Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Melba, Dame Nellie, 1861–1931, Australian soprano, whose name originally was Helen Porter Mitchell. After study with Mathilde Marchesi in Paris, she made her operatic debut in Brussels in 1887. Famo...

(Encyclopedia) Pontevedra pōntāvāˈᵺrä [key], city (1990 pop. 70,356), capital of Pontevedra prov., NW Spain, in Galicia, on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Lérez River. It is a major fishing port. Clo...

(Encyclopedia) Sforza, Francesco I , sfôrˈtsä [key], 1401–66, duke of Milan (1450–66); illegitimate son of Muzio Attendolo Sforza. He succeeded his father as leader of his band of mercenaries, and by his valo...

(Encyclopedia) Veblen, Thorstein thôrˈstīn vĕbˈlən [key], 1857–1929, American economist and social critic, b. Cato Township, Wis. Of Norwegian parentage, he spent his first 17 years in Norwegian-American far...

(Encyclopedia) Austrian Succession, War of the, 1740–48, general European war. In 1744 Frederick II, fearing the rising power of Austria, started the Second Silesian War by invading Bohemia; he was soon expell...

(Encyclopedia) Luini, Bernardino bārnärdēˈnō lo͞oēˈnē [key], c.1480–1532, b. Luino, Italian painter, son of Giovanni Lutero. Among the extant works of his early years (before 1510) are a Pietà (Santa Mar...

(Encyclopedia) McConnell, Mitch (Addison Mitchell McConnell, Jr.), 1942–, U.S. politician, b. Tuscumbia, Ky., grad. Univ. of Louisville (B.A. 1964), Univ. of Kentucky Law School (J.D., 1967). A conservative Republ...

(Encyclopedia) Patterson, Elizabeth, 1785–1879, American wife of Jérôme Bonaparte, b. Baltimore. On a visit to America, Jérôme Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, met and married her (1803). Jérôme was...

(Encyclopedia) Miguel mēgĕlˈ [key], 1802–66, Portuguese prince; son of John IV of Portugal and younger brother of Pedro I of Brazil. He led an unsuccessful revolt against his father in 1824. On John's death (18...

(Encyclopedia) Hail Mary: see Ave Maria.