Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Van Vleck, John Hasbrouck

(Encyclopedia)Van Vleck, John Hasbrouck, 1899–1980, American physicist, b. Middletown, Conn., Ph.D. Harvard, 1922. As a professor at Harvard, Van Vleck developed fundamental theories on the quantum mechanics of m...

Baker, Sir Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Baker, Sir Benjamin, 1840–1907, English civil engineer. He helped build London's underground railway, Tower Bridge, and the Blackwall Tunnel, and with Sir John Fowler he designed and built the bridg...

Dryden, John

(Encyclopedia)Dryden, John, 1631–1700, English poet, dramatist, and critic, b. Northamptonshire, grad. Cambridge, 1654. He went to London about 1657 and first came to public notice with his Heroic Stanzas (1659),...

Ledyard, John

(Encyclopedia)Ledyard, John lĕdˈyərd [key], 1751–89, American adventurer, b. Groton, Conn. He studied at Dartmouth for year, but left college to ship as a sailor. In 1776 he joined Capt. James Cook's last expe...

Laurier, Sir Wilfrid

(Encyclopedia)Laurier, Sir Wilfrid lôˈrēā, Fr. lōryāˈ [key], 1841–1919, Canadian prime minister. He studied law at McGill Univ. His premiership of Canada (1896–1911), the first to be held by a French Can...

Howard, Sir Robert

(Encyclopedia)Howard, Sir Robert, 1626–98, English dramatist. He held several important government posts under Charles II. His introduction to his Foure New Plays (1665) initiated a dispute with his brother-in-la...

McGraw, John Joseph

(Encyclopedia)McGraw, John Joseph məgrôˈ [key], 1873–1934, American baseball manager, b. Cortland co., N.Y. He began playing professional baseball in 1890 and was (1891–1900) the star third baseman of the re...

Fisher, John

(Encyclopedia)Fisher, John (Saint John Fisher), c.1469–1535, English prelate, cardinal, bishop of Rochester (1504–34). Known for his scholarship at Cambridge, he was chosen confessor to Margaret Beaufort, mothe...

Hampden, John

(Encyclopedia)Hampden, John hămpˈdən, hămˈ– [key], 1594–1643, English parliamentary leader; cousin of Oliver Cromwell. He entered Parliament in 1621, became closely associated with Sir John Eliot, and was ...

Browse by Subject