Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

anthropology

(Encyclopedia)anthropology, classification and analysis of humans and their society, descriptively, culturally, historically, and physically. Its unique contribution to studying the bonds of human social relations ...

Loewi, Otto

(Encyclopedia)Loewi, Otto lōˈē [key], 1873–1961, American physiologist and pharmacologist, b. Frankfurt, Germany. He was professor of pharmacology (1909–38) at the Univ. of Graz, Austria, until forced into e...

Sharp, Cecil James

(Encyclopedia)Sharp, Cecil James, 1859–1924, English musician, best known for his researches in English folk music. In 1911 he founded the English Folk Dance Society. In the United States he collected (1914–18)...

Harrington, James

(Encyclopedia)Harrington, James, 1611–77, English political writer. His Commonwealth of Oceana (1656) pictured a utopian society in which political authority rested entirely with the landed gentry. Harrington adv...

Worcester, Noah

(Encyclopedia)Worcester, Noah wo͝osˈtər [key], 1758–1837, American Congregational clergyman, b. Hollis, N.H. He was pastor (1787–1810) at Thornton, N.H. From 1813 to 1818 he was the first editor of the Chris...

Durkheim, Émile

(Encyclopedia)Durkheim, Émile dûrkˈhīm, Fr. āmēlˈ dürkĕmˈ [key], 1858–1917, French sociologist. Along with Max Weber he is considered one of the chief founders of modern sociology. Educated in France an...

L'Enfant, Pierre Charles

(Encyclopedia)L'Enfant, Pierre Charles pyĕr shärl läNfäNˈ [key], 1754–1825, American soldier, engineer, and architect. Born in France, he volunteered as a private in the American Revolution. He won Gen. Wash...

Bing, Elisabeth Dorothea Koenigsberger

(Encyclopedia)Bing, Elisabeth Dorothea Koenigsberger, 1914–2015, American advocate of natural childbirth, b. Berlin. She left Germany for England in 1933, where she trained as a physical therapist and began worki...

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

(Encyclopedia)Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, in central Manhattan, New York City, between 62d and 66th streets W of Broadway. Lincoln Center is both a complex of buildings and the arts organizations that r...

Peale, Charles Willson

(Encyclopedia)Peale, Charles Willson pēl [key], 1741–1827, American portrait painter, naturalist, and inventor, b. Queen Annes County, Md. Charles Willson Peale's brother James Peale, 1749–1831, b. Cheste...