Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Campion, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Campion or Campian, Thomas, 1567–1620, English poet, composer, and lutenist, a physician by profession. Campion wrote lyric poems that he and other composers set to music. His graceful, simple lute ...

Evans, Bill

(Encyclopedia) Evans, Bill, 1929-80, American jazz pianist and composer, b. Plainfield, N.J., as William John Evans, Southeastern Louisiana Univ. (B.Mus., 1950). Eva...

Johnston, Joseph Eggleston

(Encyclopedia)Johnston, Joseph Eggleston, 1807–91, Confederate general, b. Prince Edward co., Va., grad. West Point, 1829. He served against the Seminole in Florida and with distinction under Winfield Scott in th...

Northwest Passage

(Encyclopedia)Northwest Passage, water routes through the Arctic Archipelago, N Canada, and along the northern coast of Alaska between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Even though the explorers of the 16th cent. de...

Hill, Benjamin Harvey

(Encyclopedia)Hill, Benjamin Harvey, 1823–82, American statesman, b. Jasper co., Ga. A highly successful lawyer and Whig politician, he supported the Whig-Democratic alliance that carried Georgia in favor of the ...

Wellesley College

(Encyclopedia)Wellesley College, at Wellesley, Mass.; for women; chartered 1870, opened 1875. Long a leader in women's education, it was the first woman's college to have scientific laboratories. With Lake Waban an...

Oedipus

(Encyclopedia)Oedipus ĕdˈĭpəs, ēˈdĭ– [key], in Greek legend, son of Laius, king of Thebes, and his wife, Jocasta. Laius had been warned by an oracle that he was fated to be killed by his own son; he theref...

Offa

(Encyclopedia)Offa ŏfˈə [key], d. 796, king of Mercia (757–96). He succeeded Æthelbald to the throne, but it was some years before he attained the power of his predecessor. Gradually he asserted his overlords...

Reinhardt, Max

(Encyclopedia)Reinhardt, Max, 1873–1943, Austrian theatrical producer and director, originally named Max Goldmann. After acting under Otto Brahm at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, he managed (1902–5) his own t...

Lee, George Washington Custis

(Encyclopedia)Lee, George Washington Custis, 1832–1913, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. Fort Monroe, Va.; eldest son of Robert E. Lee. He served in the Corps of Engineers until May, 1861, when h...
 

Browse by Subject