Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Proust, Marcel pro͞ost [key], 1871–1922, French novelist, b. Paris. He is one of the great literary figures of the modern age. Born to wealthy bourgeois parents, he suffered delicate health as a c...

(Encyclopedia) Williams, Tennessee (Thomas Lanier Williams), 1911–83, American dramatist, b. Columbus, Miss., grad. State Univ. of Iowa, 1938. One of America's foremost 20th-century playwrights and the author of m...

(Encyclopedia) Lumumba, Patrice Emergy pətrēsˈ ĕmârzhēˈ lo͞omo͞omˈbä [key], 1925–61, pr...

(Encyclopedia) Peirce, Charles Sanders pûrs [key], 1839–1914, American philosopher and polymath, b. Cambridge, Mass., grad. Harvard, 1859; son of Benjamin Peirce. Except for occasional lectures he renounced the r...

(Encyclopedia) Renoir, Pierre Auguste rənwärˈ [key], 1841–1919, French impressionist painter and sculptor, b. Limoges. Renoir went to work at the age of 13 in Paris as a decorator of factory-made porcelain, co...

(Encyclopedia) Sontag, Susan sŏnˈtäg [key], 1933–2004, American writer and critic, b. New York City. She grew up in Arizona and California, studied philosophy at the Univ. of Chicago, Harvard, and Oxford, absor...

(Encyclopedia) Vinland or Wineland, section of North America discovered by Leif Ericsson in the 11th cent. The sources for the knowledge of Leif Ericsson's exploration differ as to whether it was planned or accident...

(Encyclopedia) Pollock, Jackson, 1912–56, American painter, b. Cody, Wyo. He studied (1929–31) in New York City, mainly under Thomas Hart Benton, but he was more strongly influenced by A. P. Ryder and the Mexica...

(Encyclopedia) Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim gôtˈhôlt āˈfräĭm [key], 1729–81, German philosopher, dramatist, and critic, one of the most influential figures of the Enlightenment. He was connected with the theat...

(Encyclopedia) microphone, device for converting sound into electrical energy, used in radio broadcasting, recording, and sound amplifying systems. Its basic component is a diaphragm that responds to the pressure or...