Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Yen, James Y. C.

(Encyclopedia)Yen, James Y. C. yĕn [key], Mandarin Yen Yang-chu, 1893–1990, Chinese educator, b. Sichuan prov., China, educated at Yale (B.A., 1918) and Princeton (M.A., 1920) universities. Yen devised a simplif...

Kalam, A. P. J. Abdul

(Encyclopedia)Kalam, A. P. J. Abdul (Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam), 1921–2015, Indian scientist and political leader, studied St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli (grad. 1954), Madras Institute of Technol...

Erlenmeyer, Richard A. C. E.

(Encyclopedia)Erlenmeyer, Richard A. C. E. ĕrˈlənmīˌər [key], 1825–1909, German chemist. He studied at Giessen under Justus von Liebig and at Heidelberg under Friedrich Kekulé, both German chemists. Erlenm...

avalanche

(Encyclopedia)avalanche, rapidly descending large mass of snow, ice, soil, rock, or mixtures of these materials, sliding or falling in response to the force of gravity. Avalanches, which are natural forms of erosio...

Simenon, Georges

(Encyclopedia)Simenon, Georges zhôrzh sēmənôNˈ [key], 1903–89, Belgian novelist. One of the most prolific of modern authors, he is best known for the more than 75 stories he wrote featuring the intuitive Fre...

Makemie, Francis

(Encyclopedia)Makemie, Francis məkĕˈmē [key], c.1658–1708, American clergyman, considered the founder of Presbyterianism in America. Born in Ireland, he studied in Scotland and c.1682 was ordained a missionar...

Andersen, Hans Christian

(Encyclopedia)Andersen, Hans Christian, 1805–75, Danish poet, novelist, and writer of fairy tales. Born to an illiterate washerwoman and reared in poverty, he left Odense at 14 for Copenhagen, where he lived with...

Rhys, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Rhys, Jean rēs [key], pseud. of Ella Gwendoline Rees Williams, 1894–1979, English novelist, b. Dominica. Her novels written in the 1930s mercilessly exploit her own emotional life, depicting pretty...

Vlaminck, Maurice de

(Encyclopedia)Vlaminck, Maurice de mōrēsˈ də vlämăNkˈ [key], 1876–1958, French painter, writer, and printmaker. At first an avid racing cyclist, he supported himself (c.1900) as a musician and taught himse...

Browse by Subject