Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Bakunin, Mikhail mēkhəyēlˈ bəko͞oˈnyĭn [key], 1814–76, Russian revolutionary and leading exponent of anarchism. He came from an aristocratic family but entered upon revolutionary activities ...

(Encyclopedia) human evolution, theory of the origins of the human species, Homo sapiens. Modern understanding of human origins is derived largely from the findings of paleontology, anthropology, and genetics, and i...

(Encyclopedia) Madách, Imré ĭmˈrĕ mŏˈdäch [key], 1823–64, Hungarian poet and dramatist. Madách is best known for his dramatic epic, The Tragedy of Man (1861, tr. 1908), which relates the history of mankin...

(Encyclopedia) Black, Hugh, 1868–1953, Scottish-American theologian and author. After serving as a pastor in Paisley and Edinburgh, he emigrated to the United States in 1906 to begin a professorship of practical t...

(Encyclopedia) Bona Dea bōˈnə dēˈə [key], in Roman religion, ancient fertility goddess worshiped only by women; also called Fauna. She was said to be the daughter, sister, or wife of Faunus. No man could be pr...

(Encyclopedia) Brandon, city, SW Man., Canada, on the Assiniboine River. The business center of the wheat-raising area of SW Manitoba, Brandon has an extensive trade i...

(Encyclopedia) John, Elton Hercules, 1947–, English popular singer, pianist, and composer, b. Reginald Kenneth Dwight. By the mid-1970s he had become famous presenting his own and other composers' songs in spectac...

(Encyclopedia) Kames, Henry Home, Lord hyo͞om [key], 1696–1782, Scottish judge and philosopher. A man of broad interests and a wide-ranging intellect, his works included dissertations on Scottish law, agriculture...

(Encyclopedia) Tucker, Abraham, 1705–74, English philosopher, b. London. He studied law at Merton College, Oxford, and later devoted himself to independent study. He advanced the ethical view that each man seeks h...

(Encyclopedia) Savage, Richard, 1697?–1743, English poet. The now discredited story of his illegitimate descent from a noble line and of his persecutions, which are set forth in a biography by Samuel Johnson, won ...