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John Henry

(Encyclopedia)John Henry, legendary African American famous for his strength, celebrated in ballads and tales. In the most popular version of the story, John Henry tries to outwork a steam drill with only his hamme...

Murphy, William Parry

(Encyclopedia)Murphy, William Parry, 1892–1987, American physician, b. Stoughton, Wis., M.D. Harvard, 1920. He taught at Harvard from 1923 and was associated with the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, in Boston, from ...

Labouchere, Henry du Pré

(Encyclopedia)Labouchere, Henry du Pré lăˌbo͞oshârˈ [key], 1831–1912, British politician and journalist. Following diplomatic service (1854–64), he sat in the House of Commons (1880–1906) as a Radical. ...

Leavis, Q. D.

(Encyclopedia)Leavis, Q. D. (Queenie Dorothy Leavis), 1906–81, British literary critic; wife of F. R. Leavis. After studying at Cambridge, she wrote Fiction and the Reading Public (1932), which analyzed the marke...

Parrington, Vernon Louis

(Encyclopedia)Parrington, Vernon Louis, 1871–1929, American literary historian and scholar, b. Aurora, Ill. His cultural interpretation of American literature was an expression of his belief in democratic idealis...

Palmer, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Palmer, Samuel, 1805–81, English landscape watercolorist, etcher, and mystic. Under the influence of William Blake he produced in sepia a series of remarkable visionary drawings of moonlit landscape...

Whittaker, Charles Evans

(Encyclopedia)Whittaker, Charles Evans, 1901–73, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1957–62), b. Troy, Kans. He received his law degree from the Univ. of Kansas City in 1924 and practiced law for many...

Boston University

(Encyclopedia)Boston University, at Boston, Mass.; coeducational; founded 1839, chartered 1869, first baccalaureate granted 1871. It is composed of 16 schools and colleges. Among its notable research facilities are...

Tickell, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Tickell, Thomas tĭkˈəl [key], 1686–1740, English poet and translator. A contributor of verse to the Spectator, he was a friend of Addison, for whom he wrote a fine elegy (1721). His translation o...

Sedgwick, Adam

(Encyclopedia)Sedgwick, Adam, 1785–1873, English geologist. He was a professor at Cambridge from 1818. His most important work was a study, made with R. I. Murchison, of the rock formation of Devonshire, which th...