Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) defense mechanism, in psychoanalysis, any of a variety of unconscious personality reactions which the ego uses to protect the conscious mind from threatening feelings and perceptions. Sigmund Freud fi...

(Encyclopedia) Erikson, Erik, 1902–94, American psychoanalyst, b. Germany. As a young man he traveled throughout Europe. He became a teacher in a Vienna private school and trained as a psychoanalyst (1927–33) un...

(Encyclopedia) Andersson, Bibi, 1935–2019, Swedish actress best known for her work with director Ingmar Bergman, b. Berit Elizabeth Andersson. Her films with Bergman included The Seventh Seal (1957); Wild Strawber...

(Encyclopedia) Tolstoy, Leo, Count, Rus. Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoi (lyĕf), 1828–1910, Russian novelist and philosopher, considered one of the world's greatest writers. About 1876 the doubts that had beset Tols...

(Encyclopedia) Confederation of the Rhine, league of German states formed by Emperor Napoleon I in 1806 after his defeat of the Austrians at Austerlitz. Among its members were the newly created kingdoms of Bavaria a...

(Encyclopedia) Petropavlovsk kəmchätˈskē [key], city (1989 pop. 269,000), capital of Kamchatka Territory, Russian Far East. It is a major port and naval base on the Northern Sea Route, and there are shipyards an...

(Encyclopedia) Perekop, Isthmus of pĕrĭkôpˈ [key], c.19 mi (30 km) long and from 5 to 14 mi (8–23 km) wide, connecting Crimea with the Ukrainian mainland. The Crimean portion of the isthmus passed to Russian c...

(Encyclopedia) Witz, Conrad kônˈrät vĭts [key], fl. c.1434–c.1447, German painter, active at Basel and Geneva. Many of the works attributed to him, such as The Synagogue and the Meeting of Joachim and Anna, ca...

(Encyclopedia) Darwin, Erasmus, 1731–1802, English physician and poet. During most of his life he practiced medicine in Lichfield and cultivated a botanical garden. He was a prominent member of the Lichfield liter...

(Encyclopedia) Alexander (Alexander of Battenberg), 1857–93, prince of Bulgaria (1879–86); second son of Prince Alexander of Hesse-Darmstadt and nephew of Alexander II of Russia. He served in the Russian army ag...