Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Gordon, Judah Leon, 1830–92, Russian-Hebrew novelist and poet, b. Vilna. As teacher and writer he was one of the leaders in the renaissance of a progressive culture among the Jews (see Haskalah) and...

(Encyclopedia) Gibson, Paris, 1830–1920, American pioneer and politician, b. Brownfield, Maine. After serving in the Maine legislature he moved to Minneapolis, where he built the first flour mill and started woole...

(Encyclopedia) Office of War Information (OWI), U.S. agency created (1942) during World War II to consolidate government information services. The OWI absorbed the functions of the Office of Facts and Figures, the O...

(Encyclopedia) New York, State University of, est. 1948 by the amalgamation under one board of trustees of 29 state-supported institutions. It now comprises all state-supported institutions of higher education, with...

(Encyclopedia) emphysema ĕmfĭsēˈmə [key], pathological or physiological enlargement or overdistention of the air sacs of the lungs. A major cause of pulmonary insufficiency in chronic cigarette smokers, emphyse...

(Encyclopedia) Neill, Alexander Sutherland, 1883–1973, English educator. After teaching at state schools in Scotland, Neill became dissatisfied with traditional education. In 1924, he set up the progressive coeduc...

(Encyclopedia) standpatters, in U.S. history, term used early in the 20th cent. to designate conservatives in the Republican party as against the Insurgents or progressive Republicans. The term is said to have origi...

(Encyclopedia) McCarthy, Charles, 1873–1921, American political scientist and author, b. Brockton, Mass. He organized and directed (1901–21) at Madison, Wis., the first official legislative reference library in ...

(Encyclopedia) Montgomery, Bernard Law, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein məntgŭmˈərē, ăləmānˈ [key], 1887–1976, British field marshal. Educated at Sandhurst, he entered the army in 1908 and served in Wo...

(Encyclopedia) Oxford, University of, at Oxford, England, one of the oldest English-language universities in the world. The university was a leading center of learning throughout the Middle Ages; such scholars as Ro...