Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Fong, Hiram Leong

(Encyclopedia)Fong, Hiram Leong, 1906–2004, U.S. politician, b. Honolulu as Yau Leong Fong. The child of poor Chinese immigrants, he graduated from the Univ. of Hawaii (1930) and Havard Law School (1935). He prac...

Thomsen, Vilhelm

(Encyclopedia)Thomsen, Vilhelm vĭlˈhĕlm tŏmˈsĕn [key], 1842–1927, Danish philologist. For many years Thomsen was professor of comparative philology at the Univ. of Copenhagen, where he did important work in...

Supung

(Encyclopedia)Supung so͞oˈpo͝ong [key], dam on the Yalu River, on the border between North Korea and Liaoning prov., NE China. One of the largest dams in Asia (525 ft/160 m high and 2,800 ft/853 m long), it was ...

Lattimore, Owen

(Encyclopedia)Lattimore, Owen, 1900–1989, American author and educator, b. Washington, D.C. He was educated (1915–19) at St. Bees School, Cumberland, England, and did graduate research (1928–29) at Harvard. F...

Hua Guofeng

(Encyclopedia)Hua Guofeng or Hua Kuo-feng both: hwä gwôfŭng [key], 1920–2008, Chinese Communist leader. He was relatively unknown until he became minister of public security and deputy premier in 1975. As Mao ...

Sung

(Encyclopedia)Sung so͝ong [key], dynasty of China that ruled 960–1279. It was divided into two periods: Northern Sung (907–1126) with its capital at Kaifeng and Southern Sung (1127–1279) with its capital at ...

Lagerlöf, Selma

(Encyclopedia)Lagerlöf, Selma sĕlˈmä läˈgərlöv [key], 1858–1940, Swedish novelist. Her native Värmland is the background for many of her excellent stories, which deal with peasant life. Novels include Th...

Mistral, Frédéric

(Encyclopedia)Mistral, Frédéric frādārēkˈ mēsträlˈ [key], 1830–1914, French Provençal poet. With Théodore Aubanel he was one of the seven founders (1854) of the Félibrige, an organization to promote P...

Erskine, John, American educator, author, and musician

(Encyclopedia)Erskine, John, 1879–1951, American educator, author, and musician, b. New York City, grad. Columbia (B.A., 1900; Ph.D., 1903). He taught first at Amherst (1903–9) and then at Columbia, becoming pr...

Comstock, Anthony

(Encyclopedia)Comstock, Anthony kŏmˈstŏk [key], 1844–1915, American morals crusader, b. New Canaan, Conn. He served with the Union army in the Civil War and was later active as an antiabortionist and in advoca...

Browse by Subject