Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Hijuelos, Oscar Jerome

(Encyclopedia)Hijuelos, Oscar Jerome ēhwāˈlōs [key], 1951–2013, Cuban-American novelist, b. New York City, grad. City College (B.A., 1975; M.F.A., 1976). The son of Cuban immigrants, he typically wrote about ...

Malema, Julius Sello

(Encyclopedia)Malema, Julius Sello, 1981–, South African political leader. Involved in the African National Congress (ANC) from a young age, he rose quickly in its influential Youth League, becoming a regional ch...

McGee, Thomas D'Arcy

(Encyclopedia)McGee, Thomas D'Arcy məgēˈ [key], 1825–68, Canadian journalist and statesman, a leader in the movement for confederation, b. Ireland. He emigrated (1842) to Boston, where he became editor of the ...

McGuinness, Martin

(Encyclopedia)McGuinness, Martin (James Martin Pacelli McGuinness), 1950–2017, Northern Irish political leader, b. Derry. He joined the Irish Republican Army (IRA) as a young man and was active in both its regula...

List, Friedrich

(Encyclopedia)List, Friedrich frēˈdrĭkh lĭst [key], 1789–1846, German economist. The first professor of economics at the Univ. of Tübingen, he was elected (1820) to the Württemberg legislature. For his advo...

Mitchell, Maria

(Encyclopedia)Mitchell, Maria, 1818–89, American astronomer and educator, b. Nantucket, Mass. Mitchell taught school in Nantucket, and later became a librarian. On Oct. 1, 1847, Mitchell discovered a comet (1847 ...

Chaitanya

(Encyclopedia)Chaitanya chītŭnˈyə [key], 1485–1533, Indian mystic, also called Gauranga (“the Golden”). He was born of Brahman parents in Nabadwip, Bengal, a center of Sanskrit learning. As a young man he...

Douglas, Sir James

(Encyclopedia)Douglas, Sir James, 1803–77, Canadian fur trader and colonial governor, b. British Guiana (now Guyana). As a young man, he went to Canada in the service of the North West Company; soon after its mer...

kinkajou

(Encyclopedia)kinkajou kĭngˈkəjo͞oˌ [key], nocturnal, arboreal mammal, Potos flavus, found from Mexico to Brazil and related to the raccoon. It has a long, slender body with soft, short, woolly hair of any of ...

Klein, Melanie

(Encyclopedia)Klein, Melanie, 1882–1960, British psychoanalyst, b. Vienna. She became a psychoanalyst after seeking therapy from Sandor Ferenczi, a colleague of Sigmund Freud, who encouraged her to pursue her own...
 

Browse by Subject