Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Telamon

(Encyclopedia)Telamon tĕlˈəmŏn [key], in Greek mythology, son of Aeacus and father of Ajax. He and Peleus killed their half-brother Phocus and were banished from Aegina. Telamon fled to Salamis, where he became...

Howe, William Howe, 5th Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Howe, William Howe, 5th Viscount, 1729–1814, English general in the American Revolution; younger brother of Admiral Richard Howe. He took up a military career, and in the last of the French and Indi...

John VIII, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)John VIII (John Palaeologus), 1390–1448, Byzantine emperor (1425–48), son and successor of Manuel II. When he acceded, the Byzantine Empire had been reduced by the Turks to the city of Constantino...

Howard, Sir Robert

(Encyclopedia)Howard, Sir Robert, 1626–98, English dramatist. He held several important government posts under Charles II. His introduction to his Foure New Plays (1665) initiated a dispute with his brother-in-la...

Cummins, Albert Baird

(Encyclopedia)Cummins, Albert Baird, 1850–1926, U.S. Senator from Iowa (1909–26), b. Green co., Pa. He studied law in Chicago and in 1878 joined his brother in practice in Des Moines. As governor of Iowa (1901...

Nelson, Wolfred

(Encyclopedia)Nelson, Wolfred, 1792–1863, Canadian rebel, b. Montreal. A brother of Robert Nelson, Wolfred served as a surgeon in the War of 1812. In 1827 he entered the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada as a ...

Æthelbald

(Encyclopedia)Æthelbald ĕˈthəlbôld, ăˈ– [key], d. 757, king of Mercia (716–57), grandson of a brother of Penda. He spent years in exile before he became king. A strong ruler, by 731 he controlled all Eng...

Kincaid, Jamaica

(Encyclopedia)Kincaid, Jamaica, 1949–, West Indian–American writer, b. Antigua as Elaine Potter Richardson. She immigrated to the United States at 16 and later became a U.S. citizen. Changing her name (1973), s...

Joplin, Janis

(Encyclopedia)Joplin, Janis jŏpˈlĭn [key], 1943–70, American blues-rock singer, b. Port Arthur, Tex. After dropping out of college (1963) and singing folk rock in Texas clubs, she moved (1966) to San Francisco...

Jussieu

(Encyclopedia)Jussieu zhüsyöˈ [key], French family of distinguished botanists. Antoine de Jussieu, 1686–1758, was director of the Jardin des Plantes, Paris. He edited Jacques Barrelier's posthumously published...

Browse by Subject