Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Crick, Francis Harry Compton, 1916–2004, English scientist, grad. University College, London, and Caius College, Cambridge. Crick was trained as a physicist, and from 1940 to 1947 he served as a sci...

(Encyclopedia) Spitsbergen spĭtsˈbərgən [key], formerly Vestspitsbergen, largest island (15,075 sq mi/39,044 sq km) of Svalbard, a Norwegian possession in the Arctic Ocean. It rises to Newtontoppen Mt. (c.5,650 ...

(Encyclopedia) Howe, Joseph, 1804–73, Canadian journalist and political leader, b. Halifax, N.S. In 1828, Howe became proprietor and editor of the Nova Scotian, which under his direction became the leading journal...

(Encyclopedia) pop art, movement that restored realism to avant-garde art; it first emerged in Great Britain at the end of the 1950s as a reaction against the seriousness of abstract expressionism. British and Ameri...

(Encyclopedia) Watson, James Dewey, 1928–, American biologist and educator, b. Chicago, Ill., grad. Univ. of Chicago, 1947, Ph.D. Univ. of Indiana, 1950. With F. H. C. Crick he began (1951) research on the molecul...

(Encyclopedia) Tompkins, Douglas Rainsford, 1943–2015, American business executive, conservationist, and philanthropist, b. Conneaut, Ohio. In 1964, he and his first wife, Susie Tompkins Buell, founded The North F...

(Encyclopedia) Jones, George Glenn, 1931–2013, American country music singer and guitarist, b. Saratoga, Tex. Influenced by Roy Acuff and Hank Williams, he began recording in 1954; among his early hits were Why Ba...

(Encyclopedia) Cowper, William ko͞oˈpər, kouˈ– [key], 1731–1800, English poet. Physically and emotionally unfit for the professional life, he was admitted to the bar but never practiced. After a battle with ...

(Encyclopedia) Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), civil-rights organization founded (1942) in Chicago by James Farmer. Dedicated to the use of nonviolent direct action, CORE initially sought to promote better race ...

(Encyclopedia) hysteria hĭstĕrˈēə [key], in psychology, a disorder commonly known today as conversion disorder, in which a psychological conflict is converted into a bodily disturbance. It is distinguished from...