Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

breast cancer

(Encyclopedia)breast cancer, cancer that originates in the breast. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women (following lung cancer). Although the vast majority of the cases occur in women,...

Frank, Anne

(Encyclopedia)Frank, Anne, 1929–45, German diarist, b. Frankfurt as Anneliese Marie Frank. In order to escape Nazi persecution, her family emigrated (1933) to Amsterdam, where her father Otto became a business ow...

Comstock Lode

(Encyclopedia)Comstock Lode, richest known U.S. silver deposit, W Nevada, on Mt. Davidson in the Virginia Range. It is said to have been discovered in 1857 by Ethan Allen Grosh and Hosea Ballou Grosh, sons of a Pen...

finance

(Encyclopedia)finance, theory and practice of conducting large public and private dealings in money. Important institutions of private finance include those that deal with insurance, banking, stocks (see stock), bo...

Fort Wayne

(Encyclopedia)Fort Wayne, city (2020 pop. 263,886), seat of Allen co., NE Ind., where the St. Joseph and St. Marys rivers join to form the Maumee River; inc. 1840. It...

Mekas, Jonas

(Encyclopedia)Mekas, Jonas, 1922–2019, Lithuanian-American avant-garde filmmaker, critic, and journalist. During and after World War II, he and his younger brother, Adolfus, were interned in labor and displaced-p...

Pasolini, Pier Paolo

(Encyclopedia)Pasolini, Pier Paolo pyĕr päˈōlō päsōlēˈnē [key], 1922–75, Italian writer and film director. A former Roman Catholic and a Marxist, Pasolini brought to his work a combination of religious ...

Kony, Joseph Rao

(Encyclopedia)Kony, Joseph Rao, 1964?–, Ugandan rebel and war criminal. His cousin, Alice Lakwena, led the Holy Spirit Movement against (1986–87) Uganda's President Museveni, and when she was defeated, Kony for...

Bay of Pigs Invasion

(Encyclopedia)Bay of Pigs Invasion, 1961, an unsuccessful invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles, supported by the U.S. government. On Apr. 17, 1961, an armed force of about 1,500 Cuban exiles landed in the Bahía de Coc...

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...

Browse by Subject