Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Taylor, John, American political philosopher

(Encyclopedia)Taylor, John, 1753–1824, American political philosopher. Known as John Taylor of Caroline, he was born in Virginia, probably in Caroline co., where he later lived at “Hazlewood.” Orphaned at 10,...

Diophantus

(Encyclopedia)Diophantus dīəfănˈtəs [key], fl. a.d. 250, Greek algebraist. He pioneered in solving a type of indeterminate algebraic equation where one seeks integer values for the unknowns; work in this field...

Abercrombie, Sir Patrick

(Encyclopedia)Abercrombie, Sir Patrick, 1879–1957, British architect and town planner. Professor of civil design at the Univ. of Liverpool from 1915 to 1935 and of town planning at the Univ. of London after 1935,...

Dixie, Lady Florence Caroline Douglas

(Encyclopedia)Dixie, Lady Florence Caroline Douglas, 1857–1905, British traveler and writer; daughter of the 7th marquess of Queensberry. She visited Patagonia (1878–79) and wrote Across Patagonia (1880), the f...

Dunash ben Tamim

(Encyclopedia)Dunash ben Tamim täˈmēm [key] or Dunash ibn Tamim, c.900–c.960, Hebrew scholar, an astronomer and physician of North Africa. A pioneer in the field of scientific comparative philology, he tried t...

Hassi Messaoud

(Encyclopedia)Hassi Messaoud häsˈsē mĕsˌsäo͞odˈ [key] [Arab.,=blessed well], town, E Algeria. Formerly a watering hole in the Sahara desert, Hassi Messaoud rose to prominence with the discovery of oil in 19...

Hitchcock, Henry-Russell

(Encyclopedia)Hitchcock, Henry-Russell, 1903–87, American architectural historian, b. Boston. Educated at Harvard, Hitchcock taught at Smith College and New York Univ. His writings, which helped to define modern ...

handball, team

(Encyclopedia)handball, team, or field handball, team court game. Despite its status as an Olympic sport, the game is virtually unknown in the United States. Originated in central Europe in the early 1900s as an ou...

Herrick, Robert, American novelist

(Encyclopedia)Herrick, Robert, 1868–1938, American novelist, b. Cambridge, Mass., grad. Harvard, 1890. He was professor of English at the Univ. of Chicago from 1893 to 1923. Herrick wrote realistic social novels ...

Grady, Henry Woodfin

(Encyclopedia)Grady, Henry Woodfin, 1850–89, American journalist and orator, b. Athens, Ga. In 1879 a gift from Cyrus W. Field enabled him to buy into the Atlanta Constitution. He gained fame with his editorials ...

Browse by Subject