Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Lachenmann, Helmut, 1935–, German composer, b. Stuttgart. One of the most influential European composers of the late 20th and early 21st cents., he studied in Venice with Luigi Nono (1958–60) and ...

(Encyclopedia) Pickford, Mary, 1893–1979, American movie actress, b. Toronto, Ont. In 1909 she began working with D. W. Griffith. Specializing in playing young girls, she was dubbed “America's Sweetheart.” Her...

(Encyclopedia) Derby, James Stanley, 7th earl of därˈbē [key], 1607–51, English nobleman. He sat in the House of Commons (1625–28), took his seat in the House of Lords as Baron Strange (succeeding his father ...

(Encyclopedia) distortion, in electronics, undesired change in an electric signal waveform as it passes from the input to the output of some system or device. In an audio system, distortion results in poor reproduct...

(Encyclopedia) Bragg, Sir William Henry, 1862–1942, English physicist, educated at King William's College, Isle of Man, and Trinity College, Cambridge. He served on the faculties of the Univ. of Adelaide in Austra...

(Encyclopedia) Coleridge, Hartley kōlˈrĭj, kōˈlə– [key], 1796–1849, English author; eldest son of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Reared in the household of the poet Southey after the estrangement of his parents,...

(Encyclopedia) Flanagan, Richard, 1961–, Australian novelist, b. Longford, Tasmania, studied Univ. of Tasmania (grad. 1982), Oxford (Rhodes scholar). Flanagan, whose novels explore the past and present of his nati...

(Encyclopedia) Jolson, Al jōlˈsən [key], 1888–1950, American entertainer, whose original name was Asa Yoelson, b. Russia. He emigrated to the United States c.1895. The son of a rabbi, Jolson first planned to be...

(Encyclopedia) Hatteras, Cape hătˈərəs [key], promontory on Hatteras Island, a low, sandy, barrier bar between the Atlantic Ocean and Pamlico Sound, E N.C. Called the Graveyard of the Atlantic, the cape experien...

(Encyclopedia) kithara sĭthˈ– [key], musical instrument of the ancient Greeks. It was a plucked instrument, a larger and stronger form of the lyre, used by professional musicians both for solo playing and for th...