Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Crome, John

(Encyclopedia)Crome, John, 1768–1821, English landscape painter, b. Norwich. Crome was the principal painter of the Norwich school. He is often called Old Crome to distinguish him from his son who painted in the ...

Davis, Elmer

(Encyclopedia)Davis, Elmer, 1890–1958, American newspaperman, radio commentator, and author, b. Aurora, Ind. Davis was a Rhodes scholar (1910–13) at Oxford. For 10 years (1914–24) he was on the staff of the N...

Dean, James

(Encyclopedia)Dean, James (James Byron Dean), 1931–55, American film actor, b. Marion, Ind. After a few stage and television roles, Dean was chosen to play the moody, rebellious son in the film East of Eden (1953...

Coase, Ronald Harry

(Encyclopedia)Coase, Ronald Harry kōz [key], 1910–2013, British economist, b. London, Ph.D. Univ. of London, 1951. He was raised and educated in England before coming to the United States, where he was a profess...

Chalfie, Martin

(Encyclopedia)Chalfie, Martin, 1947–, American biologist, b. Chicago, Ph.D. Harvard, 1977. In 1982 Chalfie joined the faculty at Columbia, where he is now the William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Biological Scienc...

Smith, Walter Bedell

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Walter Bedell, 1895–1961, U.S. general, b. Indianapolis, Ind. He enlisted (1910) in the Indiana National Guard, won a commission in the U.S. army (1918), and advanced to the rank of lieutenan...

Barnato, Barnett

(Encyclopedia)Barnato, Barnett bärnäˈtō [key], 1852–97, South African financier, b. London. His name originally was Barney Isaacs; he first called himself Barney Barnato when he performed as a comedian. He we...

Tyndall, John

(Encyclopedia)Tyndall, John tĭnˈdəl [key], 1820–93, British physicist, b. Ireland. He became (1853) professor of natural philosophy at the Royal Institution and in 1867 succeeded Michael Faraday, his friend an...

Rabi, Isidor Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Rabi, Isidor Isaac rŏbˈē [key], 1898–1988, American physicist, b. Austria, grad. Cornell, 1919, Ph.D. Columbia, 1927. A teacher at Columbia from 1929, he became professor of physics in 1937. He i...

Paine, Robert Treat

(Encyclopedia)Paine, Robert Treat, 1731–1814, political figure in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Boston, Mass. He served briefly as a chaplain in the French and Indian War ...