Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Ryan, Nolan (Lynn Nolan Ryan, Jr.), 1947–, American baseball player, b. Refugio, Tex. A right-handed pitcher with a blazing fastball, he played with the New York Mets, the California Angels, the Hou...

(Encyclopedia) Santa Gertrudis cattle, breed of beef cattle derived from crosses between Shorthorn cows (see Shorthorn cattle) and Brahman bulls (see Brahman cattle); the breed was developed by Robert J. Kleberg, Jr...

(Encyclopedia) Taylor, Myron Charles, 1874–1959, American industrialist and diplomat, b. Lyons, N.Y. He practiced law and then ran a group of textile mills in New England. In 1932 he succeeded J. P. Morgan, Jr., a...

(Encyclopedia) Abernathy, Ralph David ăbˈərnăthˌē [key], 1926–90, American civil-rights leader, b. Linden, Ala. A Baptist minister, he helped Martin Luther King, Jr., organize the Montgomery bus boycott (195...

(Encyclopedia) Audubon, John James ôˈdəbŏn [key], 1785–1851, American ornithologist, b. Les Cayes, Santo Domingo (now Haiti). The illegitimate son of a French sea captain and plantation owner and a Creole cham...

(Encyclopedia) Saxe-Coburg săks-kōbərg [key], Ger. Sachsen-Coburg, former duchy, central Germany. A possession of the Ernestine branch of the house of Wettin, it was given by Ernest the Pious (d. 1675) of Saxe-Go...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Shorthand systems shorthand, any brief, rapid system of writing that may be used in transcribing, or recording, the spoken word. Such systems, many having characters based on the letters of th...

(Encyclopedia) Cinq Mars, Henri Coëffier Ruzé d'Effiat, marquis de äNrēˈ kōĕfyāˈ rüzāˈ dĕfyäˈ märkēˈ də săNmärˈ [key], 1620–42, French conspirator. Introduced at court by Cardinal Richelieu a...

(Encyclopedia) Fort Fisher, Confederate earthwork fortification, built by Gen. William Whiting in 1862 to guard the port of Wilmington, N.C.; scene of one of the last large battles of the Civil War. Because Wilmingt...

(Encyclopedia) Frankland, William (Alfred William Frankland), 1912–2020, British allergist and immunologist. He studied medicine at Queens College, Oxford, and St. Mary's Hospital Medical School (now part of Imper...