Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Law, John

(Encyclopedia)Law, John, 1671–1729, Scottish financier in France, b. Edinburgh. After killing a man in a duel (1694) he fled to Amsterdam, where he studied banking. Returning to Scotland (1700), he proposed to Pa...

Lawson, John

(Encyclopedia)Lawson, John, d. 1711, English explorer of North Carolina. He came to the Carolinas in 1700 and within the next few years traveled approximately 1,000 mi (1,600 km) through its unexplored parts. His d...

Arden, John

(Encyclopedia)Arden, John ärˈdən [key], 1930–2012, English playwright and novelist best known for his politically engaged work of the 1950s and 60s, a period during which he was considered one of Britain's maj...

Knowles, John

(Encyclopedia)Knowles, John, 1926–2001, American writer, b. Fairmont, W. Va., grad. Yale, 1949. He is best known for his semiautobiographical first novel, A Separate Peace (1960), a coming-of-age story about a bo...

Knox, John

(Encyclopedia)Knox, John, 1514?–1572, Scottish religious reformer, founder of Scottish Presbyterianism. In 1557 the Scottish Protestant nobles signed their First Covenant, banding together to form the group kn...

Kane, John

(Encyclopedia)Kane, John, 1860–1934, American primitive painter, b. Scotland. He came to Pittsburgh at the age of 19 and worked for years as a day laborer, painting in his spare time. His paintings exhibit a deli...

Kay, John

(Encyclopedia)Kay, John, 1704–64, English inventor. He patented (1733) the fly shuttle, operated by pulling a cord that drove the shuttle to either side, freeing one hand of the weaver to press home the weft. Wor...

Lamb, John

(Encyclopedia)Lamb, John, 1735–1800, American Revolutionary leader, b. New York City. Prior to the Revolution he was a leader of the Sons of Liberty in New York and helped form the New York committee of correspon...

Lambert, John

(Encyclopedia)Lambert, John, 1619–83, English parliamentary general. He fought in the first civil war (1642–46) and assisted Henry Ireton in drawing up the Heads of the Proposals in 1647. In 1648 he commanded t...

Langdon, John

(Encyclopedia)Langdon, John, 1741–1819, American political leader, b. Portsmouth, N.H. A prosperous merchant, Langdon was active in pre-Revolutionary activities. In 1775 he became a delegate to the Continental Co...