Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Tonti, Henri de

(Encyclopedia)Tonti or Tonty, Henri de both: äNrēˈ də tôNtēˈ [key], c.1650–1704, French explorer in North America, b. Italy. Serving in the French army, he lost a hand in battle; his skillful use of the ap...

FitzRoy, Robert

(Encyclopedia)FitzRoy, Robert, 1805–65, British naval officer, meteorologist, and hydrologist. Given (1829) temporary command of the HMS Beagle, he completed a survey of the coasts of Patagonia and Tierra del Fue...

Emmet, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Emmet, Robert, 1778–1803, Irish nationalist and revolutionary. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin, but left in 1798 because of his nationalist sympathies. In 1800 he went to France, where with ex...

Nozick, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Nozick, Robert, 1938–2002, American political philosopher, b. Brooklyn, N.Y.; grad. Columbia Univ. (B.A., 1959), Princeton (M.A., 1961; Ph.D., 1963). After teaching at Princeton and Rockefeller Univ...

Fort Bridger State Park

(Encyclopedia)Fort Bridger State Park, on Blacks Fork of the Green River, SW Wyo. The supply post, founded by U.S. fur trader James Bridger in 1843, was an important station on the Oregon Trail. The Mormons held Fo...

Horvitz, H. Robert

(Encyclopedia)Horvitz, H. Robert (Howard Robert Horivtz), 1947–, American geneticist, b. Chicago, Ill., Ph.D. Harvard, 1974. Horvitz has been a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1978. W...

Wagner, Robert Ferdinand

(Encyclopedia)Wagner, Robert Ferdinand wăgˈnər [key], 1877–1953, American legislator, b. Germany. He arrived with his family in the United States in 1885 and grew up in poor surroundings in New York City. Afte...

Knolles, Sir Robert

(Encyclopedia)Knolles or Knollys, Sir Robert both: nōlz [key], d. 1407, English military commander in the Hundred Years War. He became a leader of a company of mercenaries, fought against Bertrand Du Guesclin, who...

Shaw, Robert Lawson

(Encyclopedia)Shaw, Robert Lawson, 1916–99, American conductor, b. Red Bluff, Calif. Moving to New York City after college, he founded and led the Fred Waring Glee Club (1938–45) and the Collegiate Chorale (194...

Bellarmine, Saint Robert

(Encyclopedia)Bellarmine, Saint Robert bĕlärˈmĭn [key], 1542–1621, Italian theologian, cardinal, Doctor of the Church, and a principal influence in the Counter Reformation. His full name was Roberto Francesco...