Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Zurbarán, Francisco de

(Encyclopedia)Zurbarán, Francisco de fränthēsˈkō ᵺā tho͝orbäränˈ [key], 1598–1664, Spanish baroque painter, active mainly at Llerena, Madrid, and Seville. One of the finest painters of 17th-century Sp...

Alexis, czar of Russia

(Encyclopedia)Alexis əlyĭksyāˈ mēkhīˈləvĭch [key], 1629–76, czar of Russia (1645–76), son and successor of Michael. His reign, marked by numerous popular outbreaks, was crucial for the later developmen...

Oxford, city, England

(Encyclopedia)Oxford, city (1991 pop. 113,847) and district, county seat of Oxfordshire, S central England. In addition to its importance as the site of the Univ. of Oxford, the city has significant industries, inc...

Jay, Ricky

(Encyclopedia)Jay, Ricky, 1946–2018, American magician, actor, and writer, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., as Richard Jay Potash. The grandson of a fine amateur magician, Jay first performed at age four and as a teenager bega...

Gwathmey, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Gwathmey, Robert gwăthˈmē [key], 1903–88, American painter, b. Richmond, Va. Gwathmey taught at Cooper Union from 1942 to 1968. Among the first white artists to portray African Americans with dig...

Simic, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Simic, Charles sĭmˈĭc [key], 1938–2023, American poet, b. Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now in S...

Socinianism

(Encyclopedia)Socinianism sōsĭˈnēənĭzəm [key], anti-Trinitarian religious movement organized in Poland in the 16th cent. by Faustus Socinus. Antecedents of the movement were such Italian humanist reformers a...

Pence, Mike

(Encyclopedia)Pence, Mike (Michael Richard Pence), 1959–, Vice President of the United States (2017–21), b. Columbus, Ind., grad. Hanover College, 1981, Indiana Univ. law school, 1986. A Republican, he twice ra...

Central Intelligence Agency

(Encyclopedia)Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), independent executive bureau of the U.S. government established by the National Security Act of 1947, replacing the wartime Office of Strategic Services (1942–45),...

Mandaeans

(Encyclopedia)Mandaeans or Mandeans mănˈdēənz [key], a small religious sect who maintain an ancient belief resembling that of Gnosticism and that of the Parsis. They are also known as Christians of St. John, Na...