Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

495 results found

Coffin, James Henry

(Encyclopedia)Coffin, James Henry, 1806–73, American mathematician and meteorologist, was professor of mathematics and physics, Lafayette College, 1846–73. In an observatory which he built on Mt. Greylock, Mass...

Phillips Exeter Academy

(Encyclopedia)Phillips Exeter Academy ĕkˈsətər [key], at Exeter, N.H.; coeducational; chartered 1781, opened 1783 by John Phillips. It has been an influential preparatory school and has a notable school library...

Canonicus

(Encyclopedia)Canonicus kənŏnˈĭkəs [key], c.1565–1647, Native North American chief, who ruled the Narragansett when the Pilgrims landed in New England. He granted (1636) Rhode Island to Roger Williams and be...

Coddington, William

(Encyclopedia)Coddington, William, 1601–78, one of the founders of Rhode Island, probably b. Boston, England. He came to America in 1630 as an officer of the Massachusetts Bay Company and was its treasurer from 1...

apatite

(Encyclopedia)apatite ăpˈətīt [key], mineral, a phosphate of calcium containing chlorine or fluorine, or both, that is transparent to opaque in shades of green, brown, yellow, white, red, and purple. Apatite is...

Grundy, Felix

(Encyclopedia)Grundy, Felix, 1777–1840, American political leader, b. Berkeley co., Va. After a successful career in Kentucky, he moved to Nashville, Tenn., where he became a noted criminal lawyer. A member (1811...

McGill, Ralph Emerson

(Encyclopedia)McGill, Ralph Emerson məgĭlˈ [key], 1898–1969, American journalist and publisher, b. E Tenn. A proponent of civil rights, he was expelled from Vanderbilt Univ. for expressing his beliefs. Beginni...

Pillow, Gideon Johnson

(Encyclopedia)Pillow, Gideon Johnson, 1806–78, American general, b. Williamson co., Tenn. In the Mexican War he was appointed brigadier general of Tennessee volunteers by his former law partner, President James K...

Bliss, Sir Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Bliss, Sir Arthur, 1891–1975, English composer. Bliss's teachers included Charles Stanford, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Gustav Holst. He was made Master of the Queen's Musick in 1953. His early work...

Barker, Eugene Campbell

(Encyclopedia)Barker, Eugene Campbell, 1874–1956, American historian, b. Walker co., Tex. His distinguished teaching career, begun in 1899, was almost entirely at the Univ. of Texas. An outstanding social histori...