Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Biddle, George, 1885–1973, American painter and writer on art, b. Philadelphia. After studying abroad Biddle settled in the 1930s in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., where he devoted himself to paintings of ...

(Encyclopedia) Beard, James, 1903–85, American cooking teacher and cookbook author, b. Portland, Oreg. His interest in food was encouraged by his mother, who had been a hotel proprietor. He was a syndicated column...

(Encyclopedia) Alphonse älfôNsˈ [key], 1220–71, count of Poitiers and of Toulouse, brother of King Louis IX of France. By his marriage to the daughter of Raymond VII, count of Toulouse, he inherited Raymond's l...

(Encyclopedia) Gandhi, Rahul gänˈdē [key], 1970–, Indian political leader, B.A. Rollins College, 1994, M.Phil. Cambridge, 1995. Son of Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, he entered politics in 2004, winning electi...

(Encyclopedia) Hagar āˈgər [key], according to the Book of Genesis, servant of Abraham's wife Sarah and mother of his eldest son, Ishmael. She and her son were sent out into the wilderness because of Sarah's jeal...

(Encyclopedia) opossum əpŏsˈəm, pŏsˈ– [key], name for several marsupials, or pouched mammals, of the family Didelphidae, native to Central and South America, with one species extending N to the United States...

(Encyclopedia) Pankhurst, Emmeline Goulden ĕmˈəlīnˌ, –lēnˌ, go͞olˈdən, păngkˈhûrst [key], 1858–1928, British woman suffragist. Disappointed in the disinterest in women's suffrage shown by the Libera...

(Encyclopedia) Livia Drusilla lĭvˈēə dro͞osĭlˈə [key], c.55 b.c.–a.d. 29, Roman matron; mother of the Roman emperor Tiberius. She first married Tiberius Claudius Nero. Tiberius was his son. In 38 b.c., Aug...

(Encyclopedia) Loren, Sophia sōfēˈə lôrĕnˈ [key], 1934–, Italian film actress, b. as Sophia Scicoloni. She grew up in the slums of Naples. With the help of Italian producer Carlo Ponti (later her husband) s...

(Encyclopedia) Lovelace, Ada (Augusta Ada King-Noel, Countess of Lovelace), 1815–1852, English mathematician, b. London as Augusta Ada Byron. The daughter of the poet Lord Byron and Anne Isabella Milbanke, she was...