Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Newton, Gilbert Stuart

(Encyclopedia)Newton, Gilbert Stuart, 1794–1835, English genre and portrait painter, b. Halifax, N.S., studied in Boston with his uncle Gilbert Stuart, and later abroad. He was greatly influenced by the 17th-cent...

Winthrop, John, 1714–79, American scientist

(Encyclopedia)Winthrop, John, 1714–79, American scientist, b. Boston, Mass., grad. Harvard, 1732. Because of his study of earthquakes, he is sometimes called the founder of seismology. He made scientific observat...

Westwood

(Encyclopedia)Westwood. 1 Residential town (1990 pop. 12,557), Norfolk co., E Mass., in the greater Boston area; settled 1640, inc. 1897. Clothing is manufactured, and the town has several early 18th-century buildi...

Wachusett Reservoir

(Encyclopedia)Wachusett Reservoir wôcho͞oˈsĭt [key], on the South Branch of the Nashua River, central Mass., NE of Worcester; built 1897–1905. Impounded by Wachusett Dam (completed 1906), it receives some of ...

Bellows, Henry Whitney

(Encyclopedia)Bellows, Henry Whitney, 1814–82, American clergyman, b. Boston. From 1839 until his death he was pastor of the First Congregational Society, Unitarian (later Church of All Souls) in New York City. B...

Chávez Frías, Hugo Rafael

(Encyclopedia)Chávez Frías, Hugo Rafael o͞oˈgō räfäĕlˈ chäˈvĕs frēˈäs [key], 1954–2013, Venezuelan political leader, president of Venezuela (1999–2013). Raised in poverty, he was educated at the ...

Cory, William Johnson

(Encyclopedia)Cory, William Johnson, 1823–92, English poet and classicist. He was assistant master at Eton from 1845 to 1872. His verse, of which Ionica (1858) is the best known, consists primarily of imitations ...

Angilbert, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Angilbert, Saint ăngˈgĭlbərt [key], d. 814, Frankish statesman and courtier under Charlemagne, abbot of Centula (now Saint-Riquier), near Amiens. He was highly regarded in the Carolingian revival ...

Andrewes, Lancelot

(Encyclopedia)Andrewes, Lancelot ănˈdro͞oz [key], 1555–1626, Anglican divine, bishop of Chichester (1605), Ely (1609), and Winchester (1619). One of the most learned men of his time (his knowledge encompassed ...

Coffin, Sir Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Coffin, Sir Isaac, 1759–1839, British naval officer, b. Boston, Mass. From a loyalist family, he fought for the British in the American Revolution and in the French Revolutionary Wars; at the end of...