Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Indian pipe, common name for the genus Monotropa and for the family Monotropaceae, low flowering plants of north temperate zones. They are chlorophylless saprophytes with a funguslike appearance. Each...

(Encyclopedia) Fontana, Lucio, 1899–1968, Italian artist, b. Argentina. He lived (1905–22) in Milan, then several times moved from Italy to Argentina and back, remaining in Italy after 1947. Much of his early wo...

(Encyclopedia) Jerome, William Travers, 1859–1934, American lawyer, b. New York City. Prominent in the cause of reform, he served (1894–95) on the Lexow commission to investigate political corruption and managed...

(Encyclopedia) Johnson, Jack (John Arthur Johnson), 1878–1946, American boxer, b. Galveston, Tex., the son of two ex-slaves. Emerging from the battle royals (dehumanizing fights between blacks for the amusement of...

(Encyclopedia) Kavanaugh, Brett Michael, 1965–, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (2018–), b. Washington, D.C., grad. Yale (B.A. 1987, J.D. 1990). He clerked for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy a...

(Encyclopedia) suprematism, Russian art movement founded (1913) by Casimir Malevich in Moscow, parallel to constructivism. Malevich drew Aleksandr Rodchenko and El Lissitzky to his revolutionary, nonobjective art. I...

(Encyclopedia) Safire, William L. săfˈīrˌ [key], 1929–2009, American journalist and speechwriter, b. New York City as William Safir. A former reporter and public-relations executive, he became a speechwriter (...

(Encyclopedia) Sealyham terrier sēˈlēhămˌ [key], breed of short-legged terrier developed in Wales in the second half of the 19th cent. It stands about 10 in. (25 cm) high at the shoulder and weighs about 20 lb ...

(Encyclopedia) tallit tälētˈ [key], in Judaism, four-cornered, fringed shawl worn by males during the morning prayers. It is donned before putting on the phylacteries, except on Yom Kippur when it is worn all thr...

(Encyclopedia) tamarisk tămˈərĭsk [key], shrub or small tree of the genus Tamarix, native chiefly to the Mediterranean area and to central Asia. The plants are often heathlike and thrive in arid and coastal regi...