Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Medary, Samuel mĕdˈərē [key], 1801–64, American journalist, b. Montgomery co., Pa. In Ohio after 1825, he edited the Ohio Sun at Bethel and later the Ohio Statesman at Columbus and was superinte...

(Encyclopedia) Moe, Jørgen Engebretsen yörˈgən ĕngˈəbrĕtsən mōˈə [key], 1813–82, Norwegian folklorist and poet, bishop of Kristiansand. He collected and revised sagas and folk songs, and he collaborate...

(Encyclopedia) Caso, Alfonso älfōnˈsō käˈsō [key], 1896–1970, Mexican archaeologist. An authority on the ancient high civilizations of Mexico, he directed explorations at Mitla and Monte Albán during the 1...

(Encyclopedia) Posidonius pōsēdōˈnēəs [key], c.135–c.51 b.c., Greek Stoic philosopher, b. Apamea, Syria. He settled in Rhodes after extensive travels. Noted for his learning, Posidonius gave new life to Stoi...

(Encyclopedia) ecliptic coordinate system, an astronomical coordinate system in which the principal coordinate axis is the ecliptic, the apparent path of the sun through the heavens. The ecliptic poles are the two p...

(Encyclopedia) Head, Edith, 1907–81, American costume designer, b. Los Angeles, Calif. She began to design costumes for the motion pictures in the early 1930s, working at Paramount for most of her career and movin...

(Encyclopedia) sidereal year, time required for the earth to complete an orbit of the sun relative to the stars. The sidereal year is 365 days, 6 hr, 9 min, 9.5 sec of mean solar time (see solar time). It is 20 min ...

(Encyclopedia) megapode mĕgˈəpōdˌ [key], common name for large, stout-bodied, long-tailed, terrestrial, nonmigratory birds comprising six genera in the family Megapodiidae. Members of the family have large, str...

(Encyclopedia) Bode's law [for J. E. Bode], also known as Titius's law or the Titius-Bode law, empirical relationship between the mean distances of the planets from the sun. If each number in the series 0, 3, 6, 12,...

(Encyclopedia) parsec pärˈsĕc [key] [parallax + second], in astronomy, basic unit of length for measuring interstellar and intergalactic distances, equal to 206,265 times the distance from the earth to the su...