Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ibn Ezra, Abraham ben Meir

(Encyclopedia)Ibn Ezra, Abraham ben Meir mâr [key], c.1089–1164, Jewish grammarian, commentator, poet, philosopher, and astronomer, b. Tudela, Spain. He traveled widely and wrote a number of ethical treatises, p...

Royo Sánchez, Arístides

(Encyclopedia)Royo Sánchez, Arístides, 1940–, president of Panama (1978–82). A former minister of education, he was named president by Gen. Omar Torrijos Herrera, the actual ruler of the country. After Torrij...

Murillo, Bartolomé Estéban

(Encyclopedia)Murillo, Bartolomé Estéban bärtōlōmāˈ āstāˈbän mo͞orēˈlyō [key], 1617?–1682, Spanish religious and portrait painter. He was born in Seville, where most of his life was spent. There, c...

Escorial

(Encyclopedia)Escorial ĕskyo͝orˈēəl [key], monastery and palace, in New Castile, central Spain, near Madrid. One of the finest edifices in Europe, it was built (1563–84) as the monastery of San Lorenzo del E...

Collins, Susan Margaret

(Encyclopedia) Collins, Susan Margaret, , 1952- , American politician, b. Caribou, Me., St. Lawrence University (BA, 1975). Both of Collins’s parents were involved ...

Giraudoux, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Giraudoux, Jean zhäN zhērōdo͞oˈ [key], 1882–1944, French novelist and dramatist. He was a prolific writer and combined his literary work with a long and successful diplomatic career. His early ...

Kahlo, Frida

(Encyclopedia)Kahlo, Frida frēˈdä käˈlō [key], 1907–54, Mexican painter, b. Coyoacán as Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón. As a result of an accident at age 15, Kahlo turned her attention from a me...

Nagel, Ernest

(Encyclopedia)Nagel, Ernest, 1901–85, American philosopher, b. Nové Město (now in the Czech Republic), grad. College of the City of New York, 1923, and Columbia (Ph.D., 1930). His family emigrated to the United...

Velázquez, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y

(Encyclopedia)Velázquez, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y rôᵺrēˈgāth ᵺā sēlˈvä ē vāläthˈkāth [key], 1599–1660, b. Seville. He was the most celebrated painter of the Spanish school. Velázquez's dev...

Noriega, Manuel Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Noriega, Manuel Antonio mänwĕlˈ äntōˈnyō nôryāˈgə [key], 1934–2017, Panamanian general. Commander of the Panamanian Defense Forces from 1983, when he promoted himself to full general, Nor...