Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Tobey, Mark

(Encyclopedia)Tobey, Mark, 1890–1976, American painter, b. Centerville, Wis. An avid traveler, Tobey visited China and Japan in 1934. He then developed his celebrated “white writing,” in which he attempted to...

Dunant, Jean Henri

(Encyclopedia)Dunant, Jean Henri zhäN äNrēˈ dünäNˈ [key], 1828–1910, Swiss philanthropist and founder of the International Red Cross, b. Geneva. In 1862 appeared his Un souvenir de Solférino (tr. The Orig...

Dalin, Olof von

(Encyclopedia)Dalin, Olof von o͞oˈlôv fən dälēnˈ [key], 1708–63, Swedish historian, poet, and journalist, the foremost figure of the Swedish Enlightenment. In his successful career in the civil service, Da...

Jeans, Sir James Hopwood

(Encyclopedia)Jeans, Sir James Hopwood, 1887–1946, English mathematician, physicist, and astronomer. He was professor of applied mathematics at Princeton (1905–9), later lectured at Cambridge (1910–12) and Ox...

Müller, Karl Otfried

(Encyclopedia)Müller, Karl Otfried mülˈər [key], 1797–1840, German classical scholar and archaeologist. He was professor of classics at the Univ. of Göttingen (1819–39), lecturing on art history, literatu...

Lauder, Estée

(Encyclopedia)Lauder, Estée, 1908?–2004, American cosmetics company founder, b. Corona, Queens, N.Y., as Josephine Esther Mentzer. The daughter of immigrants, she married Joseph Lauter (later changed to Lauder) ...

papillon

(Encyclopedia)papillon păpˈəlŏnˌ [key], breed of toy dog whose origins are obscure but whose widespread existence in Europe is attested to as early as the 17th cent. It stands from 8 to 11 in. (20.3–27.9 cm)...

Woodward, C. Vann

(Encyclopedia)Woodward, C. Vann (Comer Vann Woodward), 1908–99, American historian, b. Vanndale, Ark. He graduated from Emory Univ. (1930), received his Ph.D. in history from the Univ. of North Carolina (1937), a...

basenji

(Encyclopedia)basenji bəsĕnˈjē [key], breed of medium-sized hound whose origins can be traced back several thousand years to Africa and the courts of the Egyptian pharaohs. It stands about 17 in. (43.2 cm) high...

Proverbs

(Encyclopedia)Proverbs, book of the Bible. It is a collection of sayings, many of them moral maxims, in no special order. The teaching is of a practical nature; it does not dwell on the salvation-historical traditi...