Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

McHenry, James

(Encyclopedia)McHenry, James, 1753–1816, American political leader, b. Ireland. He emigrated to Philadelphia in 1771 and, after studying medicine under Benjamin Rush, served as a surgeon in the Continental Army i...

Macpherson, James

(Encyclopedia)Macpherson, James, 1736–96, Scottish author. Educated at Aberdeen and Edinburgh, he spent his early years as a schoolmaster. In later life he held a colonial secretaryship in West Florida (1764–66...

Madison, James

(Encyclopedia)Madison, James, 1751–1836, 4th President of the United States (1809–17), b. Port Conway, Va. When Jefferson triumphed in the election of 1800, Madison became (1801) his secretary of state. He se...

Mason, James

(Encyclopedia)Mason, James, 1909–84, British stage and film actor. Mason, trained at Cambridge as an architect, became a leading man in British films in the 1940s and thereafter an international star. With a velv...

Marsh, James

(Encyclopedia)Marsh, James, 1789–1846, English chemist. He is known for his chemical test for arsenic and antimony, called the Marsh test. Using it, very small quantities of arsenic can be detected. ...

Martineau, James

(Encyclopedia)Martineau, James, 1805–1900, English philosopher and Unitarian clergyman; brother of Harriet Martineau. He strongly upheld the theist position against the negations of physical science. A renowned t...

Lawrence, James

(Encyclopedia)Lawrence, James, 1781–1813, American naval hero, b. Burlington, N.J. He entered the navy in 1798 and saw his first important service in the Tripolitan War. In the War of 1812, as commander of the Ho...

Larkin, James

(Encyclopedia)Larkin, James, 1876–1947, Irish labor leader. The Irish Transport and General Workers' Union, which he organized and of which he was secretary, had as its goal the combining of all Irish industrial ...

Levine, James

(Encyclopedia)Levine, James Lawrence, 1943–2021, American conductor, b. Cincinnati, Ohio. . Levine’s parents were both performers; his father had been a bandleade...

Lind, James

(Encyclopedia)Lind, James, 1716–94, English naval surgeon. Considered the founder of naval hygiene in England, Lind observed on a ten-week cruise (1746) that 80 seamen of 350 came down with scurvy. In his Treatis...

Browse by Subject