Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Fonda, Jane, 1937–, American actress, b. New York City; daughter of Henry Fonda and sister of Peter Fonda. First cast in pert and sexy roles, she later distinguished herself in dramatic parts, often...

(Encyclopedia) Brown, John, 1810–82, Scottish essayist. He was a physician. His writing was collected in Horae Subsecivae (3 vol., 1858–82), which included his unique picture of a dog, Rab and His Friends (1859)...

(Encyclopedia) birth or labor, delivery of the fetus by the viviparous mammal. Birth is also known as parturition. Human birth normally occurs about 280 days after onset of the last menstrual period before conceptio...

(Encyclopedia) Neill, Alexander Sutherland, 1883–1973, English educator. After teaching at state schools in Scotland, Neill became dissatisfied with traditional education. In 1924, he set up the progressive coeduc...

(Encyclopedia) O'Connor, Frank, 1903–66, Irish short-story writer, whose name originally was Michael O'Donovan. He was a librarian in Dublin and later a director of the Abbey Theatre (1936–39). O'Connor is noted...

(Encyclopedia) Squarcione, Francesco fränchāˈskō skwärchōˈnā [key], 1397–1468, Italian painter; teacher of Mantegna. According to tradition he was a tailor and embroiderer who turned to painting c.1429 and...

(Encyclopedia) Gentile da Fabriano jāntēˈlā [key], c.1370–1427, Italian painter, one of the outstanding exponents of the elegant international Gothic style. In 1409 he worked in the Doge's Palace, Venice, pai...

(Encyclopedia) Singer, Isaac Merrit, 1811–75, American inventor, b. Rensselaer co., N.Y. As a child he lived in Oswego, N.Y. He patented in 1851 a practical sewing machine that could do continuous stitching. Altho...

(Encyclopedia) Theus, Jeremiah tho͞os, tois [key], c.1719–1744, American portrait painter, b. Switzerland. He emigrated to South Carolina as a child. By 1740, according to newspaper notices, he was painting portr...

(Encyclopedia) Fremstad, Olive Nayan frĕmˈstăd [key], 1871–1951, Swedish-American soprano; pupil of Lilli Lehmann. She came to the United States as a child. After her European debut (Cologne, 1895), she sang co...