Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Tait, Peter Guthrie, 1831–1901, Scottish physicist and mathematician. He was professor of natural philosophy at Edinburgh from 1860 and conducted important investigations in thermodynamics and the k...

(Encyclopedia) Aldan, river, c.1,400 mi (2,250 km) long, rising in the Stanovoy Range, Sakha Republic, SE Siberian Russia. It flows north and east, past Tommot and around the Aldan Plateau, before flowing generally ...

(Encyclopedia) Anastasia (Anastasia Nikolayevna) ănəstāˈshə nyĭkəlīˈəfnă [key], 1901–18, youngest daughter of Czar Nicholas II, last of the Russian czars. She was killed with the rest of her immediate f...

(Encyclopedia) kremlin krĕmˈlĭn [key], Rus. kreml, citadel or walled center of several Russian cities; the most famous is in Moscow. During the Middle Ages, the kremlin served as an administrative and religious c...

(Encyclopedia) Constantine II, 316–40, Roman emperor, son of Constantine I. When the empire was divided at the death (337) of Constantine I, among the brothers Constantius II, Constans I, and Constantine II, Const...

(Encyclopedia) Francis II, 1435–88, duke of Brittany. He succeeded (1458) his uncle Arthur III. In his struggle with the French crown for the independence of his duchy, Francis entered (1465) the League of the Pub...

(Encyclopedia) Udmurt Republic o͝odˈmo͝ort, Rus. o͝odmo͞ortˈ [key] or Udmurtia, constituent republic (1990 pop. 1,620,000), 16,255 sq mi (42,100 sq km), European Russia, in the forested foothills of the Urals,...

(Encyclopedia) Rasputin, Grigori Yefimovich răspyo͞oˈtĭn, Rus. grĭgôˈrē yĭfēˈməvĭch rəspo͞oˈtyĭn [key], 1869–1916, Russian holy man and courtier, a notorious figure at the court of Czar Nicholas I...

(Encyclopedia) Dvina dvēnäˈ [key] or Northern Dvina, Rus. Severnaya Dvina, river, c.465 mi (750 km) long, N European Russia. It is formed near Veliki Ustyug by the union of the Sukhona and Yug rivers, flows N pas...

(Encyclopedia) Kuchuk Kainarji, Treaty of ko͞ocho͞okˈ kīnärˈjē, Turk. küchükˈ kīˌnärjäˈ [key], 1774, peace treaty signed at the end of the first of the Russo-Turkish Wars undertaken by Catherine II of...