Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Sibelius, Jean Julius Christian

(Encyclopedia)Sibelius, Jean Julius Christian zhän yo͞oˈlyo͝os krĭsˈtyän sĭbāˈlyo͝os [key], 1865–1957, Finnish composer. Sibelius was a highly personal, romantic composer, yet at the same time he repre...

Grimké, Angelina Emily

(Encyclopedia)Grimké, Angelina Emily grĭmˈkē [key], 1805–79, American abolitionist and advocate of women's rights, b. Charleston, S.C. Converted to the Quaker faith by her elder sister Sarah Moore Grimké, sh...

World Health Organization

(Encyclopedia)World Health Organization (WHO), specialized agency of the United Nations, established in 1948, with its headquarters at Geneva. WHO admits all sovereign states (including those not belonging to the U...

West, Dame Rebecca

(Encyclopedia)West, Dame Rebecca, 1892–1983, English novelist and critic, b. Ireland as Cicily Isabel Fairfield. West began her career as a journalist for feminist and suffragist publications. At various times sh...

Blake, William

(Encyclopedia)Blake, William, 1757–1827, English poet and artist, b. London. Although he exerted a great influence on English romanticism, Blake defies characterization by school, movement, or even period. At the...

Ochs, Adolph Simon

(Encyclopedia)Ochs, Adolph Simon ŏks [key], 1858–1935, American newspaper publisher, b. Cincinnati. Starting as a newsboy in Knoxville, Tenn., he became a printer's apprentice, compositor, and, in 1878, publishe...

Robinson, Eddie

(Encyclopedia)Robinson, Eddie (Edward Gay Robinson), 1919–2007, African-American football coach, b. Jackson, La., grad. Leland College, Baker, La. (B.A., 1941), Univ. of Iowa (M.A., 1954). A college quarterback, ...

semantics

(Encyclopedia)semantics [Gr.,=significant] in general, the study of the relationship between words and meanings. The empirical study of word meanings and sentence meanings in existing languages is a branch of lingu...

Styron, William

(Encyclopedia)Styron, William, 1925–2006, American novelist, b. Newport News, Va., grad. Duke, 1947. His fiction is often powerful, deeply felt, poetic, and elegiac. He became well known for his novel The Confess...

biochemistry

(Encyclopedia)biochemistry, science concerned chiefly with the chemistry of biological processes; it attempts to utilize the tools and concepts of chemistry, particularly organic and physical chemistry, for elucida...