Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

353 results found

European Southern Observatory

(Encyclopedia)European Southern Observatory (ESO), an intergovernmental organization for astronomical research with headquarters in Garching, near Munich, Germany. The ESO began in 1962 as a consortium among Belgiu...

Spielberg, Steven

(Encyclopedia)Spielberg, Steven, 1946–, American film director, b. Cincinnati, Ohio. Spielberg began his career as a television director, admired for his understanding portrayal of human character. His film Jaws ...

Carolingian architecture and art

(Encyclopedia)Carolingian architecture and art, art forms and structures created by the Carolingians. Toward the beginning of the Carolingian Period, in the 8th cent., a gradual change appeared in Western culture a...

Olympic games

(Encyclopedia)CE6 Olympic games, premier athletic meeting of ancient Greece, and, in modern times, series of international sports contests. The modern revival of the Olympic games is due in a large measure to ...

Henry V, king of England

(Encyclopedia)Henry V, 1387–1422, king of England (1413–22), son and successor of Henry IV. Henry abandoned his early recklessness (celebrated and probably exaggerated by Shakespeare) and ruled with justice...

Sumatra

(Encyclopedia)Sumatra so͝omäˈtrə [key], island (1990 pop. 36,471,731), c.183,000 sq mi (473,970 sq km), Indonesia, in the Indian Ocean along the equator, S and W of the Malay Peninsula (from which it is separat...

Dürer, Albrecht

(Encyclopedia)Dürer, Albrecht älˈbrĕkht dürˈər [key], 1471–1528, German painter, engraver, and theoretician, most influential artist of the German school, b. Nuremberg. Dürer's principal accomplishmen...

Rubens, Peter Paul

(Encyclopedia)Rubens, Peter Paul, 1577–1640, foremost Flemish painter of the 17th cent., b. Siegen, Westphalia, where his family had gone into exile because of his father's Calvinist beliefs. Almost every princ...

Bohemia

(Encyclopedia)Bohemia, Czech Čechy, historic region (20,368 sq mi/52,753 sq km) and former kingdom, in W and central Czech Republic. Bohemia is bounded by Austria in the southeast, by Germany in the west and north...

Commonwealth of Independent States

(Encyclopedia)Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), community of independent nations established by a treaty signed at Minsk, Belarus, on Dec. 8, 1991, by the heads of state of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. Bet...