Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

131 results found

Brent, Margaret

(Encyclopedia)Brent, Margaret, 1600?–1671?, early American feminist, b. Gloucester, England. With her two brothers and a sister, she left England to settle (1638) in St. Marys City, Md., where she acquired an ext...

Lowden, Frank Orren

(Encyclopedia)Lowden, Frank Orren, 1861–1943, American political leader, b. Chisago co., Minn. He practiced law in Chicago after 1887 and gained extensive agricultural holdings in Illinois. A leading member of th...

Tindemans, Leo

(Encyclopedia)Tindemans, Leo (Leonard Clemence Tindemans), 1922–2014, Belgian stateman. He studied economics at the universities of Antwerp and Ghent, and in 1958 became head of the Flemish Christian Democrats. F...

Wilkens, Lenny

(Encyclopedia)Wilkens, Lenny (Leonard Randolph Wilkens), 1937–, American basketball player and coach, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. After playing at Providence College, he joined the St. Louis Hawks of the National Basketbal...

Brewster, Sir David

(Encyclopedia)Brewster, Sir David, 1781–1868, Scottish physicist and natural philosopher. He is noted especially for his research into the polarization of light (the invention of the kaleidoscope was one result o...

Morgan, Joe

(Encyclopedia)Morgan, Joe (Joe Leonard Morgan), 1943–2020, American baseball player, b. Bonham, Tex. An outstanding second baseman, he signed with the Houston Colt .45s (now the Astros) in 1962, becoming their re...

Claiborne, William

(Encyclopedia)Claiborne, William klāˈbərn [key], c.1587–c.1677, Virginia colonist, b. Westmorland co., England. He emigrated to Virginia in 1621 as official surveyor and then served as secretary of state (1626...

Rough Riders

(Encyclopedia)Rough Riders, popular name for the 1st Regiment of U.S. Cavalry Volunteers, organized largely by Theodore Roosevelt in the Spanish-American War (1898). Its members were mostly ranchers and cowboys fro...

Thomas, Michael Tilson

(Encyclopedia)Thomas, Michael Tilson, 1944–, American conductor, composer, and pianist, b. Hollywood, Calif. A musical prodigy, he won Tanglewood's Koussevitsky Prize at 24 and shortly thereafter (1969) made his ...

Roberts, Owen Josephus

(Encyclopedia)Roberts, Owen Josephus, 1875–1955, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1930–45), b. Philadelphia. After receiving (1898) his law degree from the Univ. of Pennsylvania, he practiced law in...