Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Thorez, Maurice

(Encyclopedia)Thorez, Maurice mōrēsˈ tôrĕzˈ [key], 1900–1964, French Communist leader. The son of a coal miner, Thorez himself worked in the mines. He early joined the Socialist party and in 1920 became one...

Timoshenko, Semyon Konstantinovich

(Encyclopedia)Timoshenko, Semyon Konstantinovich sĭmyônˈ kənstəntyēˈnəvĭch tyēməshĕnˈkə [key], 1895–1970, Soviet marshal. He served in the civil war of 1918–20 as a cavalry commander and subsequen...

Zhivkov, Todor

(Encyclopedia)Zhivkov, Todor tôˈdôr zhĭvkôfˈ [key], 1911–98, Bulgarian political leader. A printer, and a Communist party member from 1932, he rose to prominence as a partisan leader during World War II and...

Rajagopalachari, Chakravarti

(Encyclopedia)Rajagopalachari, Chakravarti chəkrəvärˈtē räˌjəgōpäˈləchäˌrē [key], 1878–1972, Indian political leader. He was educated in Bangalore (now Bengaluru) and Madras (now Chennai) and admit...

Sampras, Pete

(Encyclopedia)Sampras, Pete sămˈprəs [key], 1971–, American tennis player, b. Washington, D.C. Learning the game in the Los Angeles area, he rose to world tennis supremacy after becoming the youngest man to wi...

Roland de la Platière, Jeanne Manon Philipon

(Encyclopedia)Roland de la Platière, Jeanne Manon Philipon (Mme Roland) rôläNˈ də lä plätyĕrˈ [key], 1754–93, French revolutionary. Imbued with classical ideals and with the philosophy of Rousseau, she ...

Rostopchin, Feodor Vasilyevich, Count

(Encyclopedia)Rostopchin, Feodor Vasilyevich, Count fyôˈdər vəsēˈlyəvĭch, rəstəpchēnˈ [key], 1763–1826, Russian general and statesman. He rose rapidly under Czar Paul I, serving as foreign minister fr...

Printz, Johan Björnsson

(Encyclopedia)Printz, Johan Björnsson yo͞oˈhän byörnˈsōn prĭnts [key], 1592–1663, colonial governor of New Sweden, b. Bottnaryd, Sweden. After serving as a mercenary in the armies of various European prin...

pear

(Encyclopedia)pear, name for a fruit tree of the genus Pyrus of the family Rosaceae (rose family) and for its fruit, a pome. The common pear (P. communis) is one of the earliest cultivated of fruit trees, both in i...

Almquist, Carl Jonas Love

(Encyclopedia)Almquist, Carl Jonas Love kärl yo͞oˈnäs lo͞oˈvə älmˈkvĭst [key], 1793–1866, Swedish writer. He was one of the few Swedish authors developing the novel in the period 1830–50. At first a s...