Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Martineau, Harriet

(Encyclopedia)Martineau, Harriet märˈtĭnō [key], 1802–76, English author. A journalist rather than a writer of literature, she was an enormously popular author. Her success is the more remarkable since she wa...

Linh, Nguyen Van

(Encyclopedia)Linh, Nguyen Van nəwēˈĕn vän lĭn [key], 1915–98, Vietnamese political leader, b. near Hanoi as Nguyen Van Cuc. As a young man he was active in organizing Vietnam's Communist party and was twic...

Kwaśniewski, Aleksander

(Encyclopedia)Kwaśniewski, Aleksander kwäshnyĕfˈskē [key], 1954–, Polish politician, president of Poland (1995–), b. Bialogard. He studied economics at the Univ. of Gdańsk, joined the Communist party at 2...

Venizelos, Evangelos

(Encyclopedia)Venizelos, Evangelos vĕnēzēˈlōs [key], 1957–, Greek politician, b. Thessaloniki, Ph.D. Aristotle Univ. of Thessaloniki, 1980. Since the 1980s he has been a professor of constitutional law at h...

Walcheren

(Encyclopedia)Walcheren välˈkhərən [key], region, Zeeland prov., SW Netherlands, on the North Sea at the entrance to the Scheldt estuary. Middelburg is the chief city and is also the capital of Zeeland prov. Vl...

Speer, Albert

(Encyclopedia)Speer, Albert älˈbĕrt shpār [key], 1905–81, German architect and National Socialist (Nazi) leader. A member of the Nazi party from 1931, he became its official architect after Hitler came to pow...

Tirole, Jean Marcel

(Encyclopedia)Tirole, Jean Marcel, 1953–, French economist, Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1981. He was a professor of at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1984–91) and École Polytechniq...

Worcester, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Worcester, industrial city (1990 pop. 169,759), seat of Worcester co., central Mass., on the Blackstone River; inc. 1722. The canalization (1828) of the Blackstone River marked the beginning of Worces...

Rachel, French actress

(Encyclopedia)Rachel ālēˈzä fālēksˈ [key], 1821–58, French actress, b. Switzerland. Exploited by her father in her childhood, she sang in the streets with her sister Sarah. In Paris, showing great promise ...

Zeman, Miloš

(Encyclopedia)Zeman, Miloš mēˈlōsh zĕˈmän [key], 1944–, Czech economist and political leader, president of the Czech Republic (2013–). He joined (1968) the Communist party during the Prague Spring and be...