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Wilson, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Benjamin, 1721–88, English portrait painter and electrician who opposed Benjamin Franklin's theory of positive and negative electricity. Instead, Wilson supported Newton's gravitational-opti...

Constant, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Constant, Benjamin (Henri Benjamin Constant de Rebecque) äNrēˈ bäNzhämăNˈ kôNstäNˈ də rəbĕkˈ [key], 1767–1830, French-Swiss political writer and novelist, b. Lausanne. His affair (1794...

Rodino, Peter Wallace, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Rodino, Peter Wallace, Jr. rōdēˈnō [key], 1909–2005, U.S. congressman, b. Newark, N.J., as Pellegrino Rodino, Jr.; grad. New Jersey Law School, 1937. Awarded the Bronze Star while serving (1941�...

Brewster, Kingman, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Brewster, Kingman, Jr., 1919–88, American educator and public official, b. Longmeadow, Mass., grad. Yale (A.B., 1941) and Harvard (LL.B., 1948). He was a professor of law at Harvard (1950–60) and ...

Evans, Oliver

(Encyclopedia)Evans, Oliver, 1755–1819, American inventor, b. near Newport, Del. He joined his brothers in a flour-milling business in Wilmington, and after studying similar earlier devices, he developed, install...

Smithies, Oliver

(Encyclopedia)Smithies, Oliver, 1925–2017, American geneticist, b. Halifax, England, Ph.D., Oxford, 1951. Smithies was on the faculty at the Univ. of Toronto (1953–60) and Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison (1960–8...

Tillett, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Tillett, Benjamin tĭlˈĭt [key], 1860–1943, English labor organizer, b. Bristol, England. With Tom Mann and John Burns, he led the dock strike of 1889, the first big step toward industrial unionis...

Wolcott, Oliver, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury

(Encyclopedia)Wolcott, Oliver, 1760–1833, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury (1795–1800), b. Litchfield, Conn; son of Oliver Wolcott. Admitted to the bar in 1781, he served as Connecticut comptroller (1788–89), a...

Tolbert, William Richard, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Tolbert, William Richard, Jr. tŏlˈbərt [key], 1913–80, president of Liberia (1971–80). In government since 1935, he was vice president (1951–71), succeeding to the Presidency upon Tubman's de...

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, American author and physician

(Encyclopedia)Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809–94, American author and physician, b. Cambridge, Mass., grad. Harvard (B.A., 1829; M.D., 1836); father of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. He began his medical career as a gen...