Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Gladstone, Herbert John Gladstone, 1st Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Gladstone, Herbert John Gladstone, 1st Viscount glădˈstən [key], 1854–1930, British statesman; son of William E. Gladstone. A member of Parliament from 1880 to 1910, he held various offices under...

Farquhar, George

(Encyclopedia)Farquhar, George färˈkər, –kwər [key], 1678–1707, Irish dramatist, b. Londonderry (now Derry), Ireland. After his short career as an actor ended when he severely wounded a fellow actor in a st...

Veeck, Bill

(Encyclopedia)Veeck, Bill (William Louis Veeck, Jr.), 1914–86, American baseball executive, b. Chicago. The son of an owner of the Chicago Cubs, Veeck began his executive career with the Milwaukee Brewers of the ...

Caldwell, Erskine

(Encyclopedia)Caldwell, Erskine kôldˈwəl [key], 1903–87, American author, b. White Oak, Ga. His realistic and earthy novels of the rural South include Tobacco Road (1933), God's Little Acre (1933), This Very E...

Timrod, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Timrod, Henry, 1828–67, American poet, b. Charleston, S.C., studied at the Univ. of Georgia. He was known as “the laureate of the Confederacy.” Timrod became editor of the Columbia South Carolin...

Weber, Wilhelm Eduard

(Encyclopedia)Weber, Wilhelm Eduard vĭlˈhĕlm āˈdo͞oärt vāˈbər [key], 1804–91, German physicist. He was professor (1831–37, 1849–91) at the Univ. of Göttingen, where he worked with C. F. Gauss on te...

Alfonso X, Spanish king of Castile and León

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso X (Alfonso the Wise), 1221–84, Spanish king of Castile and León (1252–84); son and successor of Ferdinand III, whose conquests of the Moors he continued, notably by taking Cádiz (1262). ...

Terry, Dame Ellen Alicia

(Encyclopedia)Terry, Dame Ellen Alicia, 1848–1928, English actress. Of a prominent theatrical family, she made her debut at nine as Mamillius in Charles Kean's production of The Winter's Tale. She played juvenile...

Fisher, John

(Encyclopedia)Fisher, John (Saint John Fisher), c.1469–1535, English prelate, cardinal, bishop of Rochester (1504–34). Known for his scholarship at Cambridge, he was chosen confessor to Margaret Beaufort, mothe...

Atwood, Margaret Eleanor

(Encyclopedia)Atwood, Margaret Eleanor, 1939–, Canadian novelist and poet. Atwood is a skilled and powerful storyteller whose novels, set mainly in the near future, sometimes make use of such popular genres as hi...
 

Browse by Subject