Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Piñera, Sebastián

(Encyclopedia)Piñera, Sebastián (Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique) mēgĕlˈ hwän sābästyänˈ pēnyāˈrä āchāˈnēkā [key], 1949–, Chilean business executive and politician, president of Chile ...

Sagasta, Práxedes Mateo

(Encyclopedia)Sagasta, Práxedes Mateo präkˈsāᵺās mätāˈō sägäˈstä [key], 1825–1903, Spanish statesman. A leader of the Progressive party in the Cortes, he was twice exiled for his opposition to the ...

Turner, John Napier Wyndham

(Encyclopedia)Turner, John Napier Wyndham, 1929–2020, Canadian prime minister (1984). Born in England, he immigrated (1932) to Ontario with his Canadian-born mother after she was widowed. Trained as a lawyer, he ...

Perkins, Frances

(Encyclopedia)Perkins, Frances, 1882–1965, U.S. Secretary of Labor (1933–45), b. Boston. She worked at Hull House, was executive secretary of the New York Consumers' League (1910–12) and of the New York Commi...

Wanamaker, John

(Encyclopedia)Wanamaker, John wŏnˈəmāˌkər [key], 1838–1922, American merchant, b. Philadelphia. He went into the men's clothing business in Philadelphia with Nathan Brown, his brother-in-law, in 1861. The f...

Woodbury, Levi

(Encyclopedia)Woodbury, Levi, 1789–1851, American cabinet officer and jurist, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1845–51), b. Hillsboro, co., N.H. Important as a politician and jurist in New Hampshire...

Soult, Nicolas Jean de Dieu

(Encyclopedia)Soult, Nicolas Jean de Dieu nēkôläˈ zhäN də dyö so͞olt [key], 1769–1851, marshal of France. Having won distinction in the Napoleonic Wars, especially at the battle of Austerlitz, he was crea...

Starhemberg, Ernst Rüdiger von

(Encyclopedia)Starhemberg, Ernst Rüdiger von, 1899–1956, Austrian politician, a descendant of the 17th-century general of the same name. He took part in Hitler's “beer-hall putsch” of 1923 (see Hitler, Adolf...

Weaver, Robert Clifton

(Encyclopedia)Weaver, Robert Clifton, 1907–97, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (1966–68), b. Washington, D.C., grad. Harvard (B.S., 1929; M.A., 1931; Ph.D., 1934). An African American, he was su...

Tasmania

(Encyclopedia)Tasmania tăzmāˈnēə [key], island state (2016 pop. 509,965), 26,383 sq mi (68,332 sq km), SE Commonwealth of Australia. It is separated from Australia by the Bass Strait and lies 150 mi (240 km) s...

Browse by Subject