Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Whittington, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Whittington, Richard, 1358–1423, English merchant and lord mayor of London. He made his fortune as a mercer and then entered London politics to become successively councilman, alderman, sheriff, and...

Wilbur, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Wilbur, Richard, 1921–2017, American poet and translator, b. New York City, B.A. Amherst, 1942, M.A. Harvard, 1947. A virtuoso craftsman who wrote with grace and precision in traditional verse forms...

Upjohn, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Upjohn, Richard, 1802–78, American architect, b. England. He came to the United States in 1829. A skilled cabinetmaker and draftsman, he lived first in Manlius, N.Y., and then in New Bedford, Mass.,...

Fossey, Dian

(Encyclopedia)Fossey, Dian fôˈsē, fŏsˈē [key], 1932–85, American zoologist, b. San Francisco, who lived and worked with the mountain gorillas of central Africa, adding immeasurably to the understanding of t...

Goodall, Jane

(Encyclopedia)Goodall, Jane go͝odˈôl [key], 1934–, English ethologist and primatologist. After working with Louis Leakey but without any formal scientific training, she established (1960) a research camp in th...

May, Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Farnborough

(Encyclopedia)May, Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Farnborough, 1815–86, English constitutional jurist and historian. A period of long service to Parliament, including his tenure (1871–86) as clerk of the House of Co...

Erskine, John, 1721?–1803, Scottish theologian

(Encyclopedia)Erskine, John, 1721?–1803, Scottish theologian. A leader of the evangelical party in the Church of Scotland, he was minister successively at Kirkintilloch, Culross, and New Greyfriars Church, Edinbu...

Sheriffmuir

(Encyclopedia)Sheriffmuir shĕrˈĭfmyo͝orˌ [key], battlefield in Stirling, central Scotland, near Dunblane. It was the scene, Nov. 13, 1715, of an indecisive battle between the Jacobites under John Erskine, 6th ...

Linklater, Richard Stuart

(Encyclopedia)Linklater, Richard Stuart, 1960–, American screenwriter, director, and actor, b. Houston. He dropped out of college and worked on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, then moved to Austin (1983), where...

Browse by Subject