Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Conkling, Roscoe, 1829–88, American politician, b. Albany, N.Y. On his admission to the bar in 1850, he was immediately appointed district attorney of Albany. The son of Alfred Conkling, Congressman...

(Encyclopedia) Crookes, Sir William, 1832–1919, English chemist and physicist. After serving at the Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford, and teaching chemistry at Chester Training College, he retired to work in his own ...

(Encyclopedia) Barber, Samuel, 1910–81, American composer, b. West Chester, Pa. Barber studied at the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia. His music is lyrical and generally tonal; his later works are more chr...

(Encyclopedia) chansons de geste shäNsôNˈ də zhĕst [key] [Fr.,=songs of deeds], a group of epic poems of medieval France written from the 11th through the 13th cent. Varying in length from 1,000 to 20,000 lines...

(Encyclopedia) Hananiah hănənīˈə [key]. 1 One of the Three Young Men. According to the Book of Daniel, he was one of Daniel's three companions and was also known as Shadrach. 2 In the Book of Jeremiah, a false ...

(Encyclopedia) miracle play or mystery play, form of medieval drama that came from dramatization of the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. It developed from the 10th to the 16th cent., reaching its height in the ...

(Encyclopedia) French, John Denton Pinkstone, 1st earl of Ypres ēˈprə [key], 1852–1925, British field marshal. After a long career in the army, during which he served in Sudan (1884–85) and in the South Afric...

(Encyclopedia) Pembroke, Mary Herbert, countess of, 1561–1621; sister of Sir Philip Sidney. His Arcadia was written for her, and after his death she prepared it and his other works for publication. Patron of a num...

(Encyclopedia) Bernoulli or Bernouilli both: bĕrno͞oyēˈ [key], name of a family distinguished in scientific and mathematical history. The family, after leaving Antwerp, finally settled in Basel, Switzerland, whe...

(Encyclopedia) Charles III or Charles the Fat, French king: see Charles III, emperor of the West. ...