Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

232 results found

Ecbatana

(Encyclopedia)Ecbatana ĕkbătˈənə, ĕkbətäˈnə [key], capital of ancient Media, later the summer residence of Achaemenid and Parthian kings, beautifully situated at the foot of Mt. Elvend and NE of Behistun....

Grabbe, Christian Dietrich

(Encyclopedia)Grabbe, Christian Dietrich krĭsˈtēän dēˈtrĭkh gräbˈə [key], 1801–36, German dramatist and journalist. Critical of “Shakespearomania,” Grabbe strove for a national German drama and wrot...

Diels, Otto Paul Hermann

(Encyclopedia)Diels, Otto Paul Hermann, 1876–1954, German chemist, Ph.D. Univ. of Berlin, 1899. From 1899 to 1915, Diehls was on the faculty at the Univ. of Berlin. In 1916, he joined the Univ. of Kiel, where he ...

Barber, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Barber, Samuel, 1910–81, American composer, b. West Chester, Pa. Barber studied at the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia. His music is lyrical and generally tonal; his later works are more chr...

Serkin, Rudolf

(Encyclopedia)Serkin, Rudolf, 1903–91, Austrian-American pianist, b. Bohemia. Serkin gave joint recitals with Adolf Busch (his father-in-law from 1935) and made his U.S. debut (1933) with the Busch chamber player...

Tracy, Spencer

(Encyclopedia)Tracy, Spencer, 1900–1967, American film actor, b. Milwaukee, Wis. He began his career as an actor in summer stock and went into film work in 1930. His fine character portrayals won him Academy Awar...

Kura

(Encyclopedia)Kura ko͝oräˈ [key], ancient Cyrus, Georgian Mktvari, Azeri Kür, river, c.950 mi (1,530 km) long, the chief river of Georgia and Azerbaijan. It rises in NE Turkey, NW of Kars, and flows NE into Geo...

Kroehl, Julius Hermann

(Encyclopedia)Kroehl, Julius Hermann, 1820–67, German-American inventor and engineer, b. Memel, Prussia (now Klaipeda, Lithuania). Immigrating in 1844 to the United States, he became an iron manufacturer and civi...

Oberth, Hermann Julius

(Encyclopedia)Oberth, Hermann Julius, 1894–1989, Austro-German astronautical pioneer, b. Hermannstadt, Austria-Hungary (now Sibiu, Romania). Beginning his studies in astronautics before World War I, he first prop...

Goering, Hermann Wilhelm

(Encyclopedia)Goering or Göring, Hermann Wilhelm both: hĕrˈmän vĭlˈhĕlm göˈrĭng [key], 1893–1946, German National Socialist leader. In World War I he was a hero of the German air force. An early member ...
 

Browse by Subject