Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Hidatsa hēdätˈsä [key], Native North Americans, also known as the Minitari and the Gros Ventre. Their language belongs to the Siouan branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native America...

(Encyclopedia) Kristeva, Julia, 1941–, French critic, psychoanalyst, semiotician, and writer, b. Sliven, Bulgaria. Writing in French, she has explored many subjects including structuralist linguistics and semiotic...

(Encyclopedia) sunflower, any plant of the genus Helianthus of the family Asteraceae (aster family), annual or perennial herbs native to the New World and common throughout the United States. In cultivation, the flo...

(Encyclopedia) warlord, in modern Chinese history, autonomous regional military commander. In the political chaos following the death (1916) of republican China's first president and commander in chief, Yüan Shih-k...

(Encyclopedia) wig, arrangement of artificial or human hair worn to conceal baldness, as a disguise, or as part of a costume, either theatrical, ceremonial, or fashionable. In ancient Egypt the wig was worn to prote...

(Encyclopedia) Ballard, J. G. (James Graham Ballard) bălˈərd [key], 1930–2009, English writer, mainly of dystopian science fiction. Born to English parents in Shanghai, he was torn from his affluent surrounding...

(Encyclopedia) rammed earth, material consisting chiefly of soil of sufficiently stiff consistency that has been placed in forms and pounded down. It has been used for buildings and walls since ancient times and was...

(Encyclopedia) ballistics bəlĭsˈtĭks [key], science of projectiles. Interior ballistics deals with the propulsion and the motion of a projectile within a gun or firing device. Its problems include the ignition a...

(Encyclopedia) seeing, in astronomy, the clarity with which stars and other celestial objects can be observed. It is primarily determined by the atmosphere of the earth. The most obvious phenomenon is twinkling, whe...

(Encyclopedia) Shaffer, Sir Peter shăfˈər [key], 1926–2016, English playwright, b. Liverpool, grad. Cambridge, 1950. Before turning to the stage he wrote for radio and television and was the author of several m...