Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Tatum, Art

(Encyclopedia)Tatum, Art tāˈtəm [key], 1910–56, American jazz pianist, b. Toledo, Ohio. Born with cataracts in both eyes, Tatum remained virtually blind for life. He read music in Braille, but his sensitive ea...

Otis, Harrison Gray, 1837–1917, American soldier and journalist

(Encyclopedia)Otis, Harrison Gray, 1837–1917, American soldier and journalist, b. Marietta, Ohio. He was (1860) a member of the Republican national convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln for President, served ...

Powell, Dawn

(Encyclopedia)Powell, Dawn, 1896–1965, American novelist, b. Mt. Gilead, Ohio. She came to New York City in 1918 and settled several years later in Greenwich Village, where she spent most of the rest of her life ...

Colt, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Colt, Samuel, 1814–62, American inventor, b. Hartford, Conn. In 1835–36, he patented a revolving-breech pistol and founded at Paterson, N.J., the Patent Arms Company, which failed in 1842. An orde...

Mun, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Mun, Thomas mŭn [key], 1571–1641, English writer on economics. A merchant in Italy and the Levant, he became (1615) a director in the East India Company. In his Discourse of Trade from England unto...

Modigliani, Franco

(Encyclopedia)Modigliani, Franco, 1918–2003, American economist, b. Rome. Jewish, antifascist, and trained as a lawyer, he fled Mussolini's Italy in 1938, settling in the United States in 1939, where he studied e...

Lockheed, Allan Haines

(Encyclopedia)Lockheed, Allan Haines, 1889–1969, American aviation pioneer, b. Niles, Calif., as Allan Loughead. He worked as a mechanic and a race car driver, then, following his first flight (1910), he became a...

von Furstenberg, Diane

(Encyclopedia)von Furstenberg, Diane, 1946–, Belgian-American fashion designer, b. Brussels as Diane Simone Michelle Halfin. She began designing before moving to New York in 1969, and created simple, functional c...

SLM Corporation

(Encyclopedia)SLM Corporation, foremost provider of funding for higher education to American students; commonly known as Sallie Mae. The company, which also offers information and resources to assist students and o...

Starrett, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Starrett, Paul stărˈĭt [key], 1866–1957, American builder, b. Lawrence, Kans. After serving (1903–22) as president of the George A. Fuller Company in Chicago, he opened and headed the construct...