Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Gibson, John Bannister

(Encyclopedia)Gibson, John Bannister, 1780–1853, American jurist, b. Westover Mills, Pa.; nephew of the American frontiersman John Gibson. He studied law, was unsuccessful in practice, and served (1810–12) with...

George III, king of Great Britain and Ireland

(Encyclopedia)George III, 1738–1820, king of Great Britain and Ireland (1760–1820); son of Frederick Louis, prince of Wales, and grandson of George II, whom he succeeded. He was also elector (and later king) of...

Irving, John

(Encyclopedia)Irving, John, 1942–, American writer, b. Exeter, N.H. His mixture of wild plot strategies and eccentric characters brought him to wide attention with his fourth novel, The World According to Garp (1...

Esch, John Jacob

(Encyclopedia)Esch, John Jacob ĕsh [key], 1861–1941, U.S. Congressman and federal administrator, b. Norwalk, Wis. A lawyer in La Crosse, he became a member of the House of Representatives in 1899 and served unti...

Gray, John Chipman

(Encyclopedia)Gray, John Chipman, 1839–1915, American lawyer and teacher, b. Brighton, Mass. A graduate of Harvard Law School (1861), he served in the Civil War and then entered law practice in Boston; in 1869 he...

Licinius, Roman plebian gens

(Encyclopedia)Licinius līsĭnˈēəs [key], Roman plebeian gens, of which several men were noteworthy. Caius Licinius Calvus Stolo, fl. 375 b.c., was tribune of the people with Lucius Sextius. Roman historians att...

Bassett, John Spencer

(Encyclopedia)Bassett, John Spencer, 1867–1928, American historian, b. Tarboro, N.C. He was professor of history at Trinity College (now Duke Univ.) from 1893 to 1906 and then at Smith from 1906 to 1928. Bassett ...

Paine, John Knowles

(Encyclopedia)Paine, John Knowles, 1839–1906, American composer, organist, and educator, b. Portland, Maine, studied in Berlin. In 1862 he began to teach music at Harvard and held (from 1875) the first chair of m...

Ingersoll, Jared, American colonial official

(Encyclopedia)Ingersoll, Jared, 1722–81, American colonial official, b. Milford, Conn. He was made (1751) king's attorney in New Haven, and later he sailed (1758) for England as a colonial agent. From a second tr...

Updike, John

(Encyclopedia)Updike, John, 1932–2009, American author, one of the nation's most distinguished 20th-century men of letters, b. Shillington, Pa., grad. Harvard, 1954. In his many novels and stories, written in a w...

Browse by Subject