Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Gibbons v. Ogden

(Encyclopedia)Gibbons v. Ogden, case decided in 1824 by the U.S. Supreme Court. Aaron Ogden, the plaintiff, had purchased an interest in the monopoly to operate steamboats that New York state had granted to Robert ...

Jay, John

(Encyclopedia)Jay, John, 1745–1829, American statesman, 1st chief justice of the United States, b. New York City, grad. King's College (now Columbia Univ.), 1764. He was admitted (1768) to the bar and for a time ...

Leiter, Saul

(Encyclopedia)Leiter, Saul lītˈər [key], 1923–2013, American photographer, b. Pittsburgh. A painter in the early 1940s, Leiter switched to photography late in the decade. Along with Robert Frank and Diane Arbu...

Armstrong, John, 1758–1843, American army officer

(Encyclopedia)Armstrong, John, 1758–1843, American army officer, U.S. Secretary of War (1813–14), b. Carlisle, Pa.; son of John Armstrong, “hero of Kittanning.” In the American Revolution he was on the staf...

Mitchell, Joan

(Encyclopedia)Mitchell, Joan, 1926–92, American abstract painter, b. Chicago, studied Smith College, Art Institute of Chicago (B.F.A., 1947; M.F.A., 1950). A vibrant colorist, she was one of the finest painters o...

evaporimeter

(Encyclopedia)evaporimeter ĭvăpˌərĭmˈətər [key], instrument that measures the rate of evaporation of water into the atmosphere, sometimes called an atmometer. Evaporimeters are of two types, those that meas...

Thurow, Lester Carl

(Encyclopedia)Thurow, Lester Carl tho͝orˈō, thərōˈ [key], 1938–2016, American economist, b. Livingston, Mont.; B.A. Williams College, 1960; M.A. Oxford, 1962; Ph.D. Harvard, 1964. Professor of management an...

Diebenkorn, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Diebenkorn, Richard, 1922–93, American painter, b. Portland, Oreg. Raised in California, he studied at Stanford and at a collector's home encountered (1943) the work of Matisse, whose bold use of co...

Larkin, Philip

(Encyclopedia)Larkin, Philip, 1922–85, English poet. He graduated from St. John's College, Oxford (B.A., 1943; M.A., 1947) and was for many years librarian at the Univ. of Hull. With an eye for the ordinary and a...

Kearny, Philip

(Encyclopedia)Kearny, Philip kärˈnē [key], 1814–62, Union general in the American Civil War, b. New York City; nephew of Stephen Watts Kearny. After studying law he joined (1837) the army. One of three officer...