Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) antipodes [Gr.,=having feet opposite], people or places diametrically opposite on the globe. Thus antipodes must be separated by half the circumference of the earth (180°), and one must be as far nor...

(Encyclopedia) Rowley, Keith Christopher, 1949–, Trinidadian political leader, b. Tobago, grad. Univ. of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. A volcanologist, he worked in academia and industry before entering politics...

(Encyclopedia) Phut fŭt [key], in the Bible, son of Ham and eponym of an African people. It may also be a region, possibly Punt or Libya, and is perhaps the same as Pul (2.) It also appears as Put. ...

(Encyclopedia) body language, nonverbal communication by means of facial expessions, eye behavior, gestures, posture, and the like. Body language expresses emotions, feelings, and attitudes, sometimes even contradic...

(Encyclopedia) Chin Hills mountain range, W Myanmar, along the boundary between Myanmar and Assam, India, part of the Arakan (or Rakhine) Mts. It rises to 10,016 ft (3,053 m) in Mt. Victoria. The range is covered wi...

(Encyclopedia) Jewsbury, Geraldine Endsor jo͞ozˈbərē [key], 1812–80, English novelist. She is remembered as much for her friendship with the Carlyles and other literary people as for her novels, which include ...

(Encyclopedia) Surgeon General, United States, former head of the U.S. Public Health Service, which is responsible for protecting the people's health (see public health). Since a 1986 reorganization, the surgeon gen...

(Encyclopedia) Gad, in the Bible, son of Jacob and Zilpah and eponymous founder of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. Its allotment was half of Gilead; this was the land best suited to the pastoral life, which Gad, lik...

(Encyclopedia) Lockerbie lŏkˈərbē [key], village (1991 pop. 3,892), Dumfries and Galloway, S Scotland, site of a 1988 airplane crash. On Dec. 21, 1988, a New York–bound Pan Am Boeing 747 exploded in flight as ...

(Encyclopedia) Gaucher's disease gōshāzˈ [key], rare genetic disease involving a deficiency of an enzyme, glucocerebrosidase, which normally breaks down certain body glycolipids (i.e., lipids (fats) that have a s...