Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

286 results found

Munk, Walter Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Munk, Walter Heinrich, 1917–2019, American oceanographer and geophysicist, b. Vienna (then in Austria-Hungary), B.S. California Institute of Technology, 1939, Ph.D Univ. of California, Los Angeles, ...

Fast, Howard

(Encyclopedia)Fast, Howard, 1914–2003, American author, b. New York City. A prolific writer, he is best known for historical novels that mainly concern rebellion against various forms of tyranny. They include Cit...

Genet, Edmond Charles Édouard

(Encyclopedia)Genet, Edmond Charles Édouard ĕdmôNˈ shärl ādwärˈ zhənāˈ [key], 1763–1834, French diplomat, known as Citizen Genet. He had served as a French representative in Berlin, Vienna, and St. Pet...

Bloembergen, Nicolaas

(Encyclopedia)Bloembergen, Nicolaas nēˈkəläs blo͞omˈbĕrgən, –bûrgən [key], 1920–2017, American physicist, b. Dordrecht, the Netherlands. Educated in the Netherlands, he began work at Harvard in 1946, ...

Brazza, Pierre Paul François Camille Savorgnan de

(Encyclopedia)Brazza, Pierre Paul François Camille Savorgnan de pyĕr pōl fräNswäˈ kämēˈyə sävôrnyäNˈ də bräzäˈ [key], 1852–1905, Franco-Italian empire builder. He was born Pietro Paolo Savorgnan...

Campbell, William Cecil

(Encyclopedia)Campbell, William Cecil, 1930–, Irish-American biologist and parasitologist, b. Derry, Northern Ireland, Ph.D. Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison, 1957. He became a U.S. citizen in 1962. From 1957 to 1990...

Torvalds, Linus Benedict

(Encyclopedia)Torvalds, Linus Benedict, 1969–, Finnish-American computer software engineer. A member of Finland's Swedish-speaking minority, he attended the Univ. of Helsinki (M.S., 1996), where he also taught. I...

Davis, Henry Winter

(Encyclopedia)Davis, Henry Winter, 1817–65, American political leader, b. Annapolis, Md. He was elected (1854) to the House of Representatives on the Know-Nothing ticket and was twice reelected (1856, 1858) with ...

Cooke, Alistair

(Encyclopedia)Cooke, Alistair, 1908–2004, Anglo-American journalist, b. Salford, England, as Alfred Cooke; grad. Cambridge, 1930, where he officially adopted the name Alistair. Cooke became famous in Britain for ...

Cordeliers

(Encyclopedia)Cordeliers kôrdəlyāˈ [key], political club of the French Revolution. Founded (1790) as the Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, it was called after its original meeting ...

Browse by Subject