Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Wilson, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Alexander, 1766–1813, American ornithologist, b. Scotland. He came to the United States c.1794, taught in rural New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and became a citizen in 1804. Encouraged by Willi...

Newport Jazz Festival

(Encyclopedia)Newport Jazz Festival, annual summer music festival, probably the best known of all such festivals, held at Newport, R.I. Originally sponsored by Newport socialites Mr. and Mrs. Louis Lorillard and ja...

refraction

(Encyclopedia)refraction, in physics, deflection of a wave on passing obliquely from one transparent medium into a second medium in which its speed is different, as the passage of a light ray from air into glass. O...

Ladd, George Trumbull

(Encyclopedia)Ladd, George Trumbull, 1842–1921, American philosopher, b. Painesville, Ohio, grad. Western Reserve Univ., 1864, and Andover Theological Seminary, 1869. He taught at Yale from 1881 until his retirem...

Lathrop, George Parsons

(Encyclopedia)Lathrop, George Parsons lāˈthrəp [key], 1851–98, American author, b. near Honolulu; studied in Germany (1867–70). He was the husband of Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, the daughter of Nathaniel Hawthor...

Kendall, George Wilkins

(Encyclopedia)Kendall, George Wilkins, 1809–67, American journalist, b. near Amherst, N.H. After a succession of journalistic jobs, he was a partner in founding (1837) the New Orleans Picayune. In 1841 he joined ...

Kennan, George Frost

(Encyclopedia)Kennan, George Frost, 1904–2005, U.S. diplomat and historian, b. Milwaukee, Wis., grad. Princeton, 1925. A brilliant strategist and among the most influential and intellectual Americans in the 20th-...

Lambton, John George

(Encyclopedia)Lambton, John George: see Durham, John George Lambton, 1st earl of. ...

Mikan, George Lawrence

(Encyclopedia)Mikan, George Lawrence mĭkˈən [key], 1924–2005, American basketball player, b. Joliet, Ill. After leading De Paul Univ. to the 1945 National Invitational Tournament title and being named All-Amer...

Browse by Subject