Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Roberts, John Glover, Jr., 1955–, American public official, 17th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (2005–), b. Buffalo, N.Y., grad. Harvard (B.A. 1976, J.D. 1979). He clerked (1980–81) for...

(Encyclopedia) Long, Huey Pierce, 1893–1935, American political leader, b. Winnfield, La.; brother of Earl Long. Originally a farm boy, he was an extremely successful traveling salesman before studying law at Tula...

(Encyclopedia) Lamesa ləmēˈsə [key], city (1990 pop. 10,809), seat of Dawson co., NW Tex., in the Llano Estacado; inc. 1917. Lamesa is a processing and shipping center for an irrigated area where cattle and hogs...

(Encyclopedia) Mattoon mătˌo͞onˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 18,441), Coles co., E central Ill.; inc. 1859. It is a processing, rail, and industrial center for a farming region. Among its manufactures are paper produ...

(Encyclopedia) Tayma tāˈmä [key], large oasis, SW Saudi Arabia. Cuneiform inscriptions possibly dating from the 6th cent. b.c. have been recovered from Tayma. In ancient Arabic tradition the oasis was noted as a ...

(Encyclopedia) Portales pôrtălˈĭs [key], city (1990 pop. 10,690), seat of Roosevelt co., E N.Mex., near the Tex. line; inc. 1910. It is the trade and processing center of an agricultural area. There is food proc...

(Encyclopedia) Chardin, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon zhäN-bätēstˈ-sēmāôNˈ shärdăNˈ [key], 1699–1779, French painter. He was a major figure of 18th-century painting. While the Académie royale still advocated h...

(Encyclopedia) Ely, Richard Theodore ēˈlē [key], 1854–1943, American economist, b. Ripley, N.Y., grad. Columbia, 1876, Ph.D. Heidelberg, 1879. He taught at Johns Hopkins (1881–92), the Univ. of Wisconsin (189...

(Encyclopedia) Gordy, Berry, Jr., 1929–, African-American music-industry executive, b. Detroit. After stints in the army and as a professional boxer, Gordy opened a ...

(Encyclopedia) Atwood, Margaret Eleanor, 1939–, Canadian novelist and poet. Atwood is a skilled and powerful storyteller whose novels, set mainly in the near future, sometimes make use of such popular genres as hi...