Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Rennell, James

(Encyclopedia)Rennell, James, 1742–1830, English cartographer, geographer, and oceanographer. He was surveyor general (1764–77) of Bengal and published A Bengal Atlas (1779). He constructed the first approximat...

Renwick, James

(Encyclopedia)Renwick, James, 1818–95, American architect, b. New York City, grad. Columbia, 1836. His design for Grace Church (1843–46) in New York City was followed by that for St. Patrick's Cathedral; he was...

Quin, James

(Encyclopedia)Quin, James, 1693–1766, English actor. He made his London debut in 1714. The successor of Barton Booth, he was the last of the declamatory school. At his best in declaiming the great tragic roles, Q...

Ballantyne, James

(Encyclopedia)Ballantyne, James bălˈəntīn [key], 1772–1833, Scottish editor and publisher. Ballantyne and his brother John set up a publishing business in Edinburgh with the aid of Sir Walter Scott. The firm ...

Rainwater, James

(Encyclopedia)Rainwater, James, 1917–86, American physicist, Ph.D. Columbia, 1946. After working on the Manhattan Project as a student during World War II, he became a professor of physics at Columbia in 1952. Hi...

Otis, James

(Encyclopedia)Otis, James, 1725–83, American colonial political leader, b. Barnstable co., Mass. A lawyer first in Plymouth and then in Boston, he won great distinction and served (1756–61) as advocate general ...

Peale, James

(Encyclopedia)Peale, James: see under Peale, Charles Willson. ...

Hawking, Stephen William

(Encyclopedia)Hawking, Stephen William, 1942–2018, British theoretical physicist, b. Oxford, England, grad. University College, Oxford, 1962, Ph.D. Trinity Hall, Cambridge, 1966. In 1962 Hawking was diagnosed as ...

stream of consciousness

(Encyclopedia)stream of consciousness, in literature, technique that records the multifarious thoughts and feelings of a character without regard to logical argument or narrative sequence. The writer attempts by th...

Perry, Ralph Barton

(Encyclopedia)Perry, Ralph Barton, 1876–1957, American realist philosopher, b. Poultney, Vt., grad. Princeton (B.A., 1896) and Harvard (Ph.D., 1899). He taught at Harvard from 1902, becoming professor of philosop...

Browse by Subject