Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Tuchman, Barbara Wertheim

(Encyclopedia)Tuchman, Barbara Wertheim, 1912–89, American historian, b. New York City. She won the Pulitzer Prize for history twice, for The Guns of August (1962), about the onset of World War I, and for Stilwel...

Babylonian captivity

(Encyclopedia)Babylonian captivity, in the history of Israel, the period from the fall of Jerusalem (586 b.c.) to the reconstruction in Palestine of a new Jewish state (after 538 b.c.). After the capture of the cit...

Erie Railroad

(Encyclopedia)Erie Railroad, rail transportation line designed to connect the mouth of the Hudson River with the Great Lakes region. The New York and Erie RR Company was enfranchised and incorporated in 1832, and c...

Herrera y Tordesillas, Antonio de

(Encyclopedia)Herrera y Tordesillas, Antonio de äntōˈnyō ᵺā ārāˈrä ē tôrᵺāsēˈlyäs [key], 1559?–1625, Spanish historian. Appointed official historiographer of Castile and the Indies under Philip...

Syracuse University

(Encyclopedia)Syracuse University, main campus at Syracuse, N.Y.; coeducational; chartered 1870, opened 1871. Syracuse is noted for its research programs in government and industry; facilities include the Center fo...

Barr, Alfred Hamilton, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Barr, Alfred Hamilton, Jr., 1902–81, American art historian, b. Detroit. Barr taught art history at several colleges and was the first director of the Museum of Modern Art, New York City. He organiz...

Creighton, Mandell

(Encyclopedia)Creighton, Mandell mănˈdəl krīˈtən [key], 1843–1901, British historian and churchman. He was professor of ecclesiastical history at Cambridge from 1884 until his appointment (1891) as bishop o...

Sozomen

(Encyclopedia)Sozomen sōzōˈmĕn [key], 5th cent., Byzantine church historian, b. Gaza. A fuller form of his name is Salaminius Hermias Sozomenus. His Ecclesiastical History was written in 439–50. The nine exta...

Henry, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Henry, Joseph, 1797–1878, American physicist, b. Albany, N.Y., educated at Albany Academy. He taught (1826–32) mathematics and natural philosophy at Albany Academy and was professor of natural phi...

Japanese beetle

(Encyclopedia)Japanese beetle, common name for a destructive beetle, Popillia japonica, of the scarab beetle family. Accidentally imported to the United States from Japan, it was first discovered in New Jersey in 1...