Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Serna, José de la

(Encyclopedia)Serna, José de la hōsāˈ ᵺā lä sārˈnä [key], 1770–1832, Spanish general, viceroy of Peru (1821–24). In 1821 the military leaders, dissatisfied with Viceroy Pezuela and his conduct of the...

Siemens, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Siemens, Sir William, 1823–83, English electrical engineer, b. Germany; brother of Ernst Werner von Siemens. Originally his name was Carl Wilhelm Siemens. After visiting England to introduce an elec...

Fianna Fáil

(Encyclopedia)Fianna Fáil fēˈənə fäl [key], Irish political party, organized in 1926 by opponents of the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921 establishing the Irish Free State and setting up Northern Ireland as part of...

Alesius, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Alesius, Ales, or Aless, Alexander əlēˈshəs, əlĕsˈ [key], 1500–1565, Scottish Protestant theologian. As canon of the collegiate church at St. Andrews he tried to reclaim Patrick Hamilton from...

Hewish, Antony

(Encyclopedia)Hewish, Antony, 1924–, British astrophysicist, Ph.D. Cambridge, 1952. Hewish spent his entire career as a faculty member at Cambridge, retiring in 1989. He shared the 1974 Nobel Prize in Physics wit...

Gibbs, James

(Encyclopedia)Gibbs, James, 1682–1754, English architect, b. Scotland, studied in Rome under Carlo Fontana. Returning to England in 1709, he was appointed a member of the commission authorized to build 50 churche...

Flacius Illyricus, Matthias

(Encyclopedia)Flacius Illyricus, Matthias məthīˈəs flāˈshəs ĭlĭrˈĭkəs [key], 1520–75, German Lutheran reformer, whose original name was Matthias Vlachich or Francowich, b. Istria. After studying for t...

Penry, John

(Encyclopedia)Penry, John, 1559–93, British Puritan author, an instigator of the Marprelate controversy, b. Wales, grad. Cambridge and Oxford. While at college he became an ardent Puritan. In 1587 his pamphlet as...

Marriner, Sir Neville

(Encyclopedia)Marriner, Sir Neville, 1924–2016, British conductor, b. Lincoln, England, grad. Royal College of Music, London (1946), studied Paris Conservatory. A violinist, he taught at the Royal College (1949�...

Armani, Giorgio

(Encyclopedia)Armani, Giorgio, 1934–, Italian fashion designer. He designed menswear at Nino Cerruti (1964–70), then worked freelance until 1975 when, in partnership with Sergio Galeotti, he opened his Milan de...