Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Penrose, Sir Roger

(Encyclopedia)Penrose, Sir Roger, 1931–, British mathematical physicist, Ph.D. Cambridge, 1958. He taught and conducted research at a number of British and American colleges and universities before becoming a pro...

Waters, Ethel

(Encyclopedia)Waters, Ethel, 1896?–1977, African-American singer and actress, b. Chester, Pa. As a singer, she is noted for her sultry, sophisticated, and dramatic version of the blues, evinced in her interpretat...

Wheeler, John Archibald

(Encyclopedia)Wheeler, John Archibald, 1911–2008, American physicist and educator, b. Jacksonville, Fla. Educated at Johns Hopkins (Ph.D., 1933), he joined the faculty at Princeton in 1938, and after 1976 was dir...

Cardigan Welsh corgi

(Encyclopedia)Cardigan Welsh corgi, breed of short, long-bodied working dog believed to have been introduced into Wales from Central Europe c.1200 b.c. It stands about 12 in. (30.5 cm) high at the shoulder and weig...

Macapagal-Arroyo, Gloria

(Encyclopedia)Macapagal-Arroyo, Gloria ärōˈyō [key], 1947–, Philippine political leader, president of the Philippines (2001–10), daughter of Diosdado Macapagal. A professor of economics, she entered governm...

Macdonald, Sir John Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Macdonald, Sir John Alexander, 1815–91, Canadian statesman, first prime minister of the Dominion of Canada, b. Glasgow. His parents settled in 1820 in Kingston, Ont. Macdonald first practiced law. W...

Rousseff, Dilma

(Encyclopedia)Rousseff, Dilma jēlˈmä ro͞oˈsĕf [key], 1947–, Brazilian political leader, b. Belo Horizonte. The daughter of a Bulgarian immigrant lawyer and a Brazilian teacher, she was trained as an economi...

Sheridan, Richard Brinsley

(Encyclopedia)Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751–1816, English dramatist and politician, b. Dublin. His father, Thomas Sheridan, was an actor and teacher of elocution and his mother, Frances Sheridan, published two...

DeLay, Tom

(Encyclopedia)DeLay, Tom (Thomas Dale DeLay), 1947–, American politician, b. Laredo, Tex., grad. Univ. of Houston (B.S., 1970). A conservative Republican businessman, he entered politics (1979) as a Texas state l...

Philip of Hesse

(Encyclopedia)Philip of Hesse hĕs [key], 1504–67, German nobleman, landgrave of Hesse (1509–67), champion of the Reformation. He is also called Philip the Magnanimous. Declared of age in 1518, he helped suppre...