Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Peirce, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Peirce, Benjamin, 1809–80, American mathematician and astronomer, b. Salem, Mass., grad. Harvard, 1829. From 1833 he was a professor at Harvard; he helped establish the Harvard Observatory and was a...

Lundy, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Lundy, Benjamin, 1789–1839, American abolitionist, b. Sussex co., N.J., of Quaker parentage. A pioneer in the antislavery movement, Lundy founded (1815) the Union Humane Society while operating a sa...

Lincoln, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Lincoln, Benjamin, 1733–1810, American Revolutionary soldier, b. Hingham, Mass. He served under Horatio Gates in the Saratoga campaign before becoming (1778) commander in the South. In 1779 he faile...

Kennicott, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Kennicott, Benjamin kĕnˈĭkət, –kŏtˌ [key], 1718–83, English clergyman and biblical scholar. His long career at Oxford was one of devotion to learning. He was rector of Culham, Oxfordshire, f...

List, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)List, Benjamin, 1968–, b. Frankfurt, Germany. German chemist, Managing Director of the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research and Professor of organic...

Kidd, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Kidd, Benjamin, 1858–1916, English social philosopher. His most noted work, Social Evolution (1894), sets forth his doctrine of the constant strife between individual and public interest. ...

Wilson, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Benjamin, 1721–88, English portrait painter and electrician who opposed Benjamin Franklin's theory of positive and negative electricity. Instead, Wilson supported Newton's gravitational-opti...

Benjamin, Asher

(Encyclopedia)Benjamin, Asher, 1773–1845, American architect, b. Greenfield, Mass. His Country Builder's Assistant was published in 1797 and The American Builder's Companion, with Daniel Reynard, in 1806. Benjami...

West, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)West, Benjamin, 1738–1820, American historical painter who worked in England. He was born in Springfield, Pa., in a house that is now a memorial museum at Swarthmore College. After some instruction ...

Benjamin, Park

(Encyclopedia)Benjamin, Park, 1809–64, American journalist, b. British Guiana (now Guyana). As owner and editor of the New England Magazine, he merged it (1835) with the American Monthly Magazine of New York and ...

Browse by Subject