Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Dekker, Eduard Douwes

(Encyclopedia)Dekker, Eduard Douwes məltätüˈlē [key], 1820–87, Dutch novelist. His experiences in the Dutch colonial service in Java (1838–57) made him an ardent advocate of reform in colonial administrati...

Allport, Gordon W.

(Encyclopedia)Allport, Gordon W. ôlˈpôrt [key], 1897–1967, American psychologist, b. Montezuma, Ind. One of the first psychologists to study personality, Allport researched human attitudes, prejudices, and rel...

Craxi, Bettino

(Encyclopedia)Craxi, Bettino bətēˈnō krăˈksē [key], 1934–99, Italian political leader. Craxi joined the Italian Socialist party in 1957, eventually becoming deputy secretary (1970) and general secretary (1...

Radin, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Radin, Paul rāˈdĭn [key], 1883–1959, American anthropologist, b. Poland, grad., College of the City of New York, 1902, Ph.D. Columbia, 1911. He was a student of Franz Boas and studied the Winneba...

world soul

(Encyclopedia)world soul, Lat. anima mundi, in philosophy, term denoting a universal spirit or soul that functions as an organizing principle. While many early Greek philosophers saw the world as of one principle, ...

Arnold, Matthew

(Encyclopedia)Arnold, Matthew, 1822–88, English poet and critic, son of the educator Dr. Thomas Arnold. Arnold was educated at Rugby; graduated from Balliol College, Oxford in 1844; and was a fellow of Oriel Coll...

Jenin

(Encyclopedia)Jenin jĕˈnēn [key], town (2003 est. pop. 34,000), West Bank, at the southern entrance to the Esdraelon Valley and on the northern edge of the Samarian Highlands. It is an important crossroads, urba...

Massawa

(Encyclopedia)Massawa məsäˈwə [key], city (1984 pop. 15,441), Eritrea, a port on the Red Sea. Before Eritrean independence (1993) it was the main port for N Ethiopia and is linked by rail with Asmara. Agreement...

Museum of Fine Arts

(Encyclopedia)Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, chartered and incorporated (1870) after a decision by the Boston Athenæum, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to pool their collections of art objects...

Coptic art

(Encyclopedia)Coptic art, Christian art in the upper Nile valley of Egypt. Reaching its mature phase in the late 5th and 6th cent., the development of Coptic art was interrupted by the Arab conquest of Egypt betwee...