Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) U-2 incident, in U.S. and Soviet history, the events following the Soviet downing of an American U-2 high altitude reconnaissance aircraft over Soviet territory on May 1, 1960. The incident led to the...

(Encyclopedia) ode, elaborate and stately lyric poem of some length. The ode dates back to the Greek choral songs that were sung and danced at public events and celebrations. The Greek odes of Pindar, which were mod...

(Encyclopedia) Thierry, Augustin ōgüstăNˈ tyĕrēˈ [key], 1795–1856, French historian. His vivid literary style, romantic treatment of events, and use of contemporary documents helped to create interest in hi...

(Encyclopedia) probability, in mathematics, assignment of a number as a measure of the “chance” that a given event will occur. There are certain important restrictions on such a probability measure. In any exper...

(Encyclopedia) Sims, Christopher Albert, 1942–, American economist, b. Washington, D.C., Ph.D. Harvard (1968). Sims has taught at Harvard (1967–70), the Univ. of Minnesota (1970–90), Yale (1990–99), and Prin...

(Encyclopedia) Diwali, the festival of lights, celebrated by Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs; one of the most popular holidays in South Asia. Extending over five days, it marks the beginning of the new year in the Vikrama ...

(Encyclopedia) purification, in religion, the ceremonial removal of what the religion deems unclean. The usual agents of purification are water (as in baptism), bodily alteration (as in circumcision), and fire. The ...

(Encyclopedia) determinism, philosophical thesis that every event is the inevitable result of antecedent causes. Applied to ethics and psychology, determinism usually involves a denial of free will, although many ph...

(Encyclopedia) revue, a stage presentation that originated in the early 19th cent. as a light, satirical commentary on current events. It was rapidly developed, particularly in England and the United States, into an...

(Encyclopedia) Boudinot, Elias bo͞oˈdĭnŏt [key], 1740–1821, political leader in the American Revolution, b. Philadelphia. A lawyer of Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth), N.J., he took an active part in anti-British...