Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Wadsworth, Louis Fenn

(Encyclopedia)Wadsworth, Louis Fenn, 1825–1908, American baseball player, b. Litchfield, Conn., grad. Washington College (now Trinity College), Hartford, 1844. After practicing law in New York City and presiding ...

Post, George Browne

(Encyclopedia)Post, George Browne, 1837–1913, American architect, b. New York City, grad. New York Univ., 1858, in civil engineering, and studied architecture with R. M. Hunt. He was one of the leaders in a notab...

phase, in astronomy

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Phases of the moon phase, in astronomy, the measure of how much of the illuminated surface of a planet or satellite can be seen from a point at a distance from that body; the term is most ofte...

Moses, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Moses, Robert, 1888–1981, U.S. public official, b. New Haven, Conn. He was appointed (1919) by Alfred E. Smith to the committee to study and revamp New York state government machinery, became (1924)...

Gilbert, Cass

(Encyclopedia)Gilbert, Cass, 1859–1934, American architect, b. Zanesville, Ohio, studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and in Europe. In 1880 he entered the employ of McKim, Mead, and White, New Yo...

McDougall, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)McDougall, Alexander məkdo͞oˈgəl [key], 1731–86, American Revolutionary political leader and general, b. Islay, Inner Hebrides, Scotland. He was taken (1738) as a child to New York. He became a ...

Lansing, John

(Encyclopedia)Lansing, John, 1754–1829?, American political leader and jurist, b. Albany, N.Y. He served as military secretary to Gen. Philip J. Schuyler in the American Revolution and later became a prominent la...

Bard, John

(Encyclopedia)Bard, John, 1716–99, American physician, persuaded New York to establish on Bedloe Island its first quarantine station and was himself the first health officer. He wrote on yellow fever, malignant p...

World War II

(Encyclopedia)World War II, 1939–45, worldwide conflict involving every major power in the world. The two sides were generally known as the Allies and the Axis. Although hostilities came to an end in Sept...

Bassett, Edward Murray

(Encyclopedia)Bassett, Edward Murray, 1863–1948, American urban planner, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. Amherst College, 1884, Columbia law school, 1886. He practiced law in Buffalo (1886–92) and New York City (1892â...