Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Abernathy, Ralph David

(Encyclopedia)Abernathy, Ralph David ăbˈərnăthˌē [key], 1926–90, American civil-rights leader, b. Linden, Ala. A Baptist minister, he helped Martin Luther King, Jr., organize the Montgomery bus boycott (195...

Ryan, Nolan

(Encyclopedia)Ryan, Nolan (Lynn Nolan Ryan, Jr.), 1947–, American baseball player, b. Refugio, Tex. A right-handed pitcher with a blazing fastball, he played with the New York Mets, the California Angels, the Hou...

Santa Gertrudis cattle

(Encyclopedia)Santa Gertrudis cattle, breed of beef cattle derived from crosses between Shorthorn cows (see Shorthorn cattle) and Brahman bulls (see Brahman cattle); the breed was developed by Robert J. Kleberg, Jr...

Nelson, Byron

(Encyclopedia)Nelson, Byron (John Byron Nelson, Jr.), 1912–2006, American golfer, b. Fort Worth, Tex. In 1926 he began playing golf as a caddie, and in 1932 he entered upon his professional career. Noted for the ...

Taylor, Myron Charles

(Encyclopedia)Taylor, Myron Charles, 1874–1959, American industrialist and diplomat, b. Lyons, N.Y. He practiced law and then ran a group of textile mills in New England. In 1932 he succeeded J. P. Morgan, Jr., a...

Cerar, Miro

(Encyclopedia)Cerar, Miro (Miroslav Cerar, Jr.), 1963–, Slovenian lawyer and political leader, b. Ljubljana. After earning a law doctorate from the Univ. of Ljubljana, he became a professor of constitutional law ...

Audubon, John James

(Encyclopedia)Audubon, John James ôˈdəbŏn [key], 1785–1851, American ornithologist, b. Les Cayes, Santo Domingo (now Haiti). The illegitimate son of a French sea captain and plantation owner and a Creole cham...

Phillips, Wendell

(Encyclopedia)Phillips, Wendell, 1811–84, American reformer and orator, b. Boston, grad. Harvard (B.A., 1831; LL.B., 1834). He was admitted to the bar in 1834 but, having sufficient income of his own, he abandone...

Dada

(Encyclopedia)Dada däˈdäĭzəm [key], international nihilistic movement among European artists and writers that lasted from 1916 to 1922. Born of the widespread disillusionment engendered by World War I, it orig...

Highsmith, Patricia

(Encyclopedia)Highsmith, Patricia, 1921–95, American novelist, b. Fort Worth, Tex., as Mary Patricia Plangman, grad. Barnard College (B.A. 1942). She first traveled to Europe in 1949 and moved there in 1963, livi...