Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Masters and Johnson

(Encyclopedia)Masters and Johnson, pioneering research team in the field of human sexuality, consisting of the gynecologist William Howell Masters, 1915–2001, b. Cleveland, and the psychologist Virginia Eshelman ...

Bradford, John

(Encyclopedia)Bradford, John, 1749–1830, pioneer printer of Kentucky, b. Virginia. He moved to Kentucky c.1779. Although he had no previous practical experience, he issued at Lexington on Aug. 11, 1787, the first...

birthwort

(Encyclopedia)birthwort bûrthˈwûrt, –wôrt [key], common name for the Aristolochiaceae, a family of shrubs and woody climbing vines found in the tropics and other warm regions. The largest genus, Aristolochia,...

Sylvester, James Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Sylvester, James Joseph, 1814–97, English mathematician. He studied at Cambridge for four years after 1831, but because degrees were limited to members of the Church of England and he was a Jew, he ...

Spotsylvania

(Encyclopedia)Spotsylvania spŏtˌsĭlvāˈnyə [key], rural county (1990 pop. 57,403), NE Va., formerly part of the estate of Alexander Spotswood, colonial governor of Virginia. It was the scene of several major e...

Bell, Andrew

(Encyclopedia)Bell, Andrew, 1753–1832, British educator, b. St. Andrews, Scotland. After seven years in Virginia as a tutor, he returned to England, was ordained a deacon, and later (1789) became superintendent o...

Poindexter, George

(Encyclopedia)Poindexter, George poinˈdĕkˌstər [key], 1779–1853, American political leader, b. Louisa co., Va. After practicing law in Virginia, he moved (1802) to Mississippi. As attorney general of Mississi...

Episcopal Church

(Encyclopedia)Episcopal Church, Anglican church of the United States. Its separate existence as an American ecclesiastical body with its own episcopate began in 1789. During the American Revolution the personal l...

Paris Pacts

(Encyclopedia)Paris Pacts, four international agreements signed in Paris on Oct. 23, 1954, to establish a new international status for West Germany. Since the end of World War II, West Germany had been occupied by ...

Loyalists

(Encyclopedia)Loyalists, in the American Revolution, colonials who adhered to the British cause. The patriots referred to them as Tories. Although Loyalists were found in all social classes and occupations, a dispr...