Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Emin Pasha

(Encyclopedia)Emin Pasha āmēnˈ päˈshä [key], 1840–92, German explorer, whose original name was Eduard Schnitzer. A physician, he served (1876–78) under Gen. Charles Gordon in Sudan as a district medical o...

concertina

(Encyclopedia)concertina kŏnsûrtēˈnə [key], musical instrument whose tone is produced by free reeds. It was invented by Sir Charles Wheatstone in 1829. It is a chromatic instrument similar to the accordion, bu...

Bliss, Sir Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Bliss, Sir Arthur, 1891–1975, English composer. Bliss's teachers included Charles Stanford, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Gustav Holst. He was made Master of the Queen's Musick in 1953. His early work...

Cavalier poets

(Encyclopedia)Cavalier poets, a group of English poets associated with Charles I and his exiled son. Most of their work was done between c.1637 and 1660. Their poetry embodied the life and culture of upper-class, p...

Bracegirdle, Anne

(Encyclopedia)Bracegirdle, Anne, 1663?–1748, English actress. A pupil of Betterton, she was the delight of Colley Cibber and the favorite of Congreve, achieving her greatest successes as the heroines of Congreve'...

Peterborough, Charles Mordaunt, 3d earl of

(Encyclopedia)Peterborough, Charles Mordaunt, 3d earl of, 1658–1735, English general and diplomat. He supported the Glorious Revolution of 1688, and William III made him a privy councillor, first lord of the trea...

Grey, Charles Grey, 2d Earl

(Encyclopedia)Grey, Charles Grey, 2d Earl, 1764–1845, British statesman. Elected to Parliament in 1786, he was one of those appointed to manage the impeachment of Warren Hastings. From 1792 he was a leader of the...

Royal Society

(Encyclopedia)Royal Society, oldest scientific organization in Great Britain and one of the oldest in Europe. It was founded in 1660 by a group of learned men in London who met to promote scientific discussion, par...

Borden, Sir Robert Laird

(Encyclopedia)Borden, Sir Robert Laird, 1854–1937, Canadian political leader, prime minister during World War I, b. Grand-Pré, N.S. Called to the bar in 1878, he won a reputation as a constitutional lawyer. He w...

Fitzpatrick, Sir Charles

(Encyclopedia)Fitzpatrick, Sir Charles, 1853–1942, Canadian jurist, b. Quebec. He won renown as defense counsel for Louis Riel. In Wilfrid Laurier's government he became solicitor general (1896) and minister of j...
 

Browse by Subject