Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Jobs, Steven Paul jŏbz [key], 1955–2011, American computer-industry executive, b. San Francisco. He dropped out of Reed College (1972), and working with Stephen Wozniak, helped launch the personal-...

(Encyclopedia) natural law, theory that some laws are basic and fundamental to human nature and are discoverable by human reason without reference to specific legislative enactments or judicial decisions. Natural la...

(Encyclopedia) European Commission (EC), institution of the European Union (EU) invested with executive powers; it also is the main EU institution that initiates legislation. Located in Brussels, Belgium, it was fou...

(Encyclopedia) Dieppe dēĕpˈ [key], city, Seine-Maritime dept., N France, in Normandy, at the mouth of the...

(Encyclopedia) Concorde, Place de la pläs də lä kôNkôrdˈ [key], large square, Paris, France. It is bounded by the Tuileries gardens; the Champs Élysées; the Seine River; and a facade of buildings divided by ...

(Encyclopedia) Chabannes, Antoine de, comte de Dammartin äNtwänˈ də shäbänˈ kôNt də dämmärtăNˈ [key], 1408?–1488, French soldier in the Hundred Years War. He served with Joan of Arc, distinguishing hi...

(Encyclopedia) Alien and Sedition Acts, 1798, four laws enacted by the Federalist-controlled U.S. Congress, allegedly in response to the hostile actions of the French Revolutionary government on the seas and in the ...

(Encyclopedia) Camões or Camoens, Luís de both: lo͞oēshˈ dĭ kəmoiNshˈ [key], 1524?–1580, Portuguese poet, the greatest figure in Portuguese literature. Born of a poor family, Camões gained wide familiarit...

(Encyclopedia) Houellebecq, Michel mēshĕlˈ wĕlˈbĕk [key], b. 1958– or 1956–, French author, perhaps France's best-known contemporary novelist, b. Réunion as Michel Thomas. A literary pessimist and master ...

(Encyclopedia) Gorky, Arshile ärˈshīl gôrˈkē [key], c.1900–48, American painter, b. Armenia as Vosdanig Adoian. He escaped the Turkish slaughter of Armenians, emigrated to the United States in 1920, studied ...