Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Goldschmidt, Meïr Aaron

(Encyclopedia)Goldschmidt, Meïr Aaron mīˈər äˈrôn gôlˈshmĭt [key], 1819–97, Danish novelist, dramatist, and journalist. In his critical weekly Corsaren, he first spared, then ridiculed Kierkegaard. Gold...

etiquette

(Encyclopedia)etiquette, name for the codes of rules governing social or diplomatic intercourse. These codes vary from the more or less flexible laws of social usage (differing according to local customs or taboos)...

Fauré, Gabriel Urbain

(Encyclopedia)Fauré, Gabriel Urbain gäbrēĕlˈ ürbăNˈ fōrāˈ [key], 1845–1924, French composer; pupil of Saint-Saëns. In 1896 he succeeded Massenet as professor of composition at the Paris Conservatory, ...

Erebus, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Erebus, Mount, volcanic peak, 12,280 ft (3,743 m) high, on Ross Island, in the Ross Sea, E Antarctica. One of the loftiest volcanoes of the world, it was discovered in 1841 by the British explorer Jam...

Bishop, John Michael

(Encyclopedia)Bishop, John Michael, 1936–, American biologist, b. York, Penn., M.D. Harvard, 1962. He worked (1964–68) as a researcher at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., before joining the f...

Carpenter, Mary

(Encyclopedia)Carpenter, Mary, 1807–77, English educator. She devoted her life to the establishment of schools and institutions and the promotion of educational reforms. In 1835 she organized the Working and Visi...

Torres Naharro, Bartolomé de

(Encyclopedia)Torres Naharro, Bartolomé de bärtōlōmāˈ ᵺā tôˈrās nä-äˈrō [key], fl. 1531, Spanish dramatist and lyric poet, b. Extremadura. As a young man he went to Italy and became a priest. Greatl...

Benson, Edward White

(Encyclopedia)Benson, Edward White, 1829–96, archbishop of Canterbury, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was appointed (1877) the first bishop of Truro, and in 1882 he was appointed archbishop of Canterb...

Williams, John, English missionary

(Encyclopedia)Williams, John, 1796–1839, English missionary, called the Apostle of Polynesia. Under the London Missionary Society he went (1817) to the Society Islands. He discovered Rarotonga in 1823 and founded...

Benz, Karl

(Encyclopedia)Benz, Karl bĕnts [key], 1844–1929, German engineer, credited with building the first automobile powered by an internal-combustion engine. The car, driven in Mannheim in 1885 and patented in 1886, h...

Browse by Subject