Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Diderot, Denis

(Encyclopedia)Diderot, Denis dənēˈ dēdərōˈ [key], 1713–84, French encyclopedist, philosopher of materialism, and critic of art and literature, b. Langres. He was also a novelist, satirist, and dramatist. D...

Jagiello

(Encyclopedia)Jagiello yägĕˈlō [key], dynasty that ruled Poland and Lithuania from 1386 to 1572, Hungary from 1440 to 1444 and again from 1490 to 1526, and Bohemia from 1471 to 1526. It took its name from Ladis...

Cádiz

(Encyclopedia)Cádiz käˈdēth [key], city, capital of Cádiz prov., SW Spain, in Andalusia, on the Bay of...

Dryden, John

(Encyclopedia)Dryden, John, 1631–1700, English poet, dramatist, and critic, b. Northamptonshire, grad. Cambridge, 1654. He went to London about 1657 and first came to public notice with his Heroic Stanzas (1659),...

Dulbecco, Renato

(Encyclopedia)Dulbecco, Renato rənätˈō dŭlbĕkˈō [key], 1914–2012, Italian-American virologist, b. Catanzaro, Italy. In 1947 he came to the United States to work with Salvador Luria at Indiana Univ. in Blo...

Lowell, James Russell

(Encyclopedia)Lowell, James Russell, 1819–91, American poet, critic, and editor, b. Cambridge, Mass. He was influential in revitalizing the intellectual life of New England in the mid-19th cent. Educated at Harva...

Kerry, John Forbes

(Encyclopedia)Kerry, John Forbes, 1943–, U.S. politician, b. Denver, grad. Yale, 1966, Boston College law school, 1976. A decorated navy veteran who served two tours in Vietnam after graduating from Yale, Kerry w...

Locke, Alain LeRoy

(Encyclopedia)Locke, Alain LeRoy, 1885–1954, American writer, educator, philosopher, and cultural critic, b. Philadelphia, grad. Harvard (A.B., 1907; Ph.D., 1918), first African-American Rhodes Scholar at Oxford ...

Kaufman, George S.

(Encyclopedia)Kaufman, George S. kôfˈmən [key], 1889–1961, American dramatist and journalist, b. Pittsburgh as George Kaufman. As a drama critic for various New York newspapers he was influential in raising th...

Root, Elihu

(Encyclopedia)Root, Elihu, 1845–1937, American cabinet member and diplomat, b. Clinton, N.Y. Admitted to the bar in 1867, he practiced law in New York City, became prominent in Republican politics, and was appoin...