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Wallis, John

(Encyclopedia)Wallis, John wŏlˈĭs [key], 1616–1703, English mathematician. He was Savilian professor of geometry at Oxford from 1649. He systematized the use of formulas, introduced the symbol ∞ for infinity...

Webster, John

(Encyclopedia)Webster, John, 1580?–1634, English dramatist, b. London. Although little is known of his life, there is evidence that he worked for Philip Henslowe, collaborating with such playwrights as Dekker and...

Burke, John

(Encyclopedia)Burke, John, 1787–1848, Irish genealogist. He issued (1826) A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the United Kingdom. He published the guide irregularly until 1847,...

Burns, John

(Encyclopedia)Burns, John, 1858–1943, British union leader and politician. A factory worker as a child, he was largely self-educated and was led by his reading to radical socialism. Burns became an outstanding or...

Burroughs, John

(Encyclopedia)Burroughs, John, 1837–1921, American naturalist and author, b. Roxbury, N.Y.; son of a farmer. He was a journalist, a treasury clerk in Washington, and a bank examiner, before settling in 1874 on a ...

Butler, John

(Encyclopedia)Butler, John, 1728–96, Loyalist commander in the American Revolution, b. New London, Conn. He served in the French and Indian Wars and distinguished himself especially by leading the Native American...

Butterfield, John

(Encyclopedia)Butterfield, John, 1801–69, American stagecoach proprietor and expressman, b. near Albany, N.Y. Beginning as a stage driver out of Albany, he rose to ownership of a large network of stage lines. He ...

Byng, John

(Encyclopedia)Byng, John, 1704–57, British admiral; son of George Byng, Viscount Torrington. Sent (1756) to prevent the French from taking Minorca, he arrived when the island was already under siege and, after an...

Byrom, John

(Encyclopedia)Byrom, John bīˈrəm [key], 1692–1763, English shorthand expert and poet, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. He devised an early shorthand system, which he taught in Manchester. Although he co...

Byron, John

(Encyclopedia)Byron, John, 1723–86, British vice admiral and explorer. Sailing in 1740 with Admiral George Anson on a voyage around the world, he was shipwrecked off Chile. His Narrative of Great Distresses on th...