Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Gregory, Lady Augusta

(Encyclopedia)Gregory, Lady Augusta (Isabella Augusta Persse), 1859–1932, Irish dramatist. Though she did not begin her writing career until middle-age, Lady Gregory soon became a vital force in the Irish drama. ...

Girard, Stephen

(Encyclopedia)Girard, Stephen jĭrärdˈ [key], 1750–1831, American merchant, banker, and philanthropist, b. Bordeaux, France. Girard went to sea and at the age of 23 was a captain. In 1776 he settled in Philadel...

humanism

(Encyclopedia)humanism, philosophical and literary movement in which man and his capabilities are the central concern. The term was originally restricted to a point of view prevalent among thinkers in the Renaissan...

Compton, Arthur Holly

(Encyclopedia)Compton, Arthur Holly, 1892–1962, American physicist, b. Wooster, Ohio, grad. College of Wooster (B.S., 1913), Ph.D. Princeton, 1916. He was professor and head of the department of physics at Washin...

Chandler, Zachariah

(Encyclopedia)Chandler, Zachariah, 1813–79, U.S. Senator from Michigan (1857–75, 1879) and Secretary of the Interior (1875–77), b. Bedford, N.H. He moved to Detroit in 1833 and through merchandising, land spe...

Esher, Reginald Baliol Brett, 2d Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Esher, Reginald Baliol Brett, 2d Viscount bālˈyəl, ēˈshər [key], 1852–1930, English historian and government official. After sitting in Parliament (1880–85) as a Liberal, he thereafter prefe...

Empedocles

(Encyclopedia)Empedocles ĕmpĕdˈəklēz [key], c.495–c.435 b.c., Greek philosopher, b. Acragas (present Agrigento), Sicily. Leader of the democratic faction in his native city, he was offered the crown, which h...

Schrödinger, Erwin

(Encyclopedia)Schrödinger, Erwin ĕrˈvĭn shröˈdĭng-ər [key], 1887–1961, Austrian theoretical physicist. He was educated at Vienna, taught at Breslau and Zürich, and was professor at the Univ. of Berlin (1...

rodeo

(Encyclopedia)rodeo rōˈdēō, rōdāˈō [key], public exhibition of the skill of cowboys in various activities. Events include riding broncos, riding steers, “bulldogging” steers, roping and tying steers and...

Pond, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Pond, Peter, 1740–1807, American fur trader and explorer of the Old Northwest, b. Milford, Conn. He served in the French and Indian War and in 1765 became a western trader from Detroit. He later rem...

Browse by Subject