Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Eastwood, Clint (Clinton Eastwood, Jr.), 1930–, American actor and director, b. San Francisco. Eastwood, who began his acting career in 1955, came to public attention in the TV Western Rawhide and i...

(Encyclopedia) computer virus, rogue computer program, typically a short program designed to disperse copies of itself to other computers and disrupt those computers' normal operations. A computer virus usually atta...

(Encyclopedia) John, Gospel according to Saint, fourth book of the New Testament. This account of Jesus' life is clearly set off from the other three Gospels (see Synoptic Gospels), although it is probable that John...

(Encyclopedia) Elizabeth II, 1926–2022, former queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1952–2022), elder daughter and successor of George VI, and Britain's lo...

(Encyclopedia) jazz, the most significant form of musical expression of African-American culture and arguably the most outstanding contribution the United States has made to the art of music. ...

(Encyclopedia) Hill, James Jerome, 1838–1916, American railroad builder, b. Ontario, Canada. He went to St. Paul, Minn., in 1856. He became a partner of Norman Kittson in a steamboat line and, with Kittson, Donald...

(Encyclopedia) Chattanooga campaign, Aug.-Nov., 1863, military encounter in the American Civil War. Chattanooga, Tenn., which commanded Confederate communications between the East and the Mississippi River and was a...

(Encyclopedia) filibuster, term used to designate obstructionist tactics in legislative assemblies. It has particular reference to the U.S. Senate, where the tradition of unlimited debate is very strong. It was not ...

(Encyclopedia) Pre-Raphaelites prēˌ-răfˈēəlītsˌ [key], brotherhood of English painters and poets formed in 1848 in protest against what they saw as the low standards and decadence of British art. The princip...

(Encyclopedia) Victor Emmanuel II, 1820–78, king of Sardinia (1849–61) and first king of united Italy (1861–78). He fought in the war of 1848–49 against Austrian rule in Lombardy-Venetia and ascended the thr...