Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Gramm, Phil (William Philip Gramm), 1942–, American politician, b. Fort Benning, Ga. A Univ. of Georgia Ph.D. in economics and former professor, he served as a Democratic member of the House of Repr...

(Encyclopedia) boll weevil or cotton boll weevil bōl [key], cotton-eating weevil, or snout beetle, Anthonomus grandis. Probably of Mexican or Central American origin, it appeared in Texas about 1892 and spread to m...

(Encyclopedia) Michener, James Albert mĭchˈnər [key], 1907–97, American author, b. New York City, grad. Swarthmore, 1929. His short-story collection Tales of the South Pacific (1947; Pulitzer Prize) was adapted...

(Encyclopedia) Azuela, Mariano märyäˈnō äswāˈlä [key], 1873–1952, Mexican novelist. Azuela began his medical practice in 1899, writing short stories and novels in his spare time. In 1915 he joined Francisc...

(Encyclopedia) Big Bend National Park, 801,163 acres (324,471 hectares), W Tex.; authorized 1935, est. 1944. It is a triangle formed where the Rio Grande runs southeast then northeast in a big bend along the U.S.-Me...

(Encyclopedia) resurrection plant, name for several plants, usually of arid regions, that may apparently be brought back to life after they are dead. In reality they have hygroscopic qualities which cause them to cu...

(Encyclopedia) Canadian kənāˈdēən [key], river, 906 mi (1,458 km) long, rising in NE New Mexico. and flowing E across N Texas and central Oklahoma into the Arkansas River in E Oklahoma. In the mid-1800s, the Ca...

(Encyclopedia) Hunt, Lamar, 1932–2006, American business and sports executive, b. El Dorado, Ark. One of the Hunt brothers—sons of Texas oil magnate H. L. Hunt—Lamar Hunt had significant business interests in ...

(Encyclopedia) Ingersoll, Charles Jared ĭngˈgərsôl [key], 1782–1862, American political leader and author, b. Philadelphia; son of Jared Ingersoll (1749–1822). In several influential publications, including ...

(Encyclopedia) Shull, Clifford, 1915–2001, American physicist, b. Pittsburgh, Pa. Educated at Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) and New York Univ. (Ph.D., 1941), Shull was on the st...