Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Inchbald, Elizabeth

(Encyclopedia)Inchbald, Elizabeth ĭnchˈbôld [key], 1753–1821, English author. The daughter of a farmer, Joseph Simpson, she went to London in 1772 to seek her fortune on the stage. The same year she married a ...

Huysmans, Joris Karl

(Encyclopedia)Huysmans, Joris Karl zhōrēsˈ kärl üēsmäNsˈ [key], 1848–1907, French novelist and art critic of Dutch family. He was at first a disciple of Zola; typical of his early, naturalistic novels is ...

Monk, Thelonius

(Encyclopedia)Monk, Thelonius (Thelonius Sphere Monk), 1917–82, American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, b. Rocky Mount, N.C. Monk is considered one of the most important, and eccentric, figures in modern j...

Murasaki Shikibu

(Encyclopedia)Murasaki Shikibu mo͞oˌräsäˈkē shēˌkēbo͞oˈ [key], c.978–1031?, Japanese novelist, court figure at the height of the Heian period (794–1185). Known also as Lady Murasaki, she is celebrate...

Keaton, Buster

(Encyclopedia)Keaton, Buster (Joseph Francis Keaton), 1895–1966, American movie actor, b. Piqua, Kans. Considered one of the greatest comic actors in film history, Keaton used his considerable acrobatic skills, w...

Marley, Bob

(Encyclopedia)Marley, Bob (Robert Nesta Marley), 1945–81, Jamaican reggae singer, songwriter, and guitarist. As a member of the Wailers, a reggae band that included...

Bewick, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Bewick, Thomas byo͞oˈĭk [key], 1753–1828, English wood engraver. Bewick pioneered in the revival of original wood engraving. Among his famous early works are his illustrations for John Gay's Fabl...

Best, Charles Herbert

(Encyclopedia)Best, Charles Herbert, 1899–1978, Canadian physiologist, b. West Pembroke, Maine. With F. G. Banting and J. R. R. Macleod he discovered (1921) the use of insulin in the treatment of diabetes. He was...

Schwartz, Delmore

(Encyclopedia)Schwartz, Delmore, 1913–66, American poet, b. New York City, grad. New York Univ., 1935. He was an editor of the Partisan Review (1943–55). His first work, In Dreams Begin Responsibilities, includ...

spectroheliograph

(Encyclopedia)spectroheliograph, device for photographing the surface of the sun in a single wavelength of light, usually one corresponding to a chief element contained in the sun, e.g., hydrogen or calcium; the re...