Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

157 results found

Grove, Andy

(Encyclopedia)Grove, Andy (Andrew Stephen Grove) [key], 1936–2016, American computer-industry executive, b. Budapest, Hungary, as András István Gróf, immigrated to the United States 1957, Ph.D. Univ. of Calif...

Russell, Henry Norris

(Encyclopedia)Russell, Henry Norris, 1877–1957, American astronomer, b. Oyster Bay, N.Y., grad. Princeton, 1897. In 1902 he went to Cambridge, England, to study. He returned to Princeton in 1905, was professor of...

Dunbar, Paul Laurence

(Encyclopedia)Dunbar, Paul Laurence dŭnˈbär [key], 1872–1906, American poet and novelist, b. Dayton, Ohio. The son of former slaves, he won recognition with his Lyrics of Lowly Life (1896)—a collection of po...

Tabor, Horace Austin Warner

(Encyclopedia)Tabor, Horace Austin Warner tāˈbər [key], 1830–99, American prospector, known as Silver Dollar Tabor, b. Holland, Vt. From the Matchless Mine at Leadville, Colo., he gained tremendous wealth by m...

Burnett, Carol

(Encyclopedia)Burnett, Carol bərnĕtˈ [key], 1936–, American television performer, b. San Antonio, Tex. Beginning her show-business life as a singer, she soon turned to comedy. After starring in the off-Broadwa...

Du Bois, W. E. B.

(Encyclopedia)Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt Du Bois) dəboisˈ [key], 1868–1963, American civil-rights leader and author, b. Great Barrington, Mass., grad. Harvard (B.A., 1890; M.A., 1891; Ph.D., 18...

Yeats, W. B.

(Encyclopedia)Yeats, W. B. (William Butler Yeats), 1865–1939, Irish poet and playwright, b. Dublin. The greatest lyric poet Ireland has produced and one of the major figures of 20th-century literature, Yeats was ...

naturalism, in literature

(Encyclopedia)naturalism, in literature, an approach that proceeds from an analysis of reality in terms of natural forces, e.g., heredity, environment, physical drives. The chief literary theorist on naturalism was...

Christmas

(Encyclopedia)Christmas [Christ's Mass], in the Christian calendar, feast of the nativity of Jesus, celebrated in Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches on Dec. 25. In liturgical importance it ranks after Easter, P...

fable

(Encyclopedia)fable, brief allegorical narrative, in verse or prose, illustrating a moral thesis or satirizing human beings. The characters of a fable are usually animals who talk and act like people while retainin...

Browse by Subject