Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Pinatubo, Mount pĭnˌəto͞oˈbō [key], active volcano, 5,840 ft (1,780 m), central Luzon island, the Philippines, c.55 mi (90 km) NW of Manila. Dormant for 600 years, it began erupting on Apr. 2, 1...

(Encyclopedia) lewisite lo͞oˈəsītˌ [key], liquid chemical compound used as a poison gas. Like mustard gas and nitrogen mustard, it is a blistering agent; when inhaled, it is a powerful respiratory irritant. The...

(Encyclopedia) Alvarado, Pedro de älväräˈᵺō [key], 1486–1541, Spanish conquistador. He went to Hispaniola (1510), sailed in the expedition (1518) of Juan de Grijalva, and was the chief lieutenant of Herná...

(Encyclopedia) Boise, river, c.160 mi (260 km) long, rising in SW Idaho and flowing west to join the Snake River at the Oregon line. In 1811 the Boise River, originally called Reed's River, was explored by an expedi...

(Encyclopedia) Anderson, Clinton Presba, 1895–1975, U.S. government official and senator, b. Centerville, S.Dak. He had a newspaper and insurance background before he served New Mexico as treasurer (1933–34) and...

(Encyclopedia) Filchner, Wilhelm vĭlˈhĕlm fĭlkhˈnər [key], 1877–1957, German explorer, geophysicist, and travel writer. He led several expeditions to China and Tibet, where he established magnetic stations, ...

(Encyclopedia) Armstrong, John, 1717?–1795, American pioneer, known as the “hero of Kittanning,” b. Co. Fermanagh, Ireland. He laid out the town of Carlisle, Pa. In 1756 he led the expedition that destroyed Ki...

(Encyclopedia) Hylas hīˈləs [key], in Greek mythology, beautiful youth. He was a favorite companion of Hercules. While on the expedition of the Argonauts, Hylas was dragged into a spring by water nymphs enchanted...

(Encyclopedia) Barry, John, 1745–1803, U.S. naval officer in the American Revolution, b. Co. Wexford, Ireland. He went as a youth to Philadelphia, where he was a trader and a shipmaster. In the Revolution he comma...

(Encyclopedia) Burns, Arthur Frank, 1904–87, American economist, b. Austria, grad. Columbia Univ. (A.B., 1925; A.M., 1925; Ph.D., 1934). He taught economics at Rutgers Univ. (1927–44), and then joined (1944) the...