Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Brodsky, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Brodsky, Joseph (Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky) brätˈskē, brädˈ–, Rus. yôsˈyĭf əlyĭksänˈdrəvyĭch brôtˈskē [key], 1940–96, Russian-American poet, b. Leningrad (St. Petersburg). A di...

Craigie, Sir William A.

(Encyclopedia)Craigie, Sir William A., 1867–1957, British lexicographer, b. Dundee, Scotland. Educated at the Univ. of St. Andrews, Craigie studied Scandinavian languages at Copenhagen before beginning in 1893 hi...

Abdul Razak

(Encyclopedia)Abdul Razak, äbˈdo͝ol räˈzäk [key], 1922–76, prime minister of Malaysia (1970–76). Elected to the national legislature in 1959, he was deputy prime minister and minister of defense from 195...

Cocceius, Johannes

(Encyclopedia)Cocceius, Johannes kŏksēˈəs [key], 1603–69, German theologian, whose surname was originally Koch or Koken. Born in Bremen, he went to Holland, where he was professor at Francken and Leiden. He p...

Elkin, Stanley

(Encyclopedia)Elkin, Stanley, 1930–95, American writer, b. New York City. An offbeat fiction writer, Elkin had a gift for black comedy, fantastic imagery, bizarre situations, and a kind of lyrical bleakness, all ...

Harper, William Rainey

(Encyclopedia)Harper, William Rainey, 1856–1906, American educator and Hebrew scholar, b. New Concord, Ohio, grad. Muskingum College, 1870, Ph.D. Yale, 1875. The author of many texts on Hebrew language and litera...

Garborg, Arne

(Encyclopedia)Garborg, Arne ärˈnə gärˈbo͝org [key], 1851–1924, Norwegian writer of the naturalistic school. He founded the weekly Fedraheim (1877), in which he urged reforms in many spheres—political, soc...

Meléndez Valdés, Juan

(Encyclopedia)Meléndez Valdés, Juan hwän mālānˈdāth väldāsˈ [key], 1754–1817, Spanish neoclassic poet. He studied classics and law and later taught humanities at Salamanca. After much political vacillat...

Moabite stone

(Encyclopedia)Moabite stone mōˈəbītˌ [key], ancient slab of stone erected in 850 b.c. by King Mesha of Moab; it contains a long inscription commemorating a victory in his revolt against Israel. It was discover...

National Defense Education Act

(Encyclopedia)National Defense Education Act (NDEA), federal legislation passed in 1958 providing aid to education in the United States at all levels, public and private. NDEA was instituted primarily to stimulate ...

Browse by Subject