Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) McComb, John, 1763–1853, American architect, b. New York City. He was chiefly known for the New York City Hall (1803–12), one of the finest American buildings of the postcolonial period, designed ...

(Encyclopedia) McCormick, Robert Rutherford, 1880–1955, American journalist, b. Chicago. He held local public offices, was admitted (1907) to the bar, and practiced law in Chicago. He worked with his brother, Jose...

(Encyclopedia) black humor, in literature, drama, and film, grotesque or morbid humor used to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world. Ordinary characters or situations are usu...

(Encyclopedia) Drake, Francis Marion, 1830–1903, Union army officer in the Civil War, railroad president, and governor of Iowa (1896–98), b. Rushville, Ill. He helped defend St. Joseph, Mo., against Confederate ...

(Encyclopedia) Choate, Rufus chōt [key], 1799–1859, American lawyer and Congressman, b. Essex co., Mass.; uncle of Joseph Hodges Choate. Admitted to the bar in 1823, Rufus Choate gained national reputation as a l...

(Encyclopedia) Hulse, Russell Alan, 1950–, American astrophysicist, b., New York City, Ph.D. Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1975. Hulse was a researcher at the Princeton's plasma physics laboratory from 1977 unt...

(Encyclopedia) Ingolstadt ĭngˈgôlshtät [key], city, Bavaria, S central Germany, on the Danube River. It is a ...

(Encyclopedia) Insurgents, in U.S. history, the Republican Senators and Representatives who in 1909–10 rose against the Republican standpatters controlling Congress, to oppose the Payne-Aldrich tariff and the dict...

(Encyclopedia) Fernández de Moratín, Leandro lāänˈdrō fārnänˈdāth dā mōrātēnˈ [key], 1760–1828, Spanish dramatist and poet. A supporter of Joseph Bonaparte, he lived in exile in France after Bonapar...

(Encyclopedia) Jami jäˈmē [key], 1414–92, Persian poet, b. Jam, near Herat. His full name was Nur ad-Din Abd ar-Rahman Jami. His poetic influence was widespread. Nearly 100 works are attributed to him, of which...