Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Bailey, F. Lee

(Encyclopedia) Bailey, F. Lee (Francis Lee Bailey), 1933-2021, American lawyer, b. Waltham, Ma., Boston Univ. Law School (J.D., 1960). Bailey attended Harvard for two...

Bakelite

(Encyclopedia)Bakelite bāˈkəlīt [key] [for its inventor, L. H. Baekeland], synthetic thermosetting resin. It has been widely used both alone, to form whole objects, and in combination with other materials, as a...

Proudhon, Pierre Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Proudhon, Pierre Joseph pyĕr zhôzĕfˈ pro͞odhôNˈ [key], 1809–65, French social theorist. Of a poor family, Proudhon won an education through scholarships. Much of his later life was spent in p...

Olivier, Laurence Kerr, Baron Olivier of Brighton

(Encyclopedia)Olivier, Laurence Kerr, Baron Olivier of Brighton ōlĭvˈē-āˌ [key], 1907–89, English actor, director, and producer. He made his stage debut at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1922 and soon achieved reno...

Horace

(Encyclopedia)Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) hôrˈəs [key], 65 b.c.–8 b.c., Latin poet, one of the greatest of lyric poets, b. Venusia, S Italy. He studied at Rome and Athens and, joining Brutus and the repu...

hyena

(Encyclopedia)hyena hī-ēˈnə [key], carnivorous, chiefly nocturnal mammal of the Old World family Hyaenidae. Although doglike in appearance, hyenas are more closely related to civets (family Viverridae) and cats...

Hani, Martin Thembisile

(Encyclopedia)Hani, Chris 1942–1993, anti-apartheid activist, politician, and soldier. A legendary figure in South African history and a key participant in the ...

Harlem

(Encyclopedia)Harlem, residential and business section of upper Manhattan, New York City, bounded roughly by 110th St., the East River and Harlem River, 168th St., Amsterdam Ave., and Morningside Park. The Dutch se...

Aragon, Louis

(Encyclopedia)Aragon, Louis lwē ärägôNˈ [key], 1897–1982, French writer. One of the founders of surrealism in literature, Aragon abandoned that philosophy for Marxism after a trip to the USSR in 1931. He was...