Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Maupertuis, Pierre Louis Moreau de

(Encyclopedia)Maupertuis, Pierre Louis Moreau de pyĕr lwē môrōˈ də mōpĕrtüēˈ [key], 1698–1759, French mathematician and astronomer. For his skillful support of Newton's theory he was admitted to the Ro...

Whiston, William

(Encyclopedia)Whiston, William, 1667–1752, English clergyman and mathematician. He won favor through his New Theory of the Earth (1696) and in 1701 was made deputy to Sir Isaac Newton, whom he succeeded (1703) as...

Baker, Newton Diehl

(Encyclopedia)Baker, Newton Diehl, 1871–1937, U.S. Secretary of War (1916–21), b. Martinsburg, W.Va. He practiced law and politics in Cleveland as a protégé of Tom L. Johnson. As city solicitor (1902–12) he...

Jones, Casey

(Encyclopedia)Jones, Casey, 1864–1900, American locomotive engineer celebrated in ballad and song, probably b. Jordan, Fulton co., Ky. His real name was John Luther Jones, but at the age of 17 he went to Cayce, K...

Mitchell, Margaret

(Encyclopedia)Mitchell, Margaret, 1900–1949, American novelist, b. Atlanta, Ga. Her one novel, Gone with the Wind (1936; Pulitzer Prize), a romantic, panoramic portrait of the Civil War and Reconstruction periods...

Bulfinch, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Bulfinch, Thomas, 1796–1867, American author, b. Newton, Mass., grad. Harvard, 1814. He wrote a series of works popularizing fable and legend, including The Age of Fables (1855), The Age of Chivalry...

de Bary, Wm. Theodore

(Encyclopedia)de Bary, Wm. Theodore băˈrē [key], 1919–2017, American scholar of Asian cultures, b. Bronx, N.Y., as William Theodore De Bary (he formally changed to Wm. to distinguish himself from his like-name...

Lemmon, Jack

(Encyclopedia)Lemmon, Jack (John Uhler Lemmon 3d), 1925–2001, American actor, b. Newton, Mass., grad. Harvard (1947). He became famous in roles ranging from sardonic comedy to compelling drama, ultimately achievi...

Banks, Russell

(Encyclopedia)Banks, Russell, 1940–, American writer, b. Newton, Mass., grad. Univ. of North Carolina (1967). Banks is known for fiction that explores the bleaker aspects of American working-class life with empat...

Newton, Gilbert Stuart

(Encyclopedia)Newton, Gilbert Stuart, 1794–1835, English genre and portrait painter, b. Halifax, N.S., studied in Boston with his uncle Gilbert Stuart, and later abroad. He was greatly influenced by the 17th-cent...
 

Browse by Subject