Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Weiss, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Weiss, Peter pāˈtər vīs [key], 1916–82, German-Swedish dramatist, novelist, film director, and painter. Weiss's early novels Abschied von den Eltern (1961; tr. Leavetaking, 1962) and Fluchtpunkt...

Alvord, Henry Elijah

(Encyclopedia)Alvord, Henry Elijah, 1844–1904, American agriculturist, educator, and specialist in dairy husbandry, b. Greenfield, Mass. He pioneered in developing the cooperative creamery system and served (1886...

court system in the United States

(Encyclopedia)court system in the United States, judicial branches of the federal and state governments charged with the application and interpretation of the law. The U.S. court system is divided into two administ...

Elephant Butte Dam

(Encyclopedia)Elephant Butte Dam, main unit of the Rio Grande project of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on the Rio Grande, SW N.Mex.; completed 1916. The dam, with its large reservoir, is used for flood control, hy...

Ahern, Bertie

(Encyclopedia)Ahern, Bertie (Bartholomew Patrick Ahern) əhûrnˈ [key], 1951–, Irish politician, prime minister of the Republic of Ireland (1997–2008). Born into a working-class family, he studied accounting a...

Thomas, Helen Amelia

(Encyclopedia)Thomas, Helen Amelia, 1920–2013, American journalist, b. Winchester, Ky., grad Wayne State Univ. (B.A., 1942). The daughter of Lebanese immigrants, she was a pioneering woman journalist in an era do...

LSD

(Encyclopedia)LSD or lysergic acid diethylamide līˌsûrˈjĭk, dīˌĕthˈələmĭd, dīˌĕthəlămˈĭd [key], alkaloid synthesized from lysergic acid, which is found in the fungus ergot (Claviceps purpurea). I...

Mellon, Andrew William

(Encyclopedia)Mellon, Andrew William, 1855–1937, American financier, industrialist, and public official, b. Pittsburgh. He studied at the Western Univ. of Pennsylvania (now the Univ. of Pittsburgh), but he left c...

Stevenson, Adlai Ewing, 1900–1965, American statesman

(Encyclopedia)Stevenson, Adlai Ewing, 1900–1965, American statesman, b. Los Angeles; grandson of Adlai Ewing Stevenson (1835–1914). A graduate (1922) of Princeton, he received his law degree from Northwestern U...

Reston, James Barrett

(Encyclopedia)Reston, James Barrett (Scotty Reston), 1909–95, American journalist, b. Clydebank, Scotland. His family emigrated to the United States in 1920. After working briefly for the Springfield (Ohio) Daily...