Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

404 results found

Plath, Sylvia

(Encyclopedia)Plath, Sylvia, 1932–63, American poet, b. Boston. Educated at Smith College and Cambridge, Plath published poems even as a child and won many academic and literary awards. Her first volume of poetry...

Fischer, Emil

(Encyclopedia)Fischer, Emil fĭshˈər [key], 1852–1919, German organic chemist. He is especially noted for his researches on the structure and synthesis of sugars and of purines and purine base derivatives, e.g...

Schleicher, Kurt von

(Encyclopedia)Schleicher, Kurt von, 1882–1934, German general. A leading Reichswehr (army) figure after World War I, Schleicher wielded great power in the years before Adolf Hitler came to power (1933). He was wa...

Ossietzky, Carl von

(Encyclopedia)Ossietzky, Carl von fən ôsyĕtˈskē [key], 1889–1938, German pacifist. A leader of the peace movement in Germany after World War I, he was editor of the antimilitarist weekly Weltbühne from 1927...

Pevsner, Sir Nikolaus

(Encyclopedia)Pevsner, Sir Nikolaus pĕvzˈnər [key], 1902–83, English architectural historian, b. Germany. Influenced by Heinrich Wölfflin, Pevsner contended in his many works that art must be considered withi...

Richter, Sviatoslav

(Encyclopedia)Richter, Sviatoslav rĭkhˈtər [key], 1915–97, Russian pianist, b. Ukraine. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory under Heinrich Neuhaus. After earning an impressive critical reputation, he was aw...

Levertov, Denise

(Encyclopedia)Levertov, Denise lĕvˈərtôfˌ [key], 1923–97, Anglo-American poet, b. Ilford, England. Educated in England, she came to the United States in 1948. Her spare, emotional poems hint at an intuitive ...

meistersinger

(Encyclopedia)meistersinger mīˈstərsĭngˌər, Ger. mīˈshtərzĭngˌər [key] [Ger.,=mastersinger], a member of one of the musical and poetic guilds that flourished in German cities during the 15th and 16th ce...

Appia, Adolphe

(Encyclopedia)Appia, Adolphe ädôlfˈ äpˈpyä [key], 1862–1928, Swiss theorist of modern stage lighting and décor. In interpreting Wagner's ideas in scenic designs for his operas, Appia rejected painted scene...

Sawallisch, Wolfgang

(Encyclopedia)Sawallisch, Wolfgang, 1923–2013, German conductor, b. Munich. A specialist in the classical German repertoire, Sawallisch began conducting as a teenager. After World War II, he became a coach at the...