Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Ruth, book of the Bible. It tells a story, set in the days of the judges, of the fidelity of a Moabite widow (Ruth) to her widowed mother-in-law (Naomi). After the death of her husband in Moab, Ruth r...

(Encyclopedia) Borgerhout bôrˈkhərhout [key], town, Antwerp prov., N Belgium, on the Albert Canal, an industrial ...

(Encyclopedia) Belleville, city, SE Ont., Canada, on Lake Ontario. Machinery, automotive accessories, optical lenses, and cheddar cheese are made there. Belleville is ...

(Encyclopedia) Lateran Council, Second, 1139, 10th ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, convened at the Lateran Palace, Rome, by Pope Innocent II. The council attempted to heal the wounds left by the sch...

(Encyclopedia) Scherchen, Hermann hĕrˈmän shĕrˈkhĕn [key], 1891–1966, German conductor. Scherchen was largely self-taught. He played viola in the Berlin Philharmonic (1907–10) and made his debut there as a...

(Encyclopedia) astronaut, crew member on a U.S. manned spaceflight mission; the Soviet term is cosmonaut. Candidates for manned spaceflight are carefully screened to meet the highest physical and mental standards, a...

(Encyclopedia) Butler, Benjamin Franklin, 1818–93, American politician and Union general in the Civil War, b. Deerfield, N.H. He moved to Lowell, Mass., as a youth and later practiced law there and in Boston. He w...

(Encyclopedia) Kemp, Jack French, 1935–2009, American politician and government official, b. Los Angeles. He played football while at Occidental College (grad. 1957) and was a professional quarterback for 13 seaso...

(Encyclopedia) Kensington and Chelsea, inner borough (1991 pop. 127,600) of Greater London, SE England. Kensington is largely residential with fashionable shopping streets and several luxurious hotels. Portobello Ro...

(Encyclopedia) White Nile, river, one of the chief tributaries of the Nile, E Africa. The name is sometimes used for the 600 mi (970 km) long section of the river known as the Bahr el Abiad that extends upstream fro...