Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Kapitza, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Kapitza, Peter käˈpētsə [key], 1894–1984, Russian physicist, educated at the polytechnic institute of Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) and at Cambridge. He developed equipment (for a laboratory at...

Socotra

(Encyclopedia)Socotra səkōˈtrə, sō– [key], island, 1,383 sq mi (3,582 sq km), S Yemen, at the mouth of the Gulf of Aden. With three much smaller islands to the west it forms the Socotra Archipelago governora...

Browder, Earl Russell

(Encyclopedia)Browder, Earl Russell, 1891–1973, American Communist, b. Wichita, Kans. He became converted to socialism as a boy, and after imprisonment (1917–18, 1919–20) for opposing the draft he joined the ...

Pevsner, Antoine

(Encyclopedia)Pevsner, Antoine äNtwänˈ pyĕvzˈnər [key], 1886–1962, Russian sculptor and painter. He was influenced by cubism while in Paris in 1911 and 1913. During World War I he was in Norway with his bro...

Weygand, Maxime

(Encyclopedia)Weygand, Maxime mäksēmˈ vāgäNˈ [key], 1867–1965, French general, b. Belgium. A career army officer, he was (1914–23) chief of staff to Marshal Foch, and in 1920 he directed the defense of Wa...

Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyy

(Encyclopedia)Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyy byĭlˈhərət-dnĕstrôfˈskyē [key], Rus. Belgorod-Dnestrovsky, city, S Ukraine, a port ...

Bishkek

(Encyclopedia)Bishkek fro͞onˈzĕ [key], city (1993 est. pop. 640,700), capital of Kyrgyzstan, on the Chu River and on a branch of the Turkistan-Siberia RR. It is a rail and highway hub and the industrial and cult...

Mao Zedong

(Encyclopedia)Mao Zedong or Mao Tse-tung mou dzŭ-do͝ong [key], 1893–1976, founder of the People's Republic of China. Mao was one of the most prominent Communist theoreticians and his ideas on revolutionary stru...

military government

(Encyclopedia)military government, rule of enemy territory under military occupation. It is distinguished from martial law, which is the temporary rule by domestic armed forces over disturbed areas. The practices o...

Galicia, historic region, Poland and Ukraine

(Encyclopedia)Galicia gəlĭˈshə, –shēə, –ə [key], Pol. Galicja, Ukr. Halychyna, Rus. Galitsiya, historic region (32,332 sq mi/83,740 sq km), SE Poland and W Ukraine, covering the slopes of the N Carpathia...