Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Bassiouni, M. Cherif (Mahmoud Cherif Bassiouni), 1937–2017, Egyptian-American international criminal law jurist and human-rights advocate, b. Cairo. Bassiouni fought for Egypt in the Suez conflict (...

(Encyclopedia) Holstein, Friedrich von frēˈdrĭkh fən hôlˈshtīn [key], 1837–1909, German diplomat. After the Congress of Berlin (1878) he became a powerful figure in shaping German foreign policy. His offici...

(Encyclopedia) Mott, John Raleigh, 1865–1955, American Protestant ecumenical leader, b. Livingston Manor, N.Y. While a student at Cornell, Mott, a Methodist layman, became active in the Young Men's Christian Assoc...

(Encyclopedia) Miller, Henry, 1891–1980, American author, b. New York City. Miller sought to reestablish the freedom to live without the conventional restraints of civilization. His books are potpourris of sexual ...

(Encyclopedia) Marconi, Guglielmo, Marchese go͞olyĕlˈmō märkāˈzā märkôˈnē [key], 1874–1937, Italian physicist, celebrated for his development of wireless telegraphy (see radio). In the field of electro...

(Encyclopedia) West, Nathanael, 1903–40, American novelist, whose real name was Nathan Weinstein, b. New York City, grad. Brown Univ., 1924. An innovative, highly original author, West revealed the sterility and g...

(Encyclopedia) Galton, Sir Francis gôlˈtən [key], 1822–1911, English scientist, founder of eugenics; cousin of Charles Darwin. He turned from exploration and meteorology (where he introduced the theory of the a...

(Encyclopedia) Spark, Dame Muriel, 1918–2006, Scottish novelist, b. Muriel Sarah Camberg. She lived in Edinburgh, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), London, New York, and Rome, and spent her last years in Tuscany. Spark's t...

(Encyclopedia) Beecher, Catharine Esther, 1800–1878, American educator, b. East Hampton, N.Y.; daughter of Lyman Beecher. She first taught in New London, Conn., and in 1824 founded a girls' school in Hartford. Lat...

(Encyclopedia) Austen, Jane ôˈstən [key], 1775–1817, English novelist. The daughter of a clergyman, she spent the first 25 years of her life at “Steventon,” her father's Hampshire vicarage. Here her first n...