Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

King, Ernest Joseph

(Encyclopedia)King, Ernest Joseph, 1878–1956, American admiral, commander in chief of the U.S. fleet (1941–45), b. Lorain, Ohio. A graduate of Annapolis, he distinguished himself in many branches of naval servi...

Prescott, William

(Encyclopedia)Prescott, William, 1726–95, American Revolutionary officer, b. Groton, Mass. He saw service in the French and Indian Wars. In the American Revolution, he fortified (1775) Breed's Hill for the coloni...

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

(Encyclopedia)Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), agency of the U.S. Public Health Service since 1973, with headquarters in Atlanta; it was established in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center. The ...

Bulwer-Lytton, Edward Robert, 1st earl of Lytton

(Encyclopedia)Bulwer-Lytton, Edward Robert, 1st earl of Lytton, pseud. Owen Meredith, 1831–91, English diplomat and poet; son of the novelist, Bulwer-Lytton. He was in the diplomatic service from 1850 to 1875, wh...

Burke, Robert O'Hara

(Encyclopedia)Burke, Robert O'Hara, 1820–61, Irish explorer of Australia. After service in the Belgian and Austrian armies he went (1853) as inspector of police to Melbourne. In 1860, with W. J. Wills and eight o...

Veterans of Foreign Wars

(Encyclopedia)Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), organization created (1899) at Columbus, Ohio, by veterans of the Spanish-American War. It received a charter from Congress in 1936. The organization later admitted vet...

Voice of America

(Encyclopedia)Voice of America, broadcasting service of the United States Information Agency, est. 1942. Originally set up as a means of fighting the cold war, the Voice of America produces and broadcasts radio pro...

Castex, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Castex, Jean, 1965–, French government official and political leader. A member of the center-right Republicans (and its predecessor, the Union for a Popular Movement), Castex has held a variety of c...

Tarde, Gabriel de

(Encyclopedia)Tarde, Gabriel de gäbrēĕlˈ də tärd [key], 1843–1904, French sociologist and criminologist. During his years of public service as a magistrate, he became interested in the psychosocial bases of...

White, Robert Michael

(Encyclopedia)White, Robert Michael, 1924–2010, American aviator, b. New York City. A fighter pilot during World War II, he was shot down over Germany and held in a prisoner-of-war camp (Feb.–Apr, 1945); he was...