Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

369 results found

Kahneman, Daniel

(Encyclopedia)Kahneman, Daniel, 1934–, Israeli-American psychologist, b. Tel Aviv, Ph.D. Univ. of California, Berkeley, 1961. Born to Lithuanian parents, he spent his youth in France, and immigrated to what soon ...

Nobile, Umberto

(Encyclopedia)Nobile, Umberto o͞ombĕrˈtō nōˈbēlā [key], 1885–1978, Italian aeronautical engineer and arctic explorer. He designed the dirigible Norge and piloted it in the Amundsen-Ellsworth flight over t...

marines

(Encyclopedia)marines, troops that serve on board ships of war or in conjunction with naval operation. A British marine corps was established in 1664, and the need for skilled riflemen aboard military vessels broug...

Watkins, Carleton Eugene

(Encyclopedia)Watkins, Carleton Eugene, 1829–1916, America's premier 19th-century landscape photographer, b. Oneonta, N.Y. Watkins created images that helped define the American West for his contemporaries and th...

Rumi, Jalal ad-Din

(Encyclopedia)Rumi, Jalal ad-Din jälälˈ ĕd-dēnˈ ro͞oˈmē [key], 1207–73, great Islamic Persian sage and poet mystic, b. in Balkh. His father, a scholar, was invited by the Seljuk sultan of Rum to settle i...

Zinzendorf, Nikolaus Ludwig, Graf von

(Encyclopedia)Zinzendorf, Nikolaus Ludwig, Graf von nēˈkōlous lo͝otˈvĭkh gräf fən tsĭnˈtsəndôrf [key], 1700–1760, German churchman, patron and bishop of the refounded Moravian Church, b. Dresden. Rear...

Seidman, L. William

(Encyclopedia)Seidman, L. William (Lewis William Seidman) sēdˈmən [key], 1921–2009, U.S. government official and accountant, b. Grand Rapids, Mich., grad. Dartmouth (A.B., 1943), Harvard (LL.B., 1948), Univ. o...

Del Tredici, David

(Encyclopedia)Del Tredici, David dĕl trədēˈchē [key], 1937–, American composer, b. Cloverdale, Calif. Originally a pianist, he made his debut with the San Francisco Symphony at 16, and studied composition wi...

Alexie, Sherman

(Encyclopedia)Alexie, Sherman (Sherman Joseph Alexie, Jr.), 1966–, Native American writer, b. Wellpinit, Spokane Indian Reservation, E Wash., studied Gonzaga Univ. and Washington State Univ. (B.A., 1991). Alexie ...

Gothic romance

(Encyclopedia)Gothic romance, type of novel that flourished in the late 18th and early 19th cent. in England. Gothic romances were mysteries, often involving the supernatural and heavily tinged with horror, and the...