Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) governor, chief executive of a dependent or component unit in a political system. In the United States, a governor is the chief executive of each state and is elected by the people of the state. In th...

(Encyclopedia) Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, philanthropic institution founded in 1994 by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, to improve the lives of the poor throughout the world, primarily th...

(Encyclopedia) Fourteenth Amendment, addition to the U.S. Constitution, adopted 1868. The amendment comprises five sections. Section 2 provides for apportionment of membership in the House of Representatives on th...

(Encyclopedia) standard of living, level of consumption that an individual, group, or nation has achieved. The evaluation of a standard of living is relative, depending upon the judgment of the observer as to what c...

(Encyclopedia) Lovejoy, Owen, 1811–64, American abolitionist, b. Albion, Maine, educated at Bowdoin College. He witnessed the killing of his brother Elijah P. Lovejoy, under whom he had studied for the ministry. T...

(Encyclopedia) Roberts, Kenneth Lewis, 1885–1957, American author, b. Kennebunk, Maine, grad. Cornell, 1908. Well known as staff correspondent for the Saturday Evening Post and as an author of travel books, Robert...

(Encyclopedia) Ghose, Chinmoy gōsh [key], 1931–, Indian mystic and poet. Orphaned at the age of 12, he went to live at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in S India, where he stayed for the next 20 years, practicing spiri...

(Encyclopedia) Neusner, Jacob, 1932–2016, American scholar and historian of Judaism, b. West Hartford, Conn, B.A. Harvard, 1953, M.A. Jewish Theological Seminary, 1960), Ph.D. Columbia, 1960. Regarded as the world...

(Encyclopedia) Henry II, 1133–89, king of England (1154–89), son of Matilda, queen of England, and Geoffrey IV, count of Anjou. He was the founder of the Angevin, or Plantagenet, line in England and one of the a...

(Encyclopedia) Monhegan mŏnhēˈgĭn [key], island, 2.5 sq mi (6.4 sq km), c.10 mi (16 km) off the coast of S Maine, settled c.1622. It is a summer resort favored by artists for its scenery. In the War of 1812 the ...