Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Messiaen, Olivier

(Encyclopedia)Messiaen, Olivier ôlēvyāˈ mĕsyäNˈ [key], 1908–92, French composer and organist, b. Avignon. Messiaen was a pupil of Paul Dukas at the Paris Conservatory. He became organist of La Trinité, Pa...

Moynihan, Daniel Patrick

(Encyclopedia)Moynihan, Daniel Patrick moiˈnĭhănˌ [key], 1927–2003, American sociologist and politician, b. Tulsa, Okla., grad. Tufts (B.A., 1948; M.A., 1949; Ph.D., 1961). Raised in a poor neighborhood of Ne...

Murdoch, Dame Iris

(Encyclopedia)Murdoch, Dame Iris (Dame Jean Iris Murdoch) mûrˈdŏk [key], 1919–99, British novelist and philosopher, b. Dublin, Ireland, grad. Oxford (1942). In 1948 she was named lecturer in philosophy at Oxfo...

Rothko, Mark

(Encyclopedia)Rothko, Mark rŏthˈkō [key], 1903–70, American painter, b. Dvinsk, Russia (now Daugavpils, Latvia), as Marcus Rotkovitch. His family immigrated to the United States in 1913. He was a student of Ma...

Salish

(Encyclopedia)Salish, indigenous people of North America, also known as the Flathead, who in the early 19th cent. inhabited the Bitterroot River valley of W Montana. Their language belongs to the Salishan branch of...

National Recovery Administration

(Encyclopedia)National Recovery Administration (NRA), in U.S. history, administrative bureau established under the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933. In response to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's cong...

Clark, Ramsey

(Encyclopedia)Clark, William Ramsey, 1927–2021, attorney general of the United States (1967–69), b. Dallas, Tex., Univ. of Texas-Austin (BA, 1949), Univ. of Chica...

Gell-Mann, Murray

(Encyclopedia)Gell-Mann, Murray gĕlˈ-män [key], 1929–2019, American theoretical physicist, b. New York City, grad. Yale 1948, Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1951. He was associated with the Univ....

De Leon, Daniel

(Encyclopedia)De Leon, Daniel dē lēˈŏn [key], 1852–1914, American socialist leader. Born on the island of Curaçao of Spanish-American parents, he was educated in Germany and the Netherlands before going (187...

Fielding, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Fielding, Henry, 1707–54, English novelist and dramatist. Born of a distinguished family, he was educated at Eton and studied law at Leiden. Settling in London in 1729, he began writing comedies, fa...