Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

377 results found

Stone, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Stone, Robert, 1937–2015, American novelist, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. During his early years he was in the Navy, and later he joined Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters in their drug-enhanced adventures. He...

sunflower

(Encyclopedia)sunflower, any plant of the genus Helianthus of the family Asteraceae (aster family), annual or perennial herbs native to the New World and common throughout the United States. In cultivation, the flo...

Buber, Martin

(Encyclopedia)Buber, Martin bo͞oˈbĕr [key], 1878–1965, Jewish philosopher, b. Vienna. Educated at German ...

Sharon, Ariel

(Encyclopedia)Sharon, Ariel ärˈēĕl shärōnˈ [key], 1928–2014, Israeli general and politician, b. Kfar Malal as Ariel Scheinerman. As a teenager he joined the Haganah, the underground Zionist military brigad...

Palestinian Authority

(Encyclopedia)Palestinian Authority (PA) or Palestinian National Authority, interim self-government body responsible for areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip under Palestinian control. The terrritory is officially...

Frederick II, Holy Roman emperor and German king

(Encyclopedia)Frederick II, 1194–1250, Holy Roman emperor (1220–50) and German king (1212–20), king of Sicily (1197–1250), and king of Jerusalem (1229–50), son of Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI and of Consta...

fructose

(Encyclopedia)CE5 fructose lĕvˈyəlōsˌ [key], or fruit sugar, simple sugar found in honey and in the fruit and other parts of plants. It is much sweeter than sucrose (cane sugar). It is best obtained by hydr...

Intifada

(Encyclopedia)Intifada ĭntēfăˈdĕ [key] [Arab.,=uprising, shaking off], the Palestinian uprising during the late 1980s and early 90s in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, areas that had been occupied by Israel since...

Schindler, Oskar

(Encyclopedia)Schindler, Oskar, 1908–74, German industrialist who saved more than a thousand Jews during the Holocaust. A Catholic and a member of the National Socialist (Nazi) party, Schindler relocated (1939) t...

Tobit

(Encyclopedia)Tobit tōˈbĭt [key] [Gr. from Heb. Tobijah=God is my good], book of the Old Testament Apocrypha, not included in the Hebrew Bible. It is the account of Tobit, a devout Jew in exile, and of his son T...