Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Scalfaro, Oscar Luigi ōsˈkär lo͞oēˈjē skälˈfärō [key], 1918–2012, Italian political leader, president of Italy (1992–99). A lawyer, Scalfaro aided jailed antifascists during World War I...

(Encyclopedia) Halas, George Stanley, Sr., 1895–1983, American football coach, b. Chicago, grad. Univ. of Illinois, 1918. He served in the navy in World War I, played baseball (1919) with the New York Yankees, the...

(Encyclopedia) Gregg, William, 1800–1867, American industrialist, known as the “father of Southern cotton manufacture,” b. Monongalia co., Va. (now W.Va.). He devoted his life to building up Southern industry....

(Encyclopedia) Grinnell, Josiah Bushnell, 1821–91, American pioneer, clergyman, and abolitionist, b. New Haven, Vt. As pastor (1851–52) of the First Congregational Church in Washington, D.C., he created a sensat...

(Encyclopedia) Leahy, Frank William lāˈhē [key], 1908–73, American football coach, b. O'Neill, Nebr. He was an assistant coach at Georgetown Univ. (1931–32), Michigan State College (now Michigan State Univ., ...

(Encyclopedia) pterosaur tĕrˈəsôrˌ [key] [Gr., = winged lizard], extinct flying reptile (commonly called pterodactyl [Gr., = wing finger]) of the order Pterosauria, common in the late Triassic and Creta...

(Encyclopedia) Le Châtelier's principle, chemical principle that states that if a system in equilibrium is disturbed by changes in determining factors, such as temperature, pressure, and concentration of components...

(Encyclopedia) cave, a cavity in the earth's surface usually large enough for a person to enter. Caves may be formed by the chemical and mechanical action of a stream upon soluble or soft rock, of rainwater seeping ...

(Encyclopedia) Owen, Robert, 1771–1858, British social reformer and socialist, pioneer in the cooperative movement. The son of a saddler, he had little formal education but was a zealous reader. At the age of 10 h...

(Encyclopedia) lamprey, name for several primitive marine and freshwater jawless fishes of the order Petromyzontiformes. As in the other jawless fish, the hagfish, the adult lamprey retains the notochord, the suppor...