Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Smith, Dean Edwards

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Dean Edwards, 1931–2015, American college basketball coach, b. Emporia, Kans. After playing basketball at the Univ. of Kansas (grad. 1953), Smith joined (1954) the Air Force and became an ass...

Lang, Fritz

(Encyclopedia)Lang, Fritz läng [key], 1890–1976, German-American film director, b. Vienna. His silent and early sound films, notably the iconic masterpiece Metropolis (1926) with its dystopian vision of the futu...

Burton, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Burton, Richard, 1925–84, British actor, b. Pontrhydfen, Wales; his original name was Richard Jenkins. A dark, introspective actor with a splendid speaking voice, Burton specialized in portraying co...

Mauriac, François

(Encyclopedia)Mauriac, François fräNswäˈ mōryäkˈ [key], 1885–1970, French writer. Mauriac achieved success in 1922 and 1923 with Le Baiser au lépreux and Genitrix (tr. of both in The Family, 1930). Genera...

Diefenbaker, John George

(Encyclopedia)Diefenbaker, John George dēˈfənbāˌkər [key], 1895–1979, Canadian political leader. Elected to Parliament (1940), he succeeded George Drew as leader of the Progressive Conservative party (1956)...

Dillon, John Forrest

(Encyclopedia)Dillon, John Forrest, 1831–1914, American jurist, b. Montgomery co., N.Y., M.D. State Univ. of Iowa, 1850. He abandoned medical practice early in his career and was admitted to the Iowa bar in 1852....

Dyson, Freeman John

(Encyclopedia)Dyson, Freeman John dīˈsən [key], 1923–2020, British-American theoretical physicist and mathematician, studied Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A., 1945) and Cornell. He did bomber operations resear...

Eaton, John Henry

(Encyclopedia)Eaton, John Henry, 1790–1856, U.S. Senator (1818–29) and Secretary of War (1829–31), b. Halifax co., N.C. After being admitted to the bar, he practiced in Franklin, Tenn., and married Myra Lewis...

Edwards, John Reid

(Encyclopedia)Edwards, John Reid (Johnny Reid Edwards), 1953–, U.S. politician, b. Seneca, S.C., grad. North Carolina State Univ. (B.A., 1974), Univ. of North Carolina (J.D., 1977). The son of a textile-mill work...

DeLorean, John Zachary

(Encyclopedia)DeLorean, John Zachary, 1925–2005, American automobile executive and entrepeneur, b. Detroit. Son of a Ford Motor Co. worker, he attended the Lawrence Institute of Technology (B.S. 1948) and later e...