Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ballard, Robert Duane

(Encyclopedia)Ballard, Robert Duane bălˈərd [key], 1942–, American marine geologist, b. Wichita, Kans.; Ph.D. Univ. of Rhode Island, 1974. From 1969 to 1997 he was associated with Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst...

Richardson, Robert Coleman

(Encyclopedia)Richardson, Robert Coleman, 1937–2013, American physicist, b. Washington, D.C. Ph.D. Duke Univ., 1966. Richardson was a professor at Cornell from 1968 until his death; he was the university's first ...

Richet, Charles Robert

(Encyclopedia)Richet, Charles Robert shärl rōbĕrˈ rēshāˈ [key], 1850–1935, French physiologist. From 1887 to 1927 he was professor at the Univ. of Paris. His special study was anaphylaxis, a term he used t...

Ovshinsky, Stanford Robert

(Encyclopedia)Ovshinsky, Stanford Robert, 1922–2012, American inventor and scientist, b. Akron, Ohio. Self-taught, he developed a new type of lathe in the 1940s, the first of many innovations and patents. Special...

Owen, Robert Dale

(Encyclopedia)Owen, Robert Dale, 1801–77, American social reformer, b. Scotland; son of Robert Owen. He studied at his father's New Lanark school and in Switzerland. In 1825 he went to New Harmony, Ind. There he ...

Peary, Robert Edwin

(Encyclopedia)Peary, Robert Edwin pērˈē [key], 1856–1920, American arctic explorer, b. Cresson, Pa. In 1881 he entered the U.S. navy as a civil engineer and for several years served in Nicaragua, where he was ...

Peel, Sir Robert

(Encyclopedia)Peel, Sir Robert, 1788–1850, British statesman. The son of a rich cotton manufacturer, whose baronetcy he inherited in 1830, Peel entered Parliament as a Tory in 1809. He served (1812–18) as chief...

Oppenheimer, J. Robert

(Encyclopedia)Oppenheimer, J. Robert ŏpˈənhīˌmər [key], 1904–67, American physicist, b. New York City, grad. Harvard (B.A., 1925), Ph.D. Univ. of Göttingen, 1927. He taught at the Univ. of California and t...

Ayton, Sir Robert

(Encyclopedia)Ayton or Aytoun, Sir Robert both: āˈtən [key], 1570–1638, English poet and courtier. He was private secretary to the queens of James I and Charles I, besides holding other posts of honor. He wrot...

Geological Survey, United States

(Encyclopedia)Geological Survey, United States, bureau organized in 1879 under the Dept. of the Interior to unify and centralize the work already undertaken by separate surveys under Clarence King, F. V. Hayden, Ge...