Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Heller, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Heller, Joseph, 1923–99, American writer, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. Heller is best known for his first novel, Catch-22 (1961). Set in World War II, it is a darkly humorous commentary on the illogic of war a...

Goethals, George Washington

(Encyclopedia)Goethals, George Washington gōˈthəlz [key], 1858–1928, U.S. army engineer, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. West Point, 1880. After serving on various inland water projects, he was appointed chief engine...

Kahn, Robert Elliot

(Encyclopedia)Kahn, Robert Elliot, 1938–, American computer scientist, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., B.E.E. City College of New York, 1960, Ph.D. Princeton, 1964. With Vinton Cerf, he is responsible for the design and imple...

Keith, Minor Cooper

(Encyclopedia)Keith, Minor Cooper, 1848–1929, American magnate, a founder of the United Fruit Company, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. In the face of incredible hardships he built (1871–90) a railroad from the port of Limón...

Kornberg, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Kornberg, Arthur, 1918–2007, American biochemist, b. Brooklyn, grad. College of the City of New York (B.S., 1937) and Univ. of Rochester (M.D., 1941). In 1942 he joined the U.S. Public Health Servic...

West, Mae

(Encyclopedia)West, Mae, 1893–1980, American stage and movie comedienne, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., as Mary Jane West. The unparalleled mistress of double entendre, West began in burlesque and continued in vaudeville, st...

Weill, Sanford I.

(Encyclopedia)Weill, Sanford I. wīl [key], 1933–, American business executive, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. A graduate of Cornell (1955), Sandy Weill went to work for a New York brokerage house, and in 1960 helped found a ...

Bynner, Witter

(Encyclopedia)Bynner, Witter bĭnˈər [key], 1881–1968, American poet, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. Harvard, 1902. As a poet Bynner had a remarkable facility for catching the cadences of other writers and cultures. ...

Brown, Margaret Wise

(Encyclopedia)Brown, Margaret Wise, 1910–52, American children's book author, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., B.A Hollins College, 1932. Continuing her education at the Bureau of Educational Experiments (now the Bank Street C...

Blumberg, Baruch Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Blumberg, Baruch Samuel, 1925–2011, American biochemist and medical anthropologist, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., B.S. Union College, Schenectady, N.Y., 1946, M.D. Columbia, 1951, Ph.D. Oxford, 1957. From 1957...