Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Beck, Julian

(Encyclopedia)Beck, Julian, 1925–85, American theatrical director, actor, and producer, b. New York City. In 1948 he married Judith Malina, 1926–2015, also an American theatrical director, actor, and producer, ...

Seurat, Georges

(Encyclopedia)Seurat, Georges zhôrzh söräˈ [key], 1859–91, French neoimpressionist painter. He devised the pointillist technique of painting in tiny dots of pure color. His method, called divisionism, was a s...

Seuss, Dr.

(Encyclopedia)Seuss, Dr., pseud. of Theodor Seuss Geisel, 1904–91, American author and illustrator of children's books, b. Springfield, Mass, grad. Dartmouth College, studied Lincoln College, Oxford. After workin...

Vergennes, Charles Gravier, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Vergennes, Charles Gravier, comte de shärl grävyāˈ kôNt də vĕrzhĕnˈ [key], 1717–87, French statesman. After serving as ambassador at Trier, Constantinople, and Stockholm (where in 1772 he p...

Tarkington, Booth

(Encyclopedia)Tarkington, Booth (Newton Booth Tarkington), 1869–1946, American author, b. Indianapolis. His most characteristic and popular works were his genial novels of life in small Middle Western towns, incl...

Tate Gallery

(Encyclopedia)Tate Gallery, London, originally the National Gallery of British Art. The original building (in Millbank on the former site of Millbank Prison), with a collection of 65 modern British paintings, was g...

Conant, James Bryant

(Encyclopedia)Conant, James Bryant kōˈnənt [key], 1893–1978, American educator, chemist, and diplomat, b. Dorchester, Mass., grad. Harvard (B.A., 1913; Ph.D., 1916). Except for a brief period in the army (1917...

Davis, Miles

(Encyclopedia)Davis, Miles, 1926–91, American jazz musician, b. Alton, Ill. Rising to prominence with the birth of modern jazz in the mid-1940s, when he was a sideman in Charlie Parker's bop quintet, Davis became...

Dee, John

(Encyclopedia)Dee, John, 1527–1608, English mathematician and occultist. He was educated at Cambridge. Accused of practicing sorcery against Queen Mary I, he was acquitted and later was a favorite of Queen Elizab...

Dickey, James

(Encyclopedia)Dickey, James, 1923–97, American poet and novelist, b. Atlanta. After serving in the air force during World War II, he attended Vanderbilt Univ., graduating in 1946. He was an English teacher and an...