Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Shapley, Lloyd Stowell

(Encyclopedia)Shapley, Lloyd Stowell shăpˈlē [key], 1923–2016, American mathematician and economist, b. Cambridge, Mass., Ph.D Princeton, 1953; son of Harlow Shapley. He worked at the RAND Corp. from 1954 to 1...

Layamon

(Encyclopedia)Layamon lāˈəmən, –mŏn, līˈ– [key], fl. c.1200, first prominent Middle English poet. He described himself as a humble priest attached to the church at Ernley (Arley Regis) near Radstone. His...

Ronsard, Pierre de

(Encyclopedia)Ronsard, Pierre de pyĕr də rôNsärˈ [key], 1524–1585, French poet. As page, then squire, Ronsard seemed destined for a career at court both in France and abroad. However, deafness turned him to ...

Roach, Max

(Encyclopedia)Roach, Max (Maxwell Lemuel Roach), 1924–2007, African-American jazz drummer, b. Newland, N.C. Raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., he was playing jazz in Harlem clubs by 1943. Roach had an important role in th...

Hamlisch, Marvin

(Encyclopedia)Hamlisch, Marvin, 1944–2012, American composer, conductor, and pianist, b. New York City, grad. Queens College (B.S., 1967). A versatile and prolific composer of melodies ranging from the soulfully ...

Liddell Hart, Sir Basil Henry

(Encyclopedia)Liddell Hart, Sir Basil Henry lĭˈdəl härt [key], 1895–1970, English author and military strategist, b. Paris. His education at Cambridge was interrupted by World War I, in which he served (1914...

Dunham, Katherine

(Encyclopedia)Dunham, Katherine dŭnˈəm [key], 1909?–2006, American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist, b. Chicago. She studied anthropology at the Univ. of Chicago, where she received a B.A. and Ph.D. a...

Ballard, Robert Duane

(Encyclopedia)Ballard, Robert Duane bălˈərd [key], 1942–, American marine geologist, b. Wichita, Kans.; Ph.D. Univ. of Rhode Island, 1974. From 1969 to 1997 he was associated with Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst...

angry young men

(Encyclopedia)angry young men, term applied to a group of English writers of the 1950s whose heroes share certain rebellious and critical attitudes toward society. This phrase, which was originally taken from the t...

Browse by Subject