Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Fitzpatrick, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Fitzpatrick, Benjamin, 1802–69, governor of Alabama (1841–45), b. Greene co., Ga. As a youth, he moved to Alabama (then still part of Mississippi Territory), where after two terms as governor, he ...

Franklin, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Franklin, Benjamin, 1706–90, American statesman, printer, scientist, and writer, b. Boston. The only American of the colonial period to earn a European reputation as a natural philosopher, he is bes...

Jowett, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Jowett, Benjamin jōˈət, jouˈət [key], 1817–93, English educator and Greek scholar, b. London. Jowett was a Church of England clergyman, master of Balliol College, Oxford (1870–93), and vice c...

Day, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Day, Benjamin, 1838–1916, American printer; son of Benjamin Henry Day. While working in New York City, Day invented a process, utilizing celluloid sheets, for shading plates in the color printing of...

Constant, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Constant, Benjamin (Henri Benjamin Constant de Rebecque) äNrēˈ bäNzhämăNˈ kôNstäNˈ də rəbĕkˈ [key], 1767–1830, French-Swiss political writer and novelist, b. Lausanne. His affair (1794...

Church, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Church, Benjamin, 1639–1718, New England colonial soldier in King Philip's War, b. Plymouth, Mass. He took a leading part in the Great Swamp Fight (Dec., 1675), W of Kingston, R.I., and finally hunt...

Chew, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Chew, Benjamin, 1722–1810, American public official and judge, b. Anne Arundel co., Md. He read law in Philadelphia under Andrew Hamilton and was admitted (1746) to the bar. After practicing law at ...

Champney, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Champney, Benjamin chămpˈnē [key], 1817–1907, American painter, b. New Ipswich, N.H. Champney studied drawing and was apprenticed to a lithographer in Boston. He traveled to Europe in 1846, paint...

Silliman, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Silliman, Benjamin, 1779–1864, American chemist, geologist, and physicist, b. Trumbull, Conn., grad. Yale, 1796. In 1802 he was appointed first professor of chemistry and natural history at Yale; he...

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...

Browse by Subject