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Corcoran, William Wilson

(Encyclopedia)Corcoran, William Wilson kôrˈkərən [key], 1798–1888, American financier, philanthropist, and art collector, b. Georgetown, D.C. After becoming a successful banker, he retired in 1854 and devoted...

Reagan, Ronald Wilson

(Encyclopedia)Reagan, Ronald Wilson rāˈgən [key], 1911–2004, 40th president of the United States (1981–89), b. Tampico, Ill. In 1932, after graduation from Eureka College, he became a radio announcer and spo...

Nye, Edgar Wilson

(Encyclopedia)Nye, Edgar Wilson nī [key], known as Bill Nye, 1850–96, American humorist and journalist, b. Shirley Mills, Maine. He lived in Wisconsin from 1852 to 1876, when he went to Wyoming. There he was adm...

Wilson, Sir Angus

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Sir Angus, 1913–91, English novelist, b. South Africa. As a novelist, he attempted to delineate a society in which traditional values have lost their force and human relationships are corrup...

Wilson, Charles Erwin

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Charles Erwin, 1890–1961, American industrialist and cabinet officer, b. Minerva, Ohio. He was an electrical engineer with Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company from 1909 to 1919 a...

Wilson, Edmund Beecher

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Edmund Beecher, 1856–1939, American zoologist, b. Geneva, Ill., grad. Yale (Ph.B., 1878), Johns Hopkins (Ph.D., 1881). He taught at Bryn Mawr (1885–91) and at Columbia (1891–1928), where...

Wilson, James Grant

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, James Grant, 1832–1914, American biographer and man of letters, b. Scotland. He was brought to the United States in 1833. After journalistic work in Chicago and service in the Union army in ...

Wilson, J. Tuzo

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, J. Tuzo (John Tuzo Wilson), 1908–93, Canadian geologist and geophysicist, b. Ottawa, Ph.D. Princeton (1936), M.A. Cambridge (1940). He worked for the Geological Survey of Canada (1936–39) ...

Wilson, Kenneth Geddes

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Kenneth Geddes, 1936–2013, American physicist, b. Waltham, Mass., Ph.D. California Institute of Technology, 1961. A professor at Cornell (1963–88) and Ohio State Univ. (1988–2008), Wilso...

Wilson, William Bauchop

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, William Bauchop, 1862–1934, American labor leader, U.S. Secretary of Labor (1913–21), b. Blantyre, Scotland. Coming as a child to the United States in 1870, he worked in Pennsylvania coal ...