Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Snodgrass, W. D. (William DeWitt Snodgrass), 1926–2009, American poet and translator, b. Wilkinsburg, Pa., grad. Univ. of Iowa, 1959. He is particularly known for his debut book, Heart's Needle (195...

(Encyclopedia) tinnitus, the hearing of sounds in the absence of any external sound, also known as ringing in the ears. The sounds may be perceived as hissing, whistling, buzzing, swooshing, roaring, or clicking in ...

(Encyclopedia) Bibliothèque nationale bēblēōtĕkˈ näsyônälˈ [key], national library of France, in Paris, a government archive, and one of the foremost libraries of the world. It originated with the collecti...

(Encyclopedia) pitot static system pētōˈ [key], device for measuring the rate at which a fluid flows. Among the principal applications of the device are an airspeed indicator for aircraft and a distance and speed...

(Encyclopedia) polyphony pəlĭfˈənē [key], music whose texture is formed by the interweaving of several melodic lines. The lines are independent but sound together harmonically. Contrasting terms are homophony, ...

(Encyclopedia) Seeger, Ruth Crawford, 1901–53, American composer and folklorist, b. East Liverpool, Ohio, as Ruth Porter Crawford, studied American Conservatory, Chicago; stepmother of Pete Seeger and mother of Mi...

(Encyclopedia) theremin thĕrˈəmən [key], one of the earliest electronic musical instruments, invented (1920) in the Soviet Union and named for its creator, Leon Theremin. A forerunner of the synthesizer, it cons...

(Encyclopedia) Grimm's law, principle of relationships in Indo-European languages, first formulated by Jakob Grimm in 1822 and a continuing subject of interest and investigation to 20th-century linguists. It shows t...

(Encyclopedia) Columbia, river, c.1,210 mi (1,950 km) long, rising in Columbia Lake, SE British Columbia, Canada. It flows first NW in the Rocky Mt. Trench, then hooks sharply about the Selkirk Mts. to flow S throug...

(Encyclopedia) Micheaux, Oscar Devereaux, 1884–1951, American filmmaker and author, b. Metropolis, Ill. The son of former slaves, Micheaux first worked as a Pullman porter, then was a homesteader in South Dakota. ...