Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

illiteracy

(Encyclopedia)illiteracy, inability to meet a certain minimum criterion of reading and writing skill. Throughout most of history most people have been illiterate. In feudal society, for example, the ability to re...

Princeton University

(Encyclopedia)Princeton University, at Princeton, N.J.; coeducational; chartered 1746, opened 1747, rechartered 1748, called the College of New Jersey until 1896. Established by the “New Light” (evangelical) ...

Cuvier, Georges Léopold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert, Baron

(Encyclopedia)Cuvier, Georges Léopold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert, Baron zhôrzh lāôpôldˈ krātyăNˈ frādārēkˈ dägôbĕrˈ bärôNˈ küvyāˈ [key], 1769–1832, French naturalist, b. Montbéliard, st...

Adams, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Adams, Henry, 1838–1918, American writer and historian, b. Boston; son of Charles Francis Adams (1807–86). He was secretary (1861–68) to his father, then U.S. minister to Great Britain. Upon his...

Livy

(Encyclopedia)Livy (Titus Livius) lĭvˈē [key], 59 b.c.–a.d. 17, Roman historian, b. Patavium (Padua), probably of noble family. He lived most of his life in Rome. The breadth of his education is apparent in hi...

Owen, Robert Dale

(Encyclopedia)Owen, Robert Dale, 1801–77, American social reformer, b. Scotland; son of Robert Owen. He studied at his father's New Lanark school and in Switzerland. In 1825 he went to New Harmony, Ind. There he ...

Laird, Melvin Robert

(Encyclopedia)Laird, Melvin Robert, 1922–2016, American politician, U.S. secretary of defense (1969–73), b. Omaha, Nebr. After serving (1942–46) in the navy during World War II, he entered politics as a Repub...

Cubberley, Ellwood Patterson

(Encyclopedia)Cubberley, Ellwood Patterson, 1868–1941, American educator, b. Andrews, Ind., grad. Univ. of Indiana, 1891, Ph.D. Columbia, 1905. He was a pioneer writer in the history of American education and ser...

Bode, Boyd Henry

(Encyclopedia)Bode, Boyd Henry, 1873–1953, American educator, b. Ridott, Ill., grad. Pennsylvania College (Iowa), 1896, Univ. of Michigan, 1897, Ph.D. Cornell, 1900. He taught philosophy at the Univ. of Wisconsin...

Monroe, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Monroe, Paul, 1869–1947, American educator, b. North Madison, Ind., grad. Franklin College, 1890, Ph.D. Univ. of Chicago, 1897. At Teachers College, Columbia, he was professor of education from 1902...