Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Bennigsen, Rudolf von ro͞oˈdôlf fən bĕnˈĭksən [key], 1824–1902, German political leader. A liberal nationalist from Hanover, he favored German unification under a democratic Prussian state. ...

(Encyclopedia) Roberts, Kenneth Lewis, 1885–1957, American author, b. Kennebunk, Maine, grad. Cornell, 1908. Well known as staff correspondent for the Saturday Evening Post and as an author of travel books, Robert...

(Encyclopedia) Platonov, Andrei ändrāˈ plŏˈtənûf [key], 1899–1951, Russian novelist and short-story writer. Platonov's writing focuses on the threat industrialization poses to human and spiritual values. Hi...

(Encyclopedia) Samaroff, Olga səmäˈrôf [key], 1882–1948, American pianist and educator, whose real name was Hickenlooper, b. San Antonio, Tex.; studied at the Paris Conservatory. Her American debut (1905) was ...

(Encyclopedia) Garcilaso de la Vega gärsēläˈsō dā lä vāˈgä [key], 1539–1616, Peruvian historian; son of the Spanish conquistador Sebastián Garcilaso de la Vega and an Incan princess and therefore called...

(Encyclopedia) Halleck, Fitz-Greene hălˈĭk [key], 1790–1867, American poet, b. Guilford, Conn. He was joint author, with Joseph Rodman Drake, of the humorous lampoons “Croaker Papers,” most of which were pr...

(Encyclopedia) Gruenther, Alfred Maximilian, 1899–1983, U.S. general, b. Platte Center, Nebr. A brilliant staff officer, during World War II he was deputy chief of staff to Dwight D. Eisenhower in London (1942–4...

(Encyclopedia) Astoria ăstôrˈēə [key]. 1 Commercial, industrial, and residential section of NW Queens borough of New York City, SE N.Y.; settled in the 17th cent. as Hallet's Cove. It was renamed for John Jacob...

(Encyclopedia) windmill, apparatus that harnesses wind power for a variety of uses, e.g., pumping water, grinding corn, driving small sawmills, and driving electrical generators. Windmills were probably not known in...

(Encyclopedia) Longo, Luigi lo͞oēˈjē lôngˈgō [key], 1900–1980, Italian political leader. He was a founder of the Italian Communist party in 1921. In the Spanish civil war he served as inspector-general of t...