Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Taurage

(Encyclopedia)Taurage tourägāˈ [key], Ger. Tauroggen, town, W Lithuania, on the Yura River. Dating from the 13th cent., Taurage belonged to Prussia from 1691 to 1793, when it passed to Russia. It was incorporate...

Culbertson, Ely

(Encyclopedia)Culbertson, Ely ēˈlē kŭlˈbərtsən [key], 1891–1955, American authority on contract bridge, b. Romania. His father was an American engineer then living in Romania, and his mother was of Russian...

Christian X

(Encyclopedia)Christian X, 1870–1947, king of Denmark (1912–47) and Iceland (1912–44), son and successor of Frederick VIII and brother of King Haakon VII of Norway. He granted (1915) a new constitution that i...

Escoffier, Georges Auguste

(Encyclopedia)Escoffier, Georges Auguste zhôrzh ôgüstˈ ĕskôfyāˈ [key], 1846–1935, French authority on cooking. Regarded by some as the greatest chef in history, he went to work at the age of 13 in his unc...

Frith, John

(Encyclopedia)Frith or Fryth, John both: frĭth [key], 1503–33, English Protestant martyr. He aided William Tyndale in translating the New Testament. After a short time in prison because of suspected heresy, Frit...

Hilprecht, Hermann Volrath

(Encyclopedia)Hilprecht, Hermann Volrath hĕrˈmän fôlˈrät hĭlˈprĕkht [key], 1859–1925, American Assyriologist, b. Germany; Ph.D. Univ. of Leipzig, 1883. He is noted as an authority on cuneiform writing. H...

Helmand

(Encyclopedia)Helmand or Helmund both: hĕlˈmənd [key], river, c.700 mi (1,130 km) long, rising in the Hindu Kush Mts., NE Afghanistan and flowing generally SW to the Sistan basin, SW Afghanistan, where it helps ...

Bremer, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Bremer, Paul (Lewis Paul Bremer 3d) brĕˈmər [key], 1941–, U.S. diplomat and government official, b. Hartford, Conn. A career diplomat in the Foreign Service from 1966 to 1989, he was ambassador t...

Breuil, Henri

(Encyclopedia)Breuil, Henri äbāˈ [key], 1877–1961, French archaeologist, paleontologist, and cleric. He taught at the Institut de paléontologie humaine, Paris, after 1910. During much of his lifetime, Breuil ...

Winckelmann, Johann Joachim

(Encyclopedia)Winckelmann, Johann Joachim yōˈhän yōäˈkhĭm vĭngˈkəlmän [key], 1717–68, German classical archaeologist and historian of ancient art, in which field he was a noted authority. A convert to ...