Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Green, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Green, Paul, 1894–1981, American dramatist, b. Lillington, N.C., grad. Univ. of North Carolina, 1921. He is known for his realistic plays depicting the lives of blacks and white tenant farmers. His ...

Tyne and Wear

(Encyclopedia)Tyne and Wear, former metropolitan county, NE England. Created in the 1974 local government reorganization, the county embraced the Newcastle upon Tyne conurbation and comprised five metropolitan dist...

Vedder, Elihu

(Encyclopedia)Vedder, Elihu, 1836–1923, American painter, illustrator, and author, b. New York City, studied in Paris. From 1867 his permanent residence was Rome. He often used romantic landscape as a setting for...

Przhevalsky, Nikolai Mikhailovich

(Encyclopedia)Przhevalsky, Nikolai Mikhailovich nyĭkəlīˈ mēkhīˈləvĭch pərzhĭvälˈskē [key], 1839–88, Russian geographer and explorer in central and E Asia. He made five major expeditions—one to the...

Oistrakh, David Feodorovich

(Encyclopedia)Oistrakh, David Feodorovich oiˈsträk [key], 1908–74, Ukrainian violinist, b. Odessa. Encouraged by his father, an amateur violinist, he began to study his instrument at the age of five. He graduat...

Ormandy, Eugene

(Encyclopedia)Ormandy, Eugene ôrˈməndē [key], 1899–1985, American conductor, b. Budapest. At the age of five Ormandy entered the Budapest Conservatory, where he studied the violin. Graduating in 1914, he beca...

Gagarin, Yuri Alekseyevich

(Encyclopedia)Gagarin, Yuri Alekseyevich yo͞oˈrē əlyĭksyāˈyəvĭch gägäˈrĭn [key], 1934–68, Russian astronaut (cosmonaut), b. near Gzhatsk, RSFSR. He was the first in history to be rocketed into orbita...

Eigenmann, Carl H.

(Encyclopedia)Eigenmann, Carl H. īˈgənmən [key], 1863–1927, American ichthyologist, b. Germany, grad. Indiana Univ., 1886. From 1891 he taught at Indiana Univ., founding and directing the biological station a...

John I, king of France

(Encyclopedia)John I or John the Posthumous, 1316, king of France, posthumous son of King Louis X. He lived only five days and was succeeded by his uncle, Philip V. According to legend, a dying child was substitute...

King, Ernest Joseph

(Encyclopedia)King, Ernest Joseph, 1878–1956, American admiral, commander in chief of the U.S. fleet (1941–45), b. Lorain, Ohio. A graduate of Annapolis, he distinguished himself in many branches of naval servi...