Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Carson, Edward Henry Carson, Baron

(Encyclopedia)Carson, Edward Henry Carson, Baron, 1854–1935, Irish politician. After a successful legal career in Dublin, he was elected to the British Parliament (1892) and called to the English bar (1893). He s...

Chambers, Whittaker

(Encyclopedia)Chambers, Whittaker, 1901–61, U.S. journalist and spy, b. Philadelphia. He joined the U.S. Communist party in 1925 and wrote for its newspaper before engaging (1935–38) in espionage for the USSR. ...

Kamen, Martin David

(Encyclopedia)Kamen, Martin David kāˈmən [key], 1913–2002, American biochemist, b. Toronto, Canada, grad. Univ. of Chicago (B.S., Ph.D. 1937). He discovered carbon-14, the radioactive isotope of carbon used to...

New York Times Company v. Sullivan

(Encyclopedia)New York Times Company v. Sullivan, case decided in 1964 by the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1960, the Times ran a fundraising advertisement signed by civil-rights leaders that criticized, among other thing...

American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters

(Encyclopedia)American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, honorary academy of notable American artists, writers, and composers. The National Institute of Arts and Letters, founded in 1898, served as the par...

Crane, Stephen

(Encyclopedia)Crane, Stephen, 1871–1900, American novelist, poet, and short-story writer, b. Newark, N.J. Often designated the first modern American writer, Crane is ranked among the authors who introduced realis...

astrakhan, pelt and fabric

(Encyclopedia)astrakhan ăsˈtrəkən [key] [from Astrakhan], pelt of the newborn Persian lamb, used like fur in garments, and also the woolen fabric woven to resemble real astrakhan. The cloth is woven on a cotton...

Mexican art and architecture

(Encyclopedia)Mexican art and architecture, works of art and structures produced in the area that is now the country of Mexico. Such arts were already highly developed in the ancient civilizations flourishing befor...

Browse by Subject