Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Pillow, Gideon Johnson

(Encyclopedia)Pillow, Gideon Johnson, 1806–78, American general, b. Williamson co., Tenn. In the Mexican War he was appointed brigadier general of Tennessee volunteers by his former law partner, President James K...

Johnson, Samuel, English author

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, Samuel, 1709–84, English author, b. Lichfield. The leading literary scholar and critic of his time, Johnson helped to shape and define the Augustan Age. He was equally celebrated for his br...

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

(Encyclopedia)Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, charitable organization devoted exclusively to health care issues. It was established in 1936 by Robert Wood Johnson (1893–1968), board chairman of the Johnson & ...

Reynolds, Sir Joshua

(Encyclopedia)Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 1723–92, English portrait painter, b. Devonshire. Long considered historically the most important of England's painters, by his learned example he raised the artist to a positi...

Giovanni di Paolo

(Encyclopedia)Giovanni di Paolo jōvänˈnē dē päˈōlō [key], c.1403–1483, major Italian painter of the Sienese school. Typical of the Sienese painters of his era, he paid scant attention to the artistic inn...

Philadelphia Museum of Art

(Encyclopedia)Philadelphia Museum of Art, established in 1875, chartered in 1876. When the city of Philadelphia planned to erect a building to house the Centennial Exposition of 1876, provision was made to keep the...

Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna

(Encyclopedia)Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna blətvătˈskē [key], 1831–91, Russian theosophist and occultist. She was the daughter of a German named Hahn who had settled in Russia and who was distantly connected wi...

Aguiyi-Ironsi, Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe

(Encyclopedia)Aguiyi-Ironsi, Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe, 1924–1966, Nigerian military officer and political leader. An Igbo from Umuahia, he joined the Nigerian army in 1942 and received military training in Englan...

Browse by Subject