Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Monboddo, James Burnett, Lord

(Encyclopedia)Monboddo, James Burnett, Lord, 1714–99, English writer, b. Scotland. A pioneer in anthropology, he wrote Of the Origin and Progress of Language (6 vol., 1774–92), in which he anticipated Darwin an...

James, Thomas, English navigator and explorer

(Encyclopedia)James, Thomas, 1593?–1635?, English navigator and explorer (1631) of James Bay. Financed by Bristol merchants, he sailed in command of the Henrietta Maria in the spring of 1631 to find the Northwest...

Cameron, Simon

(Encyclopedia)Cameron, Simon kămˈərən [key], 1799–1889, American politician and financier, b. Lancaster co., Pa. From humble beginnings he rose to be a newspaper publisher and with considerable success branch...

Meade, James Edward

(Encyclopedia)Meade, James Edward, 1907–95, British economist, studied at Oxford and Cambridge. Strongly influenced by John Maynard Keynes, Meade worked at the League of Nations (1937–40) and was chief economis...

Lane, James Henry

(Encyclopedia)Lane, James Henry, 1814–66, American politician, called the “liberator of Kansas.” He was probably born in Lawrenceburg, Ind., where he practiced law. Lane commanded an Indiana regiment in the M...

Thouless, David James

(Encyclopedia)Thouless, David James, 1934–2019, British physicist, b. Bearsden, Scotland, Ph.D. Cornell, 1958. He was a professor at the Univ. of Birmingham, England (1965–78), Yale (1979–80), and the Univ. o...

Ferguson, James Edward

(Encyclopedia)Ferguson, James Edward, 1871–1944, governor of Texas (1915–17), b. Bell co., Tex. After an adventurous youth he rose from poverty to become a lawyer, large landowner, and banker. Although unknown ...

Douglas, Sir James

(Encyclopedia)Douglas, Sir James, 1803–77, Canadian fur trader and colonial governor, b. British Guiana (now Guyana). As a young man, he went to Canada in the service of the North West Company; soon after its mer...

Hansen, James Edward

(Encyclopedia)Hansen, James Edward, 1941–, American astrophysicist and climatologist, b. Denison, Iowa, Ph.D. Univ. of Iowa, 1967. In 1967 he joined the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and served as director...

Johnson, James Weldon

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, James Weldon, 1871–1938, American author, b. Jacksonville, Fla., educated at Atlanta Univ. (B.A., 1894) and at Columbia. Johnson was the first African American to be admitted to the Florida...

Browse by Subject