Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim

(Encyclopedia)Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim gôtˈhôlt āˈfräĭm [key], 1729–81, German philosopher, dramatist, and critic, one of the most influential figures of the Enlightenment. He was connected with the theat...

McPherson, Aimee Semple

(Encyclopedia)McPherson, Aimee Semple ĕmāˈ, məkfûrˈsən [key], 1890–1944, U.S. evangelist, founder of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, and, in the 1920s and 30s, one of the most famous wom...

Matta

(Encyclopedia)Matta (Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren) rōbĕrˈtō sābästyänˈ äntōnˈyō mätˈtä ĕkhärˈrĕn [key], 1911?–2002, Chilean painter who left his native country for Paris (1935) an...

government

(Encyclopedia)government, system of social control under which the right to make laws, and the right to enforce them, is vested in a particular group in society. There are many classifications of government. Accord...

Ford, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Ford, Richard, 1944–, American novelist, b. Jackson, Miss.; grad. Michigan State Univ. (B.A., 1966), Univ. of California, Irvine (M.F.A., 1970). Ford's concerns are those of a moralist who displays ...

functionalism, in anthropology and sociology

(Encyclopedia)functionalism, in anthropology and sociology, a theory stressing the importance of interdependence among all behavior patterns and institutions within a social system to its long-term survival. It was...

ionosphere

(Encyclopedia)ionosphere īŏnˈəsfēr [key], series of concentric ionized layers forming part of the upper atmosphere of the earth from around 30 to 50 mi (50 to 80 km) to 250 to 370 mi (400 to 600 km) where it m...

Drabble, Margaret

(Encyclopedia)Drabble, Margaret, 1939–, English novelist, b. Sheffield, Yorkshire; sister of A. S. Byatt. Drabble's rigorous and unsentimentally realistic vision of an England split between traditional values and...

Drew, John

(Encyclopedia)Drew, John, 1827–62, American actor, b. Dublin. After establishing a reputation as a comedian in the 1840s, he devoted his energies to the Arch Street Theatre, Philadelphia, where he maintained a fa...

Davies, Robertson

(Encyclopedia)Davies, Robertson (William Robertson Davies) dāˈvĭs [key], 1913–95, Canadian writer and editor. After receiving a B.Litt. from Oxford (1938), he joined the Old Vic Theatre Company before returnin...