Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Fort William Henry

(Encyclopedia)Fort William Henry, at the southern end of Lake George, NE N.Y.; built by the English in 1755. In 1757, during the last conflict of the French and Indian Wars, it was captured and destroyed by the Fre...

Foster, William Zebulon

(Encyclopedia)Foster, William Zebulon, 1881–1961, American Communist leader, b. Taunton, Mass. An itinerant worker in many different occupations, he was first affiliated with the Socialist party, next with the In...

Fowler, William Alfred

(Encyclopedia)Fowler, William Alfred, 1911–95, American nuclear astrophysicist, b. Pittsburgh. While a professor at the California Institute of Technology, Fowler studied how chemical elements are formed in nucle...

Ireland, William Henry

(Encyclopedia)Ireland, William Henry, 1777–1835, English forger of Shakespearean documents and manuscripts. Besides forging deeds and signatures relating to Shakespeare, Ireland fabricated two plays, Vortigern an...

Howells, William Dean

(Encyclopedia)Howells, William Dean, 1837–1920, American novelist, critic, and editor, b. Martins Ferry, Ohio. Both in his own novels and in his critical writing, Howells was a champion of realism in American lit...

Hudson, William Henry

(Encyclopedia)Hudson, William Henry, 1841–1922, English author and naturalist, b. Quilmes, Argentina, of American parents. He spent his childhood on the pampas but developed a heart condition and finally emigrate...

Huggins, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Huggins, Sir William, 1824–1910, English astronomer. Using a spectroscope, he began to study the chemical constitution of stars from the observatory attached to his home in Tulse Hill, London. He pr...

Hughes, William Morris

(Encyclopedia)Hughes, William Morris, 1862–1952, Australian statesman, b. England. He emigrated in 1884 and after a varied career entered the New South Wales legislature (1894) and, with confederation, the first ...

Inge, William Ralph

(Encyclopedia)Inge, William Ralph ĭng [key], 1860–1954, Anglican prelate and author. He was fellow of King's College, Cambridge (1886–88), fellow and tutor of Hertford College, Oxford (1889–1904), and vicar ...

Houghton, William Stanley

(Encyclopedia)Houghton, William Stanley, 1881–1913, English dramatist. He was (1907–12) a critic for the Manchester Guardian. His plays, greatly influenced by Ibsen, include The Dear Departed (1908), The Younge...