Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Otway, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Otway, Thomas, 1652–85, English dramatist, educated at Winchester and at Oxford. After failing as an actor, Otway wrote his first play, Alcibiades, produced in 1675. Later plays include the rhymed h...

Bach, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Bach, Thomas, 1953–, German sports executive, b. Würzberg. A lawyer and businessman, he won a gold medal in team fencing representing West Germany in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Bach served as pres...

Botany Bay

(Encyclopedia)Botany Bay, inlet, New South Wales, SE Australia, just S of Sydney. It was visited in 1770 by James Cook, who proclaimed British sovereignty over the east coast of Australia. The site of the landing i...

Avarua

(Encyclopedia)Avarua, town (est. pop. 2,600), capital, largest town, and main port of the Cook Islands, located on the N coast of Rarotonga. A trading center for locally produced fruit and fish, it is also a touris...

Dewey, Thomas Edmund

(Encyclopedia)Dewey, Thomas Edmund, 1902–71, American political figure, governor (1943–55) of New York, b. Owosso, Mich. Admitted (1925) to the bar, Dewey practiced law and in 1931 became chief assistant U.S. a...

Dewing, Thomas Wilmer

(Encyclopedia)Dewing, Thomas Wilmer, 1851–1938, American painter, b. Boston, Mass. Dewing studied in Paris with the academician Jules Lefebvre. Returning to New York City in 1880, he produced hazy, atmospheric, i...

Durant, Thomas Clark

(Encyclopedia)Durant, Thomas Clark, 1820–85, American railroad builder, chief figure in the construction of the Union Pacific RR, b. Lee, Mass. He was successful in building railroads in the Midwest, and, after t...

D'Urfey, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)D'Urfey, Thomas dûrˈfē [key], 1653–1723, English songwriter and dramatist. His comedies for the stage were forerunners of the ballad opera. In 1699–1700 Wit and Mirth; or, Pills to Purge Melanc...

Eagleton, Thomas Francis

(Encyclopedia)Eagleton, Thomas Francis, 1929–2007, U.S. senator (1968–87), b. St. Louis, Mo. Admitted to the bar in 1953, he entered Democratic politics in Missouri and served as circuit attorney for St. Louis ...

Browse by Subject