Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Mitchell, Wesley Clair

(Encyclopedia)Mitchell, Wesley Clair, 1874–1948, American economist, b. Rushville, Ill. He received his Ph.D. (1899) from the Univ. of Chicago, where he studied under Thorstein Veblen and John Dewey, and he taugh...

Wessex

(Encyclopedia)Wessex wĕsˈĭks [key], one of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in England. It may have been settled as early as 495 by Saxons under Cerdic, who is reputed to have landed in Hampshire. Cerdic's grandson, Cea...

Clarke, Walter

(Encyclopedia)Clarke, Walter, c.1638–1714, colonial governor of Rhode Island, b. Newport, R.I. He was deputy governor (1679–86, 1700–1714) and was three times governor (1676–77, 1686, 1696–98) of Rhode Is...

slide rule

(Encyclopedia)slide rule, instrument for making numerical computations and readings, the results of which may be read easily and quickly after performing simple mechanical manipulations. Multiplication and division...

Peirce, Charles Sanders

(Encyclopedia)Peirce, Charles Sanders pûrs [key], 1839–1914, American philosopher and polymath, b. Cambridge, Mass., grad. Harvard, 1859; son of Benjamin Peirce. Except for occasional lectures he renounced the r...

Charter Oak

(Encyclopedia)Charter Oak, white oak tree that until 1856 stood in Hartford, Conn., and was thought to be 1,000 years old. There is a tradition that when Sir Edmund Andros, as governor-general of New England, deman...

ethics

(Encyclopedia)ethics, in philosophy, the study and evaluation of human conduct in the light of moral principles. Moral principles may be viewed either as the standard of conduct that individuals have constructed fo...

Graham, George

(Encyclopedia)Graham, George, 1674?–1751, English instrument maker. A clockmaker by trade, Graham designed clocks and watches that earned him membership in the Royal Society and were still manufactured into the p...

Fanning, Edmund, 1769–1841, American trader and explorer

(Encyclopedia)Fanning, Edmund, 1769–1841, American trader, explorer, and promoter of trade and exploration in the South Seas, b. Stonington, Conn. At the age of 14 he went to sea. In command of a trading vessel, ...

Hu Shih

(Encyclopedia)Hu Shih ho͞o shŭr [key], 1891–1962, Chinese philosopher and essayist, leading liberal intellectual in the May Fourth Movement (1917–23). He studied under John Dewey at Columbia Univ., becoming a...