Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Texas, University of, main campus at Austin; coeducational; state supported; chartered 1881, opened 1883. Medical facilities include health science centers with medical schools at Houston and San Anto...

(Encyclopedia) brick, ceramic structural material that, in modern times, is made by pressing clay into blocks and firing them to the requisite hardness in a kiln. Bricks in their most primitive form were not fired b...

(Encyclopedia) pelvis, bony, basin-shaped structure that supports the organs of the lower abdomen. It receives the weight of the upper body and distributes it to the legs; it also forms the base for numerous muscle ...

(Encyclopedia) Irtysh ĭrtĭshˈ [key], river, c.2,650 mi (4,260 km) long, W Siberian Russia and Kazakhstan. It is the chief tributary of the Ob and one of the two major rivers of W Siberia. As the Ertix, it rises i...

(Encyclopedia) Bismarck, city (2020 pop. 73,622), state capital and seat of Burleigh co., S central N.Dak., on hills overlooking the Missouri River; inc. 1873. The tra...

(Encyclopedia) Donetsk dənyĕtskˈ [key], city, capital of Donetsk region, E Ukraine, on the Kalmius River. ...

(Encyclopedia) Allegheny ălˈəgāˌnē, ălˈəgäˌnē [key], river, 325 mi (523 km) long, rising in N central Pa., and flowing NW into N.Y., then SW through Pa. to the Monongahela, with which it forms the Ohio R...

(Encyclopedia) catchment area or drainage basin, area drained by a stream or other body of water. The limits of a given catchment area are the heights of land—often called drainage divides, or watersheds—separat...

(Encyclopedia) Fox or Foxe, Luke, 1586–1635, English explorer. As a master mariner, he set forth in 1631 to hunt for the Northwest Passage. He explored the southern shore of Hudson Bay, satisfied himself that ther...

(Encyclopedia) Wu-ti wo͞o dē [key], posthumous temple name of the 5th emperor (140 b.c.–87 b.c.) of the Han dynasty. Wu-ti [Chin.,=martial emperor] ruled directly through a palace secretariat. During his vigorou...