Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Salt, Sir Titus

(Encyclopedia)Salt, Sir Titus, 1803–76, English textile manufacturer and inventor. He invented a machine for making worsted from coarse wool and a process for spinning and weaving alpaca. In 1851 he started to bu...

Ryle, Sir Martin

(Encyclopedia)Ryle, Sir Martin, 1918–84, British radio astronomer, B.S. Oxford, 1939. Ryle was a researcher and professor at Cambridge from 1945 until his retirement in 1982. Knighted in 1966, he was Britain's As...

Sadler, Sir Ralph

(Encyclopedia)Sadler or Sadleir, Sir Ralph both: sădˈlər [key], 1507–87, English diplomat. Through the influence of Thomas Cromwell, he secured (c.1536) the favor of Henry VIII, for whom he went on numerous mi...

Rooke, Sir George

(Encyclopedia)Rooke, Sir George ro͝ok [key], 1650–1709, English admiral. In the War of the Grand Alliance he defeated a French fleet under the comte de Tourville in the battle of La Hogue (1692) and by good judg...

Ross, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Ross, Sir John, 1777–1856, British arctic explorer and rear admiral. In 1818 he went in search of the Northwest Passage but turned back after exploring Baffin Bay. Financed by Sir Felix Booth, he co...

Ross, Sir Ronald

(Encyclopedia)Ross, Sir Ronald, 1857–1932, English physician, b. Almora, India. He studied malaria in India as a member (1881–99) of the Indian Medical Service, was professor of tropical medicine at University ...

Banks, Sir Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Banks, Sir Joseph, 1743–1820, British naturalist and patron of the sciences. He accompanied Capt. James Cook on his voyage around the world and made large collections of biological specimens, most o...

Rotblat, Sir Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Rotblat, Sir Joseph, 1908–2005, British physicist and anti-nuclear weapons activist, b. Warsaw, Poland; grad. Free Univ. of Poland (M.A., 1932), Univ. of Warsaw (Ph.D., 1938), Univ. of Liverpool (Ph...

Sargent, Sir Malcolm

(Encyclopedia)Sargent, Sir Malcolm, 1895–1967, English conductor, whose original name was Harold Malcolm Watts-Sargent. He was a composer and organist prior to his debut as a conductor at Queen's Hall in 1921. He...

Sandys, Sir Edwin

(Encyclopedia)Sandys, Sir Edwin, 1561–1629, English statesman, leading promoter of the colony in Virginia; son of Archbishop Edwin Sandys. He studied law and was first returned to Parliament in 1586. His Europae ...