Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Huntington's disease

(Encyclopedia)Huntington's disease, hereditary, acute disturbance of the central nervous system usually beginning in middle age and characterized by involuntary muscular movements and progressive intellectual deter...

Savarkar, Vinayak Damodar

(Encyclopedia)Savarkar, Vinayak Damodar vĭnäˈyək däˈmōdär səvärˈkər [key], 1883–1966, Indian nationalist. Educated in Pune, he was militantly anti-British and anti-Muslim. He founded a terrorist organ...

Rajapaksa, Mahinda

(Encyclopedia)Rajapaksa or Rajapakse, Mahinda mähĭnˈdä räjäpäkˈsə [key], 1945–, Sri Lankan political leader. A lawyer from a political family, he was first elected to parliament in 1970 as member of the ...

Zedillo Ponce de León, Ernesto

(Encyclopedia)Zedillo Ponce de León, Ernesto ĕrnĕsˈtō zĕdēˈyō pōnˈsā ᵺā lāônˈ [key], 1951–, Mexican politician, president of Mexico (1994–2000). Educated as an economist in Mexico and the Unit...

Farouk

(Encyclopedia)Farouk färo͞okˈ [key], 1920–65, king of Egypt (1936–52), son and successor of Fuad I. After a short regency he acceded (1937) to the throne. A constitutional monarch, Farouk was frequently at o...

Johnson, Boris

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, Boris (Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson), 1964–, British political leader, b. New York City, grad. Oxford (1986). While at Oxford Johnson was president of the prestigious Oxford Union deb...

Kirchner, Néstor Carlos

(Encyclopedia)Kirchner, Néstor Carlos nāˈstôr kärˈlōs kērchˈnâr [key], 1950–2010, Argentinean politician. A native of Patagonia, he was a lawyer and left-wing Peronist and, after two brief imprisonments...

Aso, Taro

(Encyclopedia)Aso, Taro täˈrō äˈsō [key], 1940–, Japanese politician, prime minister of Japan (2008–9). Grandson of Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida and son of a successful industrialist, he attended Gakush...

Willkie, Wendell Lewis

(Encyclopedia)Willkie, Wendell Lewis, 1892–1944, American industrialist and political leader, b. Elwood, Ind. After graduating from Indiana Univ. law school (1916), he practiced law in Ohio and then New York (192...

Talmadge, Eugene

(Encyclopedia)Talmadge, Eugene, 1884–1946, governor of Georgia (1933–37, 1941–43), b. Forsyth, Ga. In his second term as governor (1935–37) of Georgia, his staff was forbidden by Harry Hopkins to disburse f...