Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Percy, Walker

(Encyclopedia)Percy, Walker, 1916–90, American novelist, b. Birmingham, Ala. Trained as a physician, Percy turned to writing after he contracted tuberculosis and was forced to retire from practice. His novels The...

Li Ch'ing-chao

(Encyclopedia)Li Ch'ing-chao lēˈ chĭngˌ-chouˈ [key], 1084?–c.1151, Chinese poet. Li's 78 extant song lyrics [tz'u] have earned her a reputation as a master of lyrical poetry. She achieves a simple, natural v...

Lilith

(Encyclopedia)Lilith lĭlˈĭth [key], female demon of Jewish mythology, originally probably the Assyrian storm demon Lilitu. In Talmudic tradition many evil attributes were given to this supposedly nocturnal creat...

Larkin, Thomas Oliver

(Encyclopedia)Larkin, Thomas Oliver, 1802–58, American merchant and diplomatic agent, b. Charlestown, Mass. He settled (1832) in Monterey, Calif., where he became a successful merchant trading with Mexico and the...

Potter, Beatrix

(Encyclopedia)Potter, Beatrix, 1866–1943, English author and illustrator. She published her first animal stories, The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902) and The Tailor of Gloucester (1903), at her own expense before she...

Brown, Michael Stuart

(Encyclopedia)Brown, Michael Stuart, 1941–, American molecular geneticist, b. New York City, M.D. Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1966. He worked (1968–71) as a researcher at the National Institutes of Health before goi...

Bruce, James

(Encyclopedia)Bruce, James, 1730–94, Scottish explorer in Africa. He explored Roman ruins in N Africa (1755) from Tunis to Tripoli and visited Crete, Rhodes, and Asia Minor. In 1768 he traveled down the Red Sea a...

Burt, Cyril Lodowic

(Encyclopedia)Burt, Cyril Lodowic lŏdˈəwĭk, lōˈdə– [key], 1883–1971, British psychologist. Educated at Oxford and Würzburg, he became a prominent figure in psychology. Burt made significant contribution...

Victorio

(Encyclopedia)Victorio, d. 1880, chief of the Ojo Caliente [warm spring] Apache, at one time a lieutenant of Mangas Coloradas. When his people were removed from their ancestral home to the desolate reservation at S...

Tappan, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Tappan, Arthur tăpˈən [key], 1786–1865, American abolitionist, b. Northampton, Mass. He made a fortune in the dry-goods business in New York City and with his brother and partner Lewis Tappan gav...