Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Fowler, Charles Henry, 1837–1908, American Methodist bishop and educator, b. Canada. For 11 years he held pastorates in Chicago churches. He was president of Northwestern Univ. from 1873 to 1876. Af...

(Encyclopedia) Karamay or Karamai both: kärämīˈ [key], city (1994 est. pop. 212,600), N Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China, in the Dzungarian basin. Since the discovery (1955) there of one of the largest oi...

(Encyclopedia) liberal arts, term originally used to designate the arts or studies suited to freemen. It was applied in the Middle Ages to seven branches of learning, the trivium of grammar, logic, and rhetoric, and...

(Encyclopedia) Lang, Fritz läng [key], 1890–1976, German-American film director, b. Vienna. His silent and early sound films, notably the iconic masterpiece Metropolis (1926) with its dystopian vision of the futu...

(Encyclopedia) Picts, ancient inhabitants of central and N Scotland, of uncertain origin. First mentioned (a.d. 297) by the Roman writer Eumenius as northern invaders of Roman Britain, they were probably descendants...

(Encyclopedia) Delibes, Miguel mēgĕlˈ dālēˈbās [key], 1920–2010, Spanish novelist, short-story writer, and journalist, b. Valladolid. Prolific and widely translated, he is known for his descriptions of prov...

(Encyclopedia) Booth, William, 1829–1912, English religious leader, founder and first general of the Salvation Army, b. Nottingham. Originally a local preacher for the Wesleyan Methodists, he went (1849) to London...

(Encyclopedia) Carman, Harry James, 1884–1964, American historian and educator, b. Greenfield, Saratoga co., N.Y. He was a elementary-school teacher and a high-school principal before becoming an instructor and th...

(Encyclopedia) hydrofoil, flat or curved finlike device, attached by struts to the hull of a watercraft, that lifts the moving watercraft above the water's surface. The term is often extended to include the vessel i...

(Encyclopedia) inn, in Great Britain, any hotel, public house, tavern, or coffeehouse where lodging is provided. In American usage, the inn is generally a small rural lodging house for transients. Among the earliest...