Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Jaurès, Jean zhäN zhōrĕsˈ [key], 1859–1914, French Socialist leader and historian. A brilliant student and teacher, he entered the chamber of deputies in 1885 and subsequently became a Socialis...

(Encyclopedia) Di Rupo, Elio āˈlēō dē ro͞oˈpō [key], 1951–, Belgian political leader. Born to Italian immigrant parents, he is a chemist by education and was a lecturer (1977–78) at the Univ. of Leeds, E...

(Encyclopedia) Bronfman, Edgar Miles, Sr. 1929–2013, Canadian-American business executive and philanthropist, b. Montreal, grad. McGill Univ. (1951). He was the eldest son of Samuel Bronfman, 1889–1971, an East ...

(Encyclopedia) Biddle, James, 1783–1848, U.S. naval officer and diplomat, b. Philadelphia. He became a midshipman in 1800. At the beginning of the War of 1812 he was first lieutenant on the Wasp; he later commande...

(Encyclopedia) American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), largest union of public employees in the United States. It began as a number of separate locals organized by a group of Wisconsi...

(Encyclopedia) Boer bo͝or, bôr [key] [Du.,=farmer], inhabitant of South Africa of Dutch or French Huguenot descent. Boers are also known as Afrikaners. They first settled (1652) near the Cape of Good Hope in what ...

(Encyclopedia) Chirac, Jacques René zhäk rənāˈ shēräkˈ [key], 1932–2019, French political leader, president of France (1995–2007), b. Paris. He attended the National School of Administration, joined the ...

(Encyclopedia) Sakharov, Andrei Dmitriyevich, 1921–89, Soviet nuclear physicist and human-rights advocate; first Soviet citizen to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (1975). From 1948 to 1956 he helped to develop the U...

(Encyclopedia) Khiva, khanate of, former state of central Asia, based on the Khiva (Khwarazm or Khorezm) oasis along the Amu Darya River. The khanate lay S of the Aral Sea and included large areas of the Kyzyl Kum a...

(Encyclopedia) Transcarpathian Region trănzˌcärpāˈthēən [key], Ukr. Zarkarpattya Oblast or Zakarpats'ka Oblast, Rus. Zakarpatskaya Oblast, administrative region (1989 pop. 1,252,000), 4,981 sq mi (12,901 sq k...