Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Caligula

(Encyclopedia)Caligula kəlĭgˈyo͝olə [key], a.d. 12–a.d. 41, Roman emperor (a.d. 37–a.d. 41); son of Germanicus Caesar and Agrippina the Elder. His real name was Caius Caesar Germanicus. As a small child, h...

Cash, Johnny

(Encyclopedia)Cash, Johnny, 1932–2003, American singer and songwriter, b. Kingsland, Ark. Born to a farm family, he went to Memphis in 1955 and recorded such hits as “I Walk the Line” (1956) and “Ring of Fi...

Biddle, Nicholas, American financier

(Encyclopedia)Biddle, Nicholas, 1786–1844, American financier, b. Philadelphia. After holding important posts in the American legations in France and England, he returned to the United States in 1807 and became o...

Black, Timuel Dixon, Jr.

(Encyclopedia) Black, Timuel Dixon, Jr., 1918-2021, American social activist and community organizer, b. Birmingham, Al., Roosevelt Univ. (B.A., 1952), Univ. of ...

Celtic art

(Encyclopedia)Celtic art kĕlˈtĭk, sĕlˈ– [key]. The earliest clearly Celtic style in art was developed in S Germany and E France by tribal artisans of the mid- to late 5th cent. b.c. With the dispersal of Cel...

broadcasting

(Encyclopedia)broadcasting, transmission, usually using radio frequencies, of sound or images to a large number of radio or television receivers. In the United States the first regularly scheduled radio broadcasts ...

Marshall, John

(Encyclopedia)Marshall, John, 1755–1835, American jurist, 4th chief justice of the United States (1801–35), b. Virginia. Marshall in his arguments drew much from his colleagues, especially his devoted adhe...

Lewis, Sinclair

(Encyclopedia)Lewis, Sinclair, 1885–1951, American novelist, b. Sauk Centre, Minn., grad. Yale Univ., 1908. Probably the greatest satirist of his era, Lewis wrote novels that present a devastating picture of midd...

Miles, Nelson Appleton

(Encyclopedia)Miles, Nelson Appleton, 1839–1925, American army officer, b. near Westminster, Mass. In 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil War, he left his job in a Boston store and organized a company of volunteer...

Modoc

(Encyclopedia)Modoc mōˈdŏk [key], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Sahaptin-Chinook branch of the Penutian linguistic stock (see Native American languages). They formerly lived in SW Oregon a...