Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Burns, Arthur Frank

(Encyclopedia)Burns, Arthur Frank, 1904–87, American economist, b. Austria, grad. Columbia Univ. (A.B., 1925; A.M., 1925; Ph.D., 1934). He taught economics at Rutgers Univ. (1927–44), and then joined (1944) the...

Burns, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Burns, Robert, 1759–96, Scottish poet. Burns's art is at its best in songs such as “Flow Gently, Sweet Afton,” “My Heart's in the Highlands,” and “John Anderson My Jo.” Two collections...

Burns, Otway

(Encyclopedia)Burns, Otway, c.1775–1850, American privateer, b. Onslow co., N.C. At the outbreak of the War of 1812, he outfitted the Baltimore clipper Snap-Dragon as a privateer and began one of the most spectac...

Burns, Ken

(Encyclopedia)Burns, Ken (Kenneth Lauren Burns), 1953–, American documentary filmmaker, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. Hampshire College (1975). Acting as producer, director, and cinematographer, Burns typically explor...

Burns, John

(Encyclopedia)Burns, John, 1858–1943, British union leader and politician. A factory worker as a child, he was largely self-educated and was led by his reading to radical socialism. Burns became an outstanding or...

Burns, George

(Encyclopedia)Burns, George, 1896–1996, b. New York City as Nathan Birnbaum, and his wife Gracie Allen, 1906–64, b. San Francisco, American comedy team (1923–58). In vaudeville in the 1920s, on radio (1932–...

Arthur I

(Encyclopedia)Arthur I, 1187–1203?, duke of Brittany (1196–1203?), son of Geoffrey, fourth son of Henry II of England and Constance, heiress of Brittany. Arthur, a posthumous child, was proclaimed duke in 1196,...

Frank, Barney

(Encyclopedia)Frank, Barney, 1940–, American congressman, b. Bayonne, N.J., grad. Harvard (B.A., 1962; J.D., 1977). A liberal Democrat, he began his political career as chief assistant to Boston Mayor Kevin White...

Woodward, Robert Burns

(Encyclopedia)Woodward, Robert Burns, 1917–80, American chemist and educator, b. Boston, grad. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (S.B., 1936; Ph.D., 1937). He taught at Harvard from 1938, becoming Donner prof...

Frank, Anne

(Encyclopedia)Frank, Anne, 1929–45, German diarist, b. Frankfurt as Anneliese Marie Frank. In order to escape Nazi persecution, her family emigrated (1933) to Amsterdam, where her father Otto became a business ow...