Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Cockrell, Francis Marion

(Encyclopedia)Cockrell, Francis Marion kŏkˈrəl [key], 1834–1915, Confederate general and U.S. senator, b. Johnson co., Mo. Enlisting as a private with Confederate forces in the Civil War, he became a brigadier...

Dawson

(Encyclopedia)Dawson or Dawson City, city, W Yukon, Canada, at the confluence of the Yukon and Klondike rivers. It is the trade center of the Klondike mining region a...

Treece, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Treece, Henry, 1912–66, English poet and novelist. He served as an intelligence officer in the Royal Air Force during World War II, after which he taught school for many years. He is noted chiefly f...

Porson, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Porson, Richard, 1759–1808, English classical scholar, b. Norfolk. A poor boy, he showed such astonishing powers of memory that patrons sent him through Eton and Cambridge. He was appointed regius p...

Babbage, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Babbage, Charles băbˈĭj [key], 1792–1871, English mathematician and inventor. He devoted most of his life and expended much of his private fortune and a government subsidy in an attempt to perfec...

Flinders, Matthew

(Encyclopedia)Flinders, Matthew, 1774–1814, English naval captain and hydrographer, noted for his charting and coast surveys of Australia and Tasmania. From 1795 to 1799 and again from 1801 to 1803 he made valuab...

Hepworth, Dame Barbara

(Encyclopedia)Hepworth, Dame Barbara, 1903–75, English sculptor. Hepworth's smooth, usually nonfigurative sculptures recall those of Jean Arp. Working in Cornwall, she consistently sought perfection of form and s...

Jameson, Anna Brownell (Murphy)

(Encyclopedia)Jameson, Anna Brownell (Murphy) jāˈməsən [key], 1794–1860, English essayist, b. Dublin. The diary of her travels on the Continent as governess to a wealthy family was later published as The Diar...

Eielsen, Elling

(Encyclopedia)Eielsen, Elling āēlˈsən [key], 1804–83, Norwegian-American preacher. After itinerant missionary work in Scandinavia he came to the United States in 1839, preached in Chicago the first Norwegian ...

Elliott, Charles Loring

(Encyclopedia)Elliott, Charles Loring, 1812–68, American painter, b. Scipio, Cayuga co., N.Y.; pupil of John Trumbull and John Quidor. His portraits number over 700. His principal works include the portraits of M...

Browse by Subject