Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

372 results found

Sakharov, Andrei Dmitriyevich

(Encyclopedia)Sakharov, Andrei Dmitriyevich, 1921–89, Soviet nuclear physicist and human-rights advocate; first Soviet citizen to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (1975). From 1948 to 1956 he helped to develop the U...

National Socialism

(Encyclopedia)National Socialism or Nazism, doctrines and policies of the National Socialist German Workers' party, which ruled Germany under Adolf Hitler from 1933 to 1945. In German the party name was Nationalsoz...

Morrison, Toni

(Encyclopedia)Morrison, Toni, 1931–2019, American writer, b. Lorain, Ohio, as Chloe Ardelia (later Anthony) Wofford; B.A. Howard Univ., 1953, M.F.A. Cornell, 1955. Her fiction is noted for its poetic language, lu...

automobile racing

(Encyclopedia)automobile racing, sport in which specially designed or modified automobiles race on any of various courses. Automobile racing originated in France in 1894 and appeared in the United States the follow...

Dumont d'Urville, Jules Sébastien César

(Encyclopedia)Dumont d'Urville, Jules Sébastien César zhül sābästyăNˈ sāzärˈ dümôNˈ dürvēlˈ [key], 1790–1842, French navigator. While on duty (1819–20) in the E Mediterranean, he saw and recogni...

Exeter

(Encyclopedia)Exeter. 1 City (2020 pop. 10,439), Tulare co., S central Calif.; inc. 1911. The town is an agricultural center in the San Joaquin valley. In Oct. ...

Girl Scouts

(Encyclopedia)Girl Scouts, recreational and service organization founded (1912) in Savannah, Ga., by Juliette Gordon Low. It was originally modeled after the Boy Scouts (see Scouts) and Girl Guides, organizations c...

Jindal, Bobby

(Encyclopedia)Jindal, Bobby, 1971–, American politician, b. Baton Rouge, La., as Piyush Jindal. The son of immigrants from India, he attended Brown Univ. (B.S., 1991) and thereafter was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford...

Nyad, Diana

(Encyclopedia)Nyad, Diana nīˈăd [key], 1949–, American distance swimmer, b. New York City as Diana Sneed, grad. Lake Forest College, 1973. She began swimming seriously as a teenager, becoming interested in dis...

Aryan

(Encyclopedia)Aryan ârˈēən [key], [Sanskrit,=noble], term formerly used to designate the Indo-European race or language family or its Indo-Iranian subgroup. Originally a group of nomadic tribes, the Aryans were...