in U.S. history, land owned by the federal government but not reserved for any special purpose, e.g., for a park or a military reservation. Public land is also called land in the public d...

(Encyclopedia) zoning, legislative regulations by which a municipal government seeks to control the use of buildings and land within the municipality. It has become, in the United States, a widespread method of cont...

(Encyclopedia) Thebes thēbz [key], city of ancient Egypt. Luxor and Karnak now occupy parts of its site. The city developed at a very early date from a number of small villages, particularly one around modern Luxor...

(Encyclopedia) García Lorca, Federico fāᵺārēˈkō gärthēˈä lôrˈkä [key], 1898–1936, Spanish poet and dramatist, b. Fuente Vaqueros. The poetry, passion, and violence of his work and his own tragic and...

(Encyclopedia) frost or hoarfrost, ice formed by the condensation of atmospheric water vapor on a surface when the temperature of the surface is below 32℉ (0℃). In the formation of frost, a gas (water vapor) is ...

(Encyclopedia) Grünewald, Mathias mätēˈäs grünˈəvält [key], c.1475–1528, German painter of religious subjects. His original name was Mathis Gothart Neithart. Although he assimilated various compositional ...

(Encyclopedia) Dickens, Charles, 1812–70, English author, b. Portsmouth, one of the world's most popular, prolific, and skilled novelists. Charles Dickens is one of the giants of English literature. He wrote fro...

(Encyclopedia) Byron, George Gordon Noel Byron, 6th Baron bīˈrən [key], 1788–1824, English poet and satirist. Ranked with Shelley and Keats as one of the great Romantic poets, Byron became famous throughout E...

(Encyclopedia) Cable, George Washington, 1844–1925, American author, b. New Orleans. He is remembered primarily for his early sketches and novels of creole life, which established his reputation as an important lo...