Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Espy, James Pollard

(Encyclopedia)Espy, James Pollard ĕsˈpē [key], 1785–1860, American meteorologist. He developed a convection theory of storms, explaining it in 1836 before the American Philosophical Society and in 1840 before ...

Fields, James Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Fields, James Thomas, 1817–81, American author and publisher, b. Portsmouth, N.H. He was the junior partner of Ticknor and Fields, noted Boston publishing house in the mid-19th cent. He edited (1861...

Eyre, Sir James

(Encyclopedia)Eyre, Sir James, 1734–99, English jurist. As a young lawyer he was counsel (1763) for John Wilkes in the suit against the government that established the illegality of general warrants (warrants for...

Fair, James Graham

(Encyclopedia)Fair, James Graham, 1831–94, American financier, b. near Belfast, Ireland. He emigrated to America as a child, grew up on an Illinois farm, and went west in 1851 in search of gold. In partnership wi...

Farley, James Aloysius

(Encyclopedia)Farley, James Aloysius ălˌəwĭshˈəs [key], 1888–1976, American political leader, U.S. Postmaster General (1933–40), b. Rockland co., N.Y. He rose steadily in Democratic party politics in New ...

Farrell, James Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Farrell, James Thomas fârˈəl [key], 1904–79, American novelist, b. Chicago. In his fiction Farrell expressed anger against the brutal economic and social conditions that produce emotional and mat...

Ferguson, James Edward

(Encyclopedia)Ferguson, James Edward, 1871–1944, governor of Texas (1915–17), b. Bell co., Tex. After an adventurous youth he rose from poverty to become a lawyer, large landowner, and banker. Although unknown ...

Ferrier, James Frederick

(Encyclopedia)Ferrier, James Frederick fĕrˈēər [key], 1808–64, Scottish philosopher. He was a professor at Edinburgh (1842–45) and at St. Andrews from 1845 until his death. His major work, the Institutes of...

Alter, Harvey James

(Encyclopedia)Alter, Harvey James, 1935–, American virologist, b. New York City, M.D. Univ. of Rochester, 1960. He has been a researcher at the National Institutes of Health since 1969. The 2020 Nobel Prize in Ph...

Fox, Charles James

(Encyclopedia)Fox, Charles James, 1749–1806, British statesman and orator, for many years the outstanding parliamentary proponent of liberal reform. He entered Parliament in 1768 and served as lord of the admiral...