Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Poinsett, Joel Roberts poinˈsĕt [key], 1779–1851, American diplomat and politician, b. Charleston, S.C. In 1810 he was sent as a special commissioner to South America to investigate political cond...

(Encyclopedia) Spingarn, Joel Elias spĭnˈgärn [key], 1875–1939, American educator and literary critic, b. New York City, grad. Columbia (B.A., 1895; Ph.D., 1899). He was professor (1899–1911) of comparative l...

(Encyclopedia) Frank, Anne, 1929–45, German diarist, b. Frankfurt as Anneliese Marie Frank. In order to escape Nazi persecution, her family emigrated (1933) to Amsterdam, where her father Otto became a business ow...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Shorthand systems shorthand, any brief, rapid system of writing that may be used in transcribing, or recording, the spoken word. Such systems, many having characters based on the letters of th...

(Encyclopedia) Monk, Thelonius (Thelonius Sphere Monk), 1917–82, American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, b. Rocky Mount, N.C. Monk is considered one of the most important, and eccentric, figures in modern j...

(Encyclopedia) Mott, Sir Nevill, 1905–96, British physicist. A professor at the Univ. of Bristol (1933–54) and the Univ. of Cambridge (1954–71), Mott won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1977 for a lifetime of re...

(Encyclopedia) Eaton, John Henry, 1790–1856, U.S. Senator (1818–29) and Secretary of War (1829–31), b. Halifax co., N.C. After being admitted to the bar, he practiced in Franklin, Tenn., and married Myra Lewis...

(Encyclopedia) Carnegie Corporation of New York, foundation established (1911) to administer Andrew Carnegie's remaining personal fortune for philanthropic purposes. Initially endowed with $125 million, the foundati...

(Encyclopedia) Catskill Mountains, dissected plateau of the Appalachian Mt. system, SE N.Y., W of the Hudson River. This glaciated region, wooded and rolling, with deep gorges and many waterfalls, is drained by the ...