Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Stewart, Jimmy

(Encyclopedia)Stewart, Jimmy (James Maitland Stewart), 1908–97, American actor, b. Indiana, Pa. He began his film career in 1935 and soon gained popularity for his lanky good looks, slow drawl and shy, homespun c...

Albany Regency

(Encyclopedia)Albany Regency, name given, after 1820, to the leaders of the first political machine, which was developed in New York state by Martin Van Buren. The name derived from the charge that Van Buren's prin...

Drude, Paul Karl Ludwig

(Encyclopedia)Drude, Paul Karl Ludwig poul kärl lo͝otˈvĭkh dro͞oˈdə [key], 1863–1906, German physicist. Drude first experimented with the physical determinants of optical constants, measuring the optical c...

Huch, Ricarda

(Encyclopedia)Huch, Ricarda rēkärˈdä ho͝okh [key], 1864–1947, German novelist, historian, and poet. She is best known for her historical romances of Garibaldi, Defeat and Victory (1906–7, tr. 1928, 1929), ...

Hebel, Johann Peter

(Encyclopedia)Hebel, Johann Peter yōˈhän pāˈtər hāˈbəl [key], 1760–1826, German short-story writer and dialect poet. Editor of Der rheinländische Hausfreund [Rhineland home companion] from 1801 to 1811,...

Gorzów Wielkopolski

(Encyclopedia)Gorzów Wielkopolski gôrˈzo͞of vyĕlkôpôlˈskē [key], Ger. Landsberg an der Warthe, city (1994 est. pop. 125,800), capital (with Zielona Góra) of Lubuskie prov., W Poland, on the Warthe River. ...

Müller, Wilhelm

(Encyclopedia)Müller, Wilhelm vĭlˈhĕlmˌ mŭlˈər [key], 1794–1827, German lyric poet; father of Max Müller. His Lieder der Griechen (5 vol., 1821–24) was inspired by the Greek struggle for independence. ...

Lind, Jenny

(Encyclopedia)Lind, Jenny, 1820–87, Swedish soprano. She made her debut in 1838 as Agathe in Weber's Der Freischütz. She studied in Paris and sang in Germany, England, and Sweden. In 1849 she abandoned opera for...

Lenz, Jakob Michael Reinhold

(Encyclopedia)Lenz, Jakob Michael Reinhold yäˈkôp mĭkhˈäĕl rīnˈhôlt lĕnts [key], 1751–92, German writer. He was a friend of Goethe, whom he first imitated, then lampooned. A gifted poet, he wrote lyric...

Wiechert, Ernst

(Encyclopedia)Wiechert, Ernst ĕrnst vēˈkhĕrt [key], 1887–1950, German novelist. His works, distinguished by a poetic prose style, generally deal with his native East Prussia and the upheavals of the world war...