Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Locke, Alain LeRoy

(Encyclopedia)Locke, Alain LeRoy, 1885–1954, American writer, educator, philosopher, and cultural critic, b. Philadelphia, grad. Harvard (A.B., 1907; Ph.D., 1918), first African-American Rhodes Scholar at Oxford ...

International Telecommunication Union

(Encyclopedia)International Telecommunication Union (ITU), specialized agency of the United Nations, with headquarters at Geneva. It was created in 1934 as a result of the merging of the International Telegraph Uni...

Business Roundtable

(Encyclopedia)Business Roundtable (BRT), an association consisting of the chief executive officers of major U.S. corporations that was founded in 1972 through the mer...

Tughril Beg

(Encyclopedia)Tughril Beg to͞ogˈrēl bĕg [key], 990–1063, founder of the Seljuk Turk dynasty ruling (11th–14th cent.) parts of Anatolia, Iraq, Persia, and Syria. He was early successful in conquests with his...

Siniora, Fouad

(Encyclopedia)Siniora, Fouad fo͞oädˈ sĭnyôrˈä [key], 1943–, Lebanese business and political leader, prime minister of Lebanon, (2005–9), b. Sidon. He pursued a career in banking and finance, holding posi...

Achebe, Chinua

(Encyclopedia)Achebe, Chinua chĭnˈwä ächāˈbā [key], 1930–2013, Nigerian writer, b. Albert Chinualumogu Achebe. A graduate of University College, Ibadan (1953), Achebe, an Igbo who wrote in English, is one ...

Laurence, Margaret

(Encyclopedia)Laurence, Margaret (Jean Margaret Laurence), 1926–87, Canadian novelist, b. Manitoba. She lived in Somaliland, Ghana, and England and many of her early works had an African setting. Laurence was par...

Wright, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Wright, Richard, 1908–60, American author. An African American born on a Mississippi plantation, Wright struggled through a difficult childhood and worked to educate himself. He moved to Chicago in ...

Gregory, Wilton Daniel

(Encyclopedia)Gregory, Wilton Daniel, 1947–, American Roman Catholic cardinal, b. Chicago. Ordained in 1973, he was educated at Niles College (now St. Joseph's College Seminary) of Loyola Univ., Chicago, St. Mary...

Rotary International

(Encyclopedia)Rotary International, organization of business and professional people, founded (1905) by Paul Percy Harris, a Chicago lawyer. Beginning with one club in Chicago, it spread to other cities, and in 191...