Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Flanagan, John

(Encyclopedia)Flanagan, John flănˈəgən [key], 1865–1952, American sculptor and medalist. In 1932 he designed the George Washington silver quarter. In addition to medals and plaquettes, he produced larger work...

Dowland, John

(Encyclopedia)Dowland, John douˈlənd [key], 1563–1626, English composer, unsurpassed in his day as a lutenist. His books of Songs or Ayres (1597–1603) established him as the foremost song composer of his time...

Hales, John

(Encyclopedia)Hales, John, 1584–1656, English clergyman and scholar, often alluded to as the Ever-Memorable. He won distinction by his lectures on Greek at Oxford, his preaching, and his writings. From 1613 to 16...

John Paul I

(Encyclopedia)John Paul I, 1912–78, pope (1978), an Italian (b. Canale d'Agordo) named Albino Luciani; successor of Paul VI. Born into a poor, working-class family, he trained at local seminaries and at the Grego...

Butler, John

(Encyclopedia)Butler, John, 1728–96, Loyalist commander in the American Revolution, b. New London, Conn. He served in the French and Indian Wars and distinguished himself especially by leading the Native American...

Dollond, John

(Encyclopedia)Dollond, John dŏlˈənd [key], 1706–61, English optician and inventor. A silk weaver, he taught himself languages, mathematics, and science, becoming a noted scholar as well as a scientist. He inve...

Wolcot, John

(Encyclopedia)Wolcot, John wo͝olˈkət [key], pseud. Peter Pindar, 1738–1819, English poet. He wrote several satires, notably Lyric Odes to the Royal Academicians (1782–83), Bozzy and Piozzi (1786), and The Lo...

McCrae, John

(Encyclopedia)McCrae, John məkrāˈ [key], 1872–1918, Canadian physician and poet. His famous poem “In Flanders Fields,” written under fire during World War I, was published anonymously in Punch in 1915 and ...

Gauden, John

(Encyclopedia)Gauden, John gôˈdən [key], 1605–62, English clergyman. He claimed to have written the Eikon Basilike (1649), a tract in defense of Charles I. After the Restoration, Gauden was bishop of Exeter (1...

Wilbye, John

(Encyclopedia)Wilbye, John wĭlˈbē [key], 1574–1638, English madrigal composer. Although only two sets of his madrigals (1598, 1609) are extant, their excellence distinguishes him as perhaps the greatest Englis...