Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Somme, Battles of the, two engagements fought during World War I near the Somme River, N France. The first battle (July–Nov., 1916) was an Allied offensive. The British, commanded by Field Marshal S...

(Encyclopedia) Gothic revival, term designating a return to the building styles of the Middle Ages. Although the Gothic revival was practiced throughout Europe, it attained its greatest importance in the United Stat...

(Encyclopedia) Russian literature, literary works mainly produced in the historic area of Russia, written in its earliest days in Church Slavonic and after the 17th cent. in the Russian language. During World War ...

(Encyclopedia) Darwin, Charles Robert, 1809–82, English naturalist, b. Shrewsbury; grandson of Erasmus Darwin and of Josiah Wedgwood. He firmly established the theory of organic evolution known as Darwinism. He st...

(Encyclopedia) Custer, George Armstrong, 1839–76, American army officer, b. New Rumley, Ohio, grad. West Point, 1861. In the reorganization of the U.S. army after the war Custer was assigned to the 7th Cavalry w...

(Encyclopedia) relativity, physical theory, introduced by Albert Einstein, that discards the concept of absolute motion and instead treats only relative motion between two systems or frames of reference. One consequ...

(Encyclopedia) Lipmann, Fritz Albert, 1899–1986, American biochemist, b. Germany, grad. Univ. of Berlin (M.D., 1922; Ph.D., 1927). He emigrated to the United States in 1939 and became a citizen in 1944. In 1941 he...

(Encyclopedia) mumming play, form of drama developed in England in the early 17th cent., based on the legend of St. George and the dragon. The central theme of the play is the death and resurrection of the hero. The...

(Encyclopedia) Bacchylides băkĭlˈĭdēz [key], fl. c.470 b.c., Greek lyric poet, b. Ceos; nephew of Simonides of Ceos. A contemporary of Pindar, he was patronized by Hiero I. His poetry is noted for its narrative...

(Encyclopedia) Maclay, William məklāˈ [key], 1734–1804, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania (1789–91), b. Chester co., Pa. A lawyer and a provincial and state official before serving as Senator, he kept a journal,...