Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Gagarin, Yuri Alekseyevich yo͞oˈrē əlyĭksyāˈyəvĭch gägäˈrĭn [key], 1934–68, Russian astronaut (cosmonaut), b. near Gzhatsk, RSFSR. He was the first in history to be rocketed into orbita...

(Encyclopedia) Baikonur or Baykonur Cosmodrome both: bīˌkəno͞orˈ [key], formerly secret aerospace launch complex, Qyzylorda prov., S central Kazakhstan, near Baikonur (originally, 1958–95, Leninsk) but c.200 ...

(Encyclopedia) Brusilov, Aleksey Alekseyevich əlyĭksyāˈ əlyĭksyāˈəvĭch bro͞osēˈləf [key], 1853–1926, Russian general. As a commander in World War I, he won victories in Galicia. In 1916 he organized ...

(Encyclopedia) Cherenkov, Pavel Alekseyevich päˈvĭl əlyĭksyāˈyəvĭch chərĕngˈkəf [key], 1904–90, Soviet physicist. He shared with the Soviet physicists I. M. Frank and I. Y. Tamm the 1958 Nobel Prize i...

(Encyclopedia) Balakirev, Mili Alekseyevich meˈlyĭ əlyĭksyāˈyəvĭch bələkēˈryĕf [key], 1837–1910, Russian composer and conductor, leader of the group called the Five. He founded (1862) the Free School ...

(Encyclopedia) Olesha, Yuri, 1899–1960, Russian novelist and dramatist. In his novel Envy (1927; tr. 1936) and in his other writing, Olesha focused on the conflict between the demands of an industrialized world an...

(Encyclopedia) Nekrasov, Nikolai Alekseyevich nyĭkəlīˈ əlyĭksyāˈyəvĭch nyĭkräˈsəf [key], 1821–78, Russian poet, editor, and publisher. Nekrasov began writing poetry when he was seven. Disowned by his...

(Encyclopedia) Bunin, Ivan Alekseyevich bo͞oˈnĭn, Rus. ēvänˈ əlyĭksyāˈyəvĭch bo͞oˈnyĭn [key], 1870–1953, Russian writer. Born of a poor aristocratic family, he was encouraged in his literary precoci...

(Encyclopedia) Andropov, Yuri Vladimirovich yo͞oˈrē vlədyēˈmĭravĭch əndrôˈpôf [key], 1914–84, Soviet Communist leader (1982–84). As ambassador to Hungary from 1954 to 1957, he played a major role in ...

(Encyclopedia) Oganessian, Yuri Tsolakovich, 1933–, b. Rostov-na-Donu, Russian nuclear physicist, Ph.D. Moscow State Univ. (1963), Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), Dubna (1970). Joining the JINR's Fler...