Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Mikoyan, Anastas Ivanovich ənəstäsˈ ēväˈnəvĭch myĭkəyänˈ [key], 1895–1978, Soviet Communist leader. He joined the Communist party in 1915, became a member of the party's central committ...

(Encyclopedia) Organization of African Unity (OAU), former international organization, established 1963 at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by 37 independent African nations to promote unity and development; defend the sovere...

(Encyclopedia) Sarkozy, Nicolas (Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarkozy de Nagy-Bocsa) nēkōläˈ pōl stāfänˈ särkōzēˈ də näzhēˌ-bōksäˈ [key], 1955–, French politician, president of France (2007–12), b. ...

(Encyclopedia) Third World, the technologically less advanced, or developing, nations of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, generally characterized as poor, having economies distorted by their dependence on the export...

(Encyclopedia) Conway of Allington, William Martin Conway, 1st Baron, 1856–1937, English explorer, art historian, and writer. Conway filled several university positions and in 1918–31 represented the combined En...

(Encyclopedia) Brandt, Willy vĭlˈē bränt [key], 1913–92, German political leader. His name originally was Karl Herbert Frahm. Active in his youth in the Social Democratic party, after Adolf Hitler came to powe...

(Encyclopedia) hockey, ice, team sport in which players use sticks to propel a hard, round disk into a net-backed goal. The NHL long regarded itself as the world's elite, but the overwhelming superiority of the ...

(Encyclopedia) Landau, Lev Davidovich lyĕf dəvēˈdəvĭch ləndouˈ [key], 1908–68, Soviet physicist, b. Baku, Azerbaijan. A child prodigy in mathematics, he entered Baku Univ. at 14; at 21 he received a doctor...

(Encyclopedia) Karpinsky, Alexander Petrovich əlyĭksänˈdər pētrôˈvĭch kärpēnˈskē [key], 1846–1936, Soviet geologist. From 1869 to 1885 he was at the Mining Institute, St. Petersburg as student and tea...

(Encyclopedia) da Silva, Luiz Inácio lo͞oēshˈ ēnäsˈyo͞o dä sēlˈvə [key], 1945–, Brazilian labor leader and politician, known as Lula, b. Vargem Grande (now Caetés), Pernambuco. Born into a poor family...