Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Frederick III or Frederick the Wise, 1463–1525, elector of Saxony (1486–1525). At Wittenberg he founded (1502) the university where Martin Luther and Melanchthon taught. At a crucial period for th...

(Encyclopedia) Hoover, J. Edgar (John Edgar Hoover), 1895–1972, American administrator, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), b. Washington, D.C. Shortly after he was admitted to the bar, he enter...

(Encyclopedia) cruelty, prevention of. In the 19th cent. many laws were passed in Great Britain and the United States to protect the helpless, especially children, lunatics, and domestic animals, from willful and ma...

(Encyclopedia) Beaufort, Henry bōˈfərt [key], 1377?–1447, English prelate and statesman. The son of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, and his mistress (later wife) Catherine Swynford, he was half-brother to Hen...

(Encyclopedia) Agricola, Johann or Johannes əgrĭkˈələ [key], c.1494–1566, German Protestant minister, whose family name was Schnitter (originally Schneider). He was born at Eisleben and is sometimes called M...

(Encyclopedia) Klein, Ralph Phillip, 1942–2013, Canadian politician, b. Calgary. He served in the Canadian air force and worked in public relations and as a weathercaster and reporter in radio and television befor...

(Encyclopedia) Söderberg, Hjalmar yälˈmär söˈdərbĕrˌyə [key], 1869–1941, Swedish writer. He is known for a lyrical but melancholic and disillusioned mood. Söderberg's first novel, Martin Birck's Youth (...

(Encyclopedia) Purchas, Samuel pûrˈkəs, –chəs [key], 1577?–1626, English clergyman and compiler of travel literature, b. Essex. Chaplain to the archbishop of Canterbury, he later was rector of St. Martin's C...

(Encyclopedia) Tussaud, Marie to͝osōˈ, tüsōˈ [key], 1760–1850, Anglo-French modeler in wax, b. Strasbourg, France, as Marie Grosholtz or Grosholz. She learned her art from her uncle, Philippe Curtius, a prop...

(Encyclopedia) Sagasti Hochausler, Francisco Rafael, 1944–, Peruvian political leader. An industrial engineer by training, he has served as an adviser to Peruvian governments and as a government official, and has ...