Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Griffenfeld, Peder Schumacher, Count

(Encyclopedia)Griffenfeld, Peder Schumacher, Count pāˈᵺər sho͞oˈmäkhər, grĭfˈənfĕlt [key], 1635–99, Danish politician. The son of a merchant, he became (1665) secretary to Frederick III. In 1665 Grif...

Graf, Steffi

(Encyclopedia)Graf, Steffi gräf, grăf [key], 1969–, German tennis player. A powerful baseliner, she drew international attention by winning the 1984 Olympic demonstration event. Graf won her first major title, ...

Remarque, Erich Maria

(Encyclopedia)Remarque, Erich Maria āˈrĭkh märēˈä rəmärkˈ [key], 1898–1970, German-American novelist, whose original name was Erich Paul Remark. From his experience of trench warfare during World War I,...

Perse, St.-John

(Encyclopedia)Perse, St.-John, pseud. of Alexis Saint-Léger Léger, 1887–1975, French poet and diplomat, b. West Indies. Léger, an opponent of appeasement of the Nazis, was enormously influential in France's fo...

Speranski, Mikhail Mikhailovich

(Encyclopedia)Speranski, Mikhail Mikhailovich mēkhəyēlˈ mēkhīˈləvĭch spyĭränˈskē [key], 1772–1839, Russian public official, chief adviser to Czar Alexander I (1808–12). The son of a village priest,...

Argyll, Archibald Campbell, 5th earl of

(Encyclopedia)Argyll, Archibald Campbell, 5th earl of, 1530–73, Scottish statesman. He and Lord James Stuart (later earl of Murray) became followers of John Knox in 1556 and led the troops of the Scottish Protest...

John, Augustus Edwin

(Encyclopedia)John, Augustus Edwin, 1879–1961, British painter and etcher, b. Wales. John studied at the Slade School, London. A leading portrait painter, he had many important sitters, among them Queen Elizabeth...

Halsey, William Frederick, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Halsey, William Frederick, Jr. (Bull Halsey) hôlˈsē [key], 1882–1959, American admiral, b. Elizabeth, N.J., grad. Annapolis, 1904. In World War II he led (Jan., 1942) a spectacular carrier raid a...

Fitzwilliam, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Fitzwilliam, Sir William, 1526–99, lord deputy of Ireland. He acquired (1547) land in Ireland by a grant of Edward VI. Although a Protestant, he was loyal to Queen Mary I, and she appointed him keep...

Foxe, John

(Encyclopedia)Foxe, John, 1516–87, English clergyman, author of the noted Book of Martyrs. He early became a Protestant and, when Mary Tudor became queen, he fled from England to Strasbourg. There was printed (15...