Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Pride, Charley

(Encyclopedia)Pride, Charley (Charley Frank Pride), 1934–2020, American country singer, the first African-American country-music superstar, b. Sledge, Miss. He init...

smart card

(Encyclopedia)smart card, small device that resembles a credit card but contains an embedded microprocessor to store and process information. Magnetic-stripe cards, which store a very small amount of information (m...

Tarkenton, Fran

(Encyclopedia)Tarkenton, Fran (Francis Asbury Tarkenton), 1940–, American football player, b. Richmond. One of football's greatest passing quarterbacks, he established lifetime records (all surpassed by Dan Marin...

Sinatra, Frank

(Encyclopedia)Sinatra, Frank (Francis Albert Sinatra), 1915–98, American singer and actor, b. Hoboken, N.J. During the late 1930s and early 40s he sang with the Harry James and Tommy Dorsey bands, causing teenage...

Kuhn, Walt

(Encyclopedia)Kuhn, Walt, 1880–1949, American painter, b. New York City. At the age of 19 he worked as a cartoonist in San Francisco, contributing later to Life magazine. After travel and study in Europe he devot...

Hadley, Henry Kimball

(Encyclopedia)Hadley, Henry Kimball, 1871–1937, American composer and conductor, b. Somerville, Mass., studied at the New England Conservatory and in Vienna. He composed and conducted in Europe from 1904 until 19...

Shuvalov, Piotr Andreyevich, Count

(Encyclopedia)Shuvalov, Piotr Andreyevich, Count pyôˈtər əndrāˈəvĭch sho͞oväˈləf [key], 1827–89, Russian administrator and diplomat. An adviser to Czar Alexander II, he opposed the czar's reforms and ...

Lanfranco, Giovanni

(Encyclopedia)Lanfranco, Giovanni jōvänˈnē länfrängˈkō [key], 1582–1647, Italian painter. Lanfranco is considered one of the foremost artists of the High Baroque. He was trained by the Carracci and worked...

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe

(Encyclopedia)Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), international organization established as the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) in 1973, during the cold war, to promo...

Romani

(Encyclopedia)Romani or Romany both: rŏmˈənē, rōˈ– [key], people known historically in English as Gypsies and their language. 1 A traditionally nomadic people with particular folkways and a unique language,...