Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

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...

Prior, Matthew

(Encyclopedia)Prior, Matthew, 1664–1721, English poet and diplomat, b. Wimborne, Dorset. With his appointment as secretary to the embassy at The Hague during the negotiations leading to the Treaty of Ryswick (169...

Stanley, Ralph Edmond

(Encyclopedia)Stanley, Ralph Edmond, 1927–2016, American bluegrass singer and banjo player, b. Dickenson co., Va. He and his brother, Carter Glen Stanley, 1925–66, were sons of a country-singer father and banjo...

Skeat, Walter William

(Encyclopedia)Skeat, Walter William, 1835–1912, English scholar and philologist. Skeat took holy orders in 1860, but illness cut short his church career. At Cambridge he served as a lecturer in mathematics (1864�...

Villard, Oswald Garrison

(Encyclopedia)Villard, Oswald Garrison, 1872–1949, American editor and author, b. Wiesbaden, Germany, grad. Harvard (B.A., 1893; M.A., 1896). The son of Henry Villard and the grandson, on his mother's side, of Wi...

Dukakis, Michael Stanley

(Encyclopedia)Dukakis, Michael Stanley do͞okäkˈĭs [key], 1933–, American political leader, b. Brookline, Mass. He was a Democratic member of the Massachusetts house of representatives (1963–70) and was twic...

Cherenkov, Pavel Alekseyevich

(Encyclopedia)Cherenkov, Pavel Alekseyevich päˈvĭl əlyĭksyāˈyəvĭch chərĕngˈkəf [key], 1904–90, Soviet physicist. He shared with the Soviet physicists I. M. Frank and I. Y. Tamm the 1958 Nobel Prize i...

Streuvels, Stijn

(Encyclopedia)Streuvels, Stijn frängk lätörˈ [key], 1871–1969, Flemish novelist and short-story writer; nephew of Guido Gezelle. Streuvels's works are realistic, moving portrayals of everyday life. His early ...

Talmage, Thomas De Witt

(Encyclopedia)Talmage, Thomas De Witt tălˈmĭj [key], 1832–1902, American Presbyterian clergyman, b. near Bound Brook, N.J., grad. New Brunswick Theological Seminary (1856). His work in Brooklyn, N.Y., began in...

time and motion study

(Encyclopedia)time and motion study, analysis of the operations required to produce a manufactured article in a factory, with the aim of increasing efficiency. Each operation is studied minutely and analyzed in ord...