Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) McEwan, Ian (Ian Russell McEwan) məkyo͞oˈən [key], 1948–, English novelist, b. Aldershot, B.A. Univ. of Sussex, 1970, M.A. Univ. of East Anglia, 1971. His early short-story collections, First Lo...

(Encyclopedia) Hughes, Ted (Edward James Hughes), 1930–98, English poet, b. Mytholmyroyd, Yorkshire, studied Cambridge. Hughes's best poetry focuses on the unsentimental within nature. His poems are marked by cont...

(Encyclopedia)  Washington, Denzel (Denzel Hayes Washington Jr.), 1954- , African-American actor, b. Mount Vernon, N.Y., Fordham Univ. (B.A., 1977). Washington’s fa...

(Encyclopedia) Bruce, Scottish royal family descended from an 11th-century Norman duke, Robert de Brus. He aided William I in his conquest of England (1066) and was given lands in England. His son was granted fiefs ...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Inclined plane inclined plane, simple machine, consisting of a sloping surface, whose purpose is to reduce the force that must be applied to raise a load. To raise a body vertically a force mu...

(Encyclopedia) Elizabethan style ĭlĭzˌəbēˈthən [key], in architecture and the decorative arts, a transitional style of the English Renaissance, which took its name from Queen Elizabeth's reign (1558–1603). ...

(Encyclopedia) McLean, John məklānˈ [key], 1785–1861, American political figure and jurist, b. Morris co., N.J. His family moved to Ohio, where he studied law, was admitted (1807) to the bar, and practiced in L...

(Encyclopedia) Worth, William Jenkins, 1794–1849, American army officer, b. Hudson, N.Y. He served with distinction on the Niagara frontier in the War of 1812 and later became commandant of cadets and instructor o...

(Encyclopedia) Battle, Kathleen, 1948–, African-American soprano, b. Portsmouth, Ohio. She studied voice at the Conservatory of Music at the Univ. of Cincinnati and made her debut at the Spoleto Festival in 1972. ...

(Encyclopedia) Parks, Gordon (Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks), 1912–2006, African-American photographer, filmmaker, writer, and composer, b. Fort Scott, Kans. Parks purchased his first camera in 1938 and be...