Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Bartlett, John

(Encyclopedia)Bartlett, John, 1820–1905, American compiler and publisher, b. Plymouth, Mass. While he worked in his university book store in Cambridge, he compiled the invaluable Familiar Quotations (1855), which...

Challoner, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Challoner, Richard chălˈənər [key], 1691–1781, English Roman Catholic prelate. Brought up a Protestant, he became a Roman Catholic in his teens and was ordained in 1716. In 1730 he returned from...

ASCII

(Encyclopedia)ASCII or American Standard Code for Information Interchange, a set of codes used to represent letters, numbers, a few symbols, and control characters. Originally designed for teletype operations, it h...

Dwight, John

(Encyclopedia)Dwight, John, fl. 1671–98, English potter, reputed founder of the Chelsea porcelain factory. The registration in 1671 of his patent for the “Mistery of transparent earthenware …” is the firs...

Donatus

(Encyclopedia)Donatus (Aelius Donatus) ēˈlēəs dōnätˈəs [key], fl. 4th cent. a.d., Roman grammarian; teacher of St. Jerome. His only well-known work, the Ars grammatica [elements of grammar], was throughout ...

Duhamel du Monceau, Henri Louis

(Encyclopedia)Duhamel du Monceau, Henri Louis äNrēˈ lwē düämĕlˈ dü môNsōˈ [key], 1700–1782, French agriculturist and tree expert. He did experimental work on plant physiology and ecology and wrote The...

piccolo

(Encyclopedia)piccolo, small transverse flute pitched an octave higher than the standard flute. Its tone is bright and shrill, and it can produce the highest notes in the orchestral range. The piccolo is used in or...

Crayer, Gaspar de

(Encyclopedia)Crayer, Gaspar de gäsˈpär də krīˈər [key], c.1584–1669, Flemish religious and portrait painter. He was greatly influenced by Rubens. While lacking the genius of Rubens, Crayer almost rivaled ...

Herzog, Johann Jakob

(Encyclopedia)Herzog, Johann Jakob yōˈhän yäˈkôp hĕrˈtsōkh [key], 1805–82, German Protestant theologian. His most important contribution was the founding and editing of the standard reference work Realen...

Hadley, Herbert Spencer

(Encyclopedia)Hadley, Herbert Spencer, 1872–1927, American lawyer, b. Olathe, Kans. As attorney general of Missouri (1905–9), he successfully prosecuted the Standard Oil Company for violating the state antitrus...