Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Anak

(Encyclopedia)Anak āˈnăk [key], according to a folk tradition in the Bible, an ancestor of the Anakim, a tribe of giants inhabiting Hebron and its vicinity at the time of the Israelite conquest of Canaan. Arba i...

Getty, Jean Paul

(Encyclopedia)Getty, Jean Paul, 1892–1976, American business executive, one of the richest men in the world during his life, b. Minneapolis, Minn. He inherited his father's oil business, George F. Getty, Inc., be...

Fontana, Prospero

(Encyclopedia)Fontana, Prospero fōntäˈnä [key], 1512–97, Italian mannerist painter, father of Lavinia Fontana. He aided Primaticcio in the decoration of Fontainebleau but was active chiefly in Bologna, where...

Galilei, Vincenzo

(Encyclopedia)Galilei, Vincenzo vēnchĕnˈtsō gälēlĕˈē [key], d. 1591, Italian lutenist, singer, writer, and composer; father of Galileo. As a member of the Florentine camerata (see opera), he was one of the...

Gatti-Casazza, Giulio

(Encyclopedia)Gatti-Casazza, Giulio jo͞oˈlyō gätˈtē-käzätˈsä [key], 1869–1940, Italian operatic manager. In 1893 he succeeded his father as director of the municipal theater at Ferrara. After directing ...

Minton

(Encyclopedia)Minton, English family of potters. The first important member of the family was Thomas Minton, 1765–1836, who founded a small pottery at Stoke-on-Trent. He first engraved the famous willow-pattern w...

Michaiah

(Encyclopedia)Michaiah mīkāˈyə, mīˌkāīˈyə [key], in the Bible. 1 Father of Abdon (2.) It also appears as Micah. 2 Same as Maachah (3.) 3 Prince sent by Jehoshaphat to teach in Judah. 4 Son of Gemariah who...

Oliva, Peace of

(Encyclopedia)Oliva, Peace of ōlēˈvə, –vä [key], 1660, treaty signed at Oliva (now a suburb of Gdańsk) by Poland and Sweden. John II of Poland renounced the theoretical claim of his line to the Swedish crow...

Pacheco, Francisco

(Encyclopedia)Pacheco, Francisco fränthēsˈkō pächāˈkō [key], c.1564–1654, Spanish portrait and religious painter. Although fine examples of his work are in the galleries of Madrid and Seville, he is best ...

Peirce, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Peirce, Benjamin, 1809–80, American mathematician and astronomer, b. Salem, Mass., grad. Harvard, 1829. From 1833 he was a professor at Harvard; he helped establish the Harvard Observatory and was a...