Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Glas, John

(Encyclopedia)Glas or Glass, John both: gläs, glăs [key], 1695–1773, Scottish minister, founder of an independent Presbyterian sect whose members were often called Glasites or Glassites. He believed that nation...

Goddard, John

(Encyclopedia)Goddard, John gŏdˈərd [key], 1724–85, American furniture maker, b. Dartmouth, Mass. He worked in Newport, R.I., and is recognized as having been one of the finest cabinetmakers in early America. ...

Anderson, John

(Encyclopedia)Anderson, John, 1893–1962, Scottish-Australian philosopher, b. Scotland. A graduate of the Univ. of Glasgow, he taught (1918–27) at the universities of Cardiff, Glasgow, and Edinburgh before becom...

Gibbon, John

(Encyclopedia)Gibbon, John, 1827–96, Union general in the Civil War, b. near Holmesburg (now part of Philadelphia), Pa., grad. West Point, 1847. Made a brigadier general of volunteers (1862), he fought in the sec...

Guare, John

(Encyclopedia)Guare, John gwâr [key], 1938–, American playwright, b. New York City, B.A. Georgetown, 1960, M.F.A. Yale, 1963. Guare's freewheeling, satirical plays are the antithesis of “kitchen sink” natura...

Gerard, John

(Encyclopedia)Gerard, John jĕrˈärd, jərärdˈ [key], 1545–1612, English botanist and barber-surgeon. He compiled a catalog (1596) of the plants in his garden, the first of its kind to be published in England....

Gay, John

(Encyclopedia)Gay, John, 1685–1732, English playwright and poet, b. Barnstaple, Devon. Educated at the local grammar school, he was apprenticed to a silk mercer for a brief time before commencing his literary car...

Forbes, John

(Encyclopedia)Forbes, John, 1710–59, British general in the French and Indian Wars, b. Scotland. He entered the British army in 1735, won distinction and promotion in the War of the Austrian Succession, and in 17...

Forster, John

(Encyclopedia)Forster, John, 1812–76, English biographer and critic. He was influential as literary and dramatic critic of the London Examiner. His Lives of the Statesmen of the Commonwealth (5 vol., 1836–39) e...

Forsyth, John

(Encyclopedia)Forsyth, John fôrsīthˈ [key], 1780–1841, American cabinet member, b. Fredericksburg, Va. He began law practice in Augusta, Va., and was in the House of Representatives from 1813 until his electio...

Browse by Subject