Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Lane, James Henry

(Encyclopedia)Lane, James Henry, 1814–66, American politician, called the “liberator of Kansas.” He was probably born in Lawrenceburg, Ind., where he practiced law. Lane commanded an Indiana regiment in the M...

Ardashir I

(Encyclopedia)Ardashir I ärdäshērˈ [key] [another form of Artaxerxes], d. 240, king of Persia (226?–240). He overthrew the last Parthian king, Artabanus IV, entered Ctesiphon, and reunited Persia out of the c...

Pirogov, Nikolai Ivanovich

(Encyclopedia)Pirogov, Nikolai Ivanovich nyĭkəlīˈ ēväˈnəvĭch pĭrōgôfˈ [key], 1810–81, Russian surgeon, b. Moscow. He entered Moscow Univ. at the age of 14 and completed the medical curriculum at 17. ...

popular sovereignty

(Encyclopedia)popular sovereignty, in U.S. history, doctrine under which the status of slavery in the territories was to be determined by the settlers themselves. Although the doctrine won wide support as a means o...

Rudenstine, Neil Leon

(Encyclopedia)Rudenstine, Neil Leon ro͞oˈdənstīnˌ [key], 1935–, American scholar, educator, and administrator, b. Ossining, N.Y., grad. Princeton (B.A., 1956), Oxford (Rhodes scholar; B.A., 1959; M.A., 1963)...

Bannon, Steve

(Encyclopedia)Bannon, Steve (Stephen Kevin Bannon), 1953–, American political strategist, financier, and media executive, b. Norfolk, Va. After serving as an officer in the U.S. navy (1976–83), he worked as an ...

Zhang Xianliang

(Encyclopedia)Zhang Xianliang jäng shyän-lyäng [key], 1936–, Chinese writer. During the 1957 antirightist campaign, the Chinese Communists judged his poetry deviant and sentenced him to prison in Ningxia. He w...

Banks, Nathaniel Prentiss

(Encyclopedia)Banks, Nathaniel Prentiss, 1816–94, American politician and Union general in the Civil War, b. Waltham, Mass. After serving in the Massachusetts legislature (1849–53), Banks entered Congress as a ...

Spock, Benjamin McLane

(Encyclopedia)Spock, Benjamin McLane, 1903–98, American author and pediatrician, b. New Haven, Conn., educ. Yale (B.A., 1925) and Columbia Univ. College of Physicians and Surgeons (M.D., 1929). In 1946, Dr. Spock...

Siles Zuazo, Hernán

(Encyclopedia)Siles Zuazo, Hernán ārnänˈ sēˈlās swäˈsō [key], 1914–96, president of Bolivia (1956–60, 1982–85). The illegitimate son of Hernando Siles Reyes (president of Bolivia, 1926–30) and an ...

Browse by Subject