Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Tyler, John, 1790–1862, 10th President of the United States, b. Charles City co., Va. Tyler, nominated by a small Democratic faction, had withdrawn from the 1844 election. In Feb., 1861, he pres...

(Encyclopedia) Russian language, also called Great Russian, member of the East Slavic group of the Slavic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Slavic languages). The principal language of administ...

(Encyclopedia) Fitzsimmons, Robert L., 1863–1918, British boxer, b. Cornwall, England. Fitzsimmons began fighting professionally in Australia and New Zealand before going to the United States in 1890. He won the w...

(Encyclopedia) Bismarck, Otto von bĭzˈmärk, Ger. ôˈtō fən bĭsˈmärk [key], 1815–98, German statesman, known as the Iron Chancellor. The Bismarckian era closed with the death of Emperor Frederick III. A ...

(Encyclopedia) melodrama [Gr.,=song-drama], originally a spoken text with musical background, as in Greek drama. The form was popular in the 18th cent., when its composers included Georg Benda, J. J. Rousseau, and W...

(Encyclopedia) Clare, John, 1793–1864, English poet. A romantic poet who wrote shortly after the vogue for such verse, he had a profound and singular gift for capturing nature in exquisitely specific detail. The s...

(Encyclopedia) Peirce, Charles Sanders pûrs [key], 1839–1914, American philosopher and polymath, b. Cambridge, Mass., grad. Harvard, 1859; son of Benjamin Peirce. Except for occasional lectures he renounced the r...

(Encyclopedia) Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm frēˈdrĭkh vĭlˈhĕlm nēˈchə [key], 1844–1900, German philosopher, b. Röcken, Prussia. The son of a clergyman, Nietzsche studied Greek and Latin at Bonn and Leipz...

(Encyclopedia) Emerson, Ralph Waldo ĕmˈərsən [key], 1803–82, American poet and essayist, b. Boston. Through his essays, poems, and lectures, the “Sage of Concord” established himself as a leading spokesman...

(Encyclopedia) Indiana, Robert ĭnˌdē-ănˈə [key], 1928–2018, American pop artist, b. New Castle, Ind., as Robert Clark. A leading figure in the pop art movement of the 1960s, he specialized in making signs in...