Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Erdös, Paul ĕrˈdös [key], 1913–96, Hungarian mathematician, b. Budapest. A child prodigy, he was mostly home-schooled by his parents—both teachers of mathematics—until he entered the Univ. o...

(Encyclopedia) Australian literature, the literature of Australia. Because the vast majority of early Australian settlers were transported prisoners, the beginnings of Australian literature were oral rather than wri...

(Encyclopedia) Pierpont, Francis Harrison, 1814–99, Union leader in Virginia during the American Civil War, “Father of West Virginia,” b. near Morgantown, Va. (now W.Va.). When Virginia seceded, he became a le...

(Encyclopedia) Pontianak pôntēäˈnäk [key], city (1990 pop. 398,357), capital of West Kalimantan prov., W Borneo, Indonesia, at the mouth of a small stream in the Kapuas delta near the west coast. The chief city...

(Encyclopedia) Storm King, mountain, 1,355 ft (413 m) high, SE N.Y., on the west shore of the Hudson River near West Point. It is included in the Palisades Interstate Parks. ...

(Encyclopedia) Ward, Barbara Mary, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, 1914–81, British writer. Educated at the Sorbonne and at Oxford, she joined the staff of the Economist in 1939 and became foreign editor in 1940. F...

(Encyclopedia) Bruges brŭˈgə, Du. brüpstr;khə [key], city, capital of West Flan...

(Encyclopedia) Cullum, George Washington kŭlˈəm [key], 1809–92, American army officer, b. New York City, grad. West Point, 1833. In the Civil War, Cullum was made a brigadier general of volunteers (Nov., 1861) ...

(Encyclopedia) Jackson, William Henry, 1843–1942, American artist and pioneer photographer of the West, b. Keeseville, N.Y. After serving with the Union army in the Civil War he traveled overland to California (18...

(Encyclopedia) Weizsäcker, Richard Karl Freiherr von, 1920–2015, German political leader. After serving in World War II, Weizsäcker earned a law degree from the Univ. of Göttingen (1953), then worked in the pri...