Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Cayce, Edgar kās [key], 1877–1945, American folk healer, b. Hopkinsville, Ky. A popularizer of the idea of reincarnation, he was active as a “psychic diagnostician” between 1901 and 1944, perfo...

(Encyclopedia) Chadwick, Florence May, 1918–95, American distance swimmer, b. San Diego, Calif. She began swimming at the age of six, and four years later she swam the San Diego Bay Channel, the first child to do ...

(Encyclopedia) Rogers, Adrian Pierce, 1931–2005, American Southern Baptist clergyman, b. West Palm Beach, Fla. After deciding to enter the ministry while in college, he attended the New Orleans Baptist Theological...

(Encyclopedia) Hamilton, Lee Herbert, 1931–, U.S. politician, b. Daytona Beach, Fla. A lawyer (J.D. Indiana Univ., 1956), he left private practice after winning a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1964,...

(Encyclopedia) Cleveland Orchestra, one of the foremost orchestras in the United States. It gave its first performance in 1918 under Nikolai Sokoloff, who was conductor until 1933. In 1931, the orchestra moved from ...

(Encyclopedia) volleyball, outdoor or indoor ball and net game played on a level court. An upright net, 3 ft (or 1 m) high, the top of which stands 8 ft (2.43 m) from the ground for men, 7 ft 4 1/8 in (2.24 m) for w...

(Encyclopedia) La Salle, Robert Cavelier, sieur de rōbĕrˈ kävəlyāˈ syör də lä sälˈ [key], 1643–87, French explorer in North America, one of the most celebrated explorers and builders of New France. He ...

(Encyclopedia) Murphy, Frank, 1890–1949, American political figure, associate justice of the Supreme Court (1940–49), b. Harbor Beach, Mich. After serving as a U.S. attorney (1919–20) and as a judge of recorde...

(Encyclopedia) Nome nōm [key], city (1990 pop. 3,500), W Alaska, on the southern side of Seward Peninsula, on Norton Sound; founded c.1898, when gold was discovered on the beach there. It is the commercial, governm...

(Encyclopedia) Picardy pĭkˈərdē [key], Fr. Picardie, region and former province, N France, on the English Channel, part of the French administrative region of Hauts-de-France. It includes the Somme, Oise, and Ai...