Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Moore, Mary Tyler

(Encyclopedia)Moore, Mary Tyler, 1936–2017, American actress, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. Although she began her career as a dancer, Moore's success blossomed with her roles on television, first in small parts on various s...

Oud, Jacobus Johannes Pieter

(Encyclopedia)Oud, Jacobus Johannes Pieter yäkōˈbəs yōhäˈnəs pēˈtər out [key], 1890–1963, Dutch architect. Oud's interest in abstract painting led him to conceive of buildings composed in terms of pure...

Australian Ballet

(Encyclopedia)Australian Ballet, national ballet company of Australia, founded in Melbourne in 1962; its school was established in 1964. The company drew on the tradition established (1940) by Edouard Borovansky of...

Rigaud, Hyacinthe

(Encyclopedia)Rigaud, Hyacinthe (Hyacinthe Rigaud y Ros) ē rôs [key], 1659–1743, French portrait painter, b. Perpignan. From 1688 he became almost exclusively the official painter of the French court. His sitt...

Rives, William Cabell

(Encyclopedia)Rives, William Cabell rēvz [key], 1793–1868, American politician and diplomat, b. Nelson co. (then part of Amherst co.), Va. A lawyer, he sat in the Virginia legislature (1817–21, 1822–23), was...

Rubbia, Carlo

(Encyclopedia)Rubbia, Carlo, 1934–, Italian physicist, Ph.D. Univ. of Pisa, 1957. A professor of physics at the Univ. of Rome and later at Harvard, Rubbia did his most important work with Simon van der Meer at CE...

Forsyth, John

(Encyclopedia)Forsyth, John fôrsīthˈ [key], 1780–1841, American cabinet member, b. Fredericksburg, Va. He began law practice in Augusta, Va., and was in the House of Representatives from 1813 until his electio...

harem

(Encyclopedia)harem hârˈəm [key] [Arabic], term applied to women's apartments in a Muslim household. In the ancient Arab world women enjoyed a certain amount of freedom. However, with the advent of Islam, the ve...

Yonkers

(Encyclopedia)Yonkers yŏnˈkərz [key], city (1990 pop. 188,082), Westchester co., SE N.Y., on the east bank of the Hudson, in a hilly region just N of the Bronx (New York City); inc. 1855. Manufactures include ch...

Reichstag

(Encyclopedia)Reichstag rīkhsˈtäk [key] [Ger.,=imperial parliament], name for the diet of the Holy Roman Empire, for the lower chamber of the federal parliament of the North German Confederation, and for the low...

Browse by Subject