Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

256 results found

Bartlett, John

(Encyclopedia)Bartlett, John, 1820–1905, American compiler and publisher, b. Plymouth, Mass. While he worked in his university book store in Cambridge, he compiled the invaluable Familiar Quotations (1855), which...

interest

(Encyclopedia)interest, charge for the use of credit or money, usually figured as a percentage of the principal and computed annually. Simple interest is computed annually on the principal. Compound interest, paid ...

Watson, Tom

(Encyclopedia)Watson, Tom (Thomas Sturges Watson), 1949–, American golfer, b. Kansas City, Mo. Considered the successor to Jack Nicklaus as the game's foremost player in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Watson won...

Soubise, Benjamin de Rohan, seigneur de

(Encyclopedia)Soubise, Benjamin de Rohan, seigneur de bäNzhämăNˈ də rōäNˈ sānyûrˈ də so͞obēzˈ [key], 1583–1642, French Protestant general. He fought under Maurice of Nassau in the Netherlands and s...

William the Silent

(Encyclopedia)William the Silent or William of Orange (William I, prince of Orange), 1533–84, Dutch statesman, principal founder of Dutch independence. William married four times. His first wife was Anne of Egm...

Solow, Robert M.

(Encyclopedia)Solow, Robert M., 1924–, American economist, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. Harvard (B.A. 1947, M.A. 1949, Ph.D. 1951). He began teaching economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1949. So...

Bassett, James

(Encyclopedia)Bassett, James băsˈət [key], 1834–1906, American Presbyterian missionary, b. Canada. In 1872, under the auspices of the American Board, he founded the first American mission at Tehran, Persia (no...

Oceanside

(Encyclopedia)Oceanside. 1 City (1990 pop. 128,398), San Diego co., S Calif., on the Gulf of Santa Catalina; inc. 1888. It is a commercial and trading center for an inland farm area and for nearby Camp Pendleton, a...

Airy, Sir George Biddell

(Encyclopedia)Airy, Sir George Biddell, 1801–92, English astronomer. The son of a poor farmer, he distinguished himself as Senior Wrangler at Cambridge, where he was elected fellow of Trinity College (1824) and a...

Potter, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Potter, Paul or Paulus, 1625–54, Dutch animal and landscape painter and etcher. In The Hague he enjoyed the patronage of the prince of Nassau, for whom he painted the celebrated life-sized Young Bul...