Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Du Pont, Samuel Francis

(Encyclopedia)Du Pont, Samuel Francis, 1803–65, American naval officer, b. Bergen Point, N.J.; grandson of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours. Appointed a midshipman in 1815, he saw his first active duty in the Med...

Thomas, Robert Bailey

(Encyclopedia)Thomas, Robert Bailey, 1766–1846, American journalist, b. Grafton, Mass. He was the founder and long-time editor (1792–1846) of The Farmer's Almanac[k] (later The Old Farmer's Almanac[k]). The wor...

Filmer, Sir Robert

(Encyclopedia)Filmer, Sir Robert, d. 1653, English royalist political writer, author of Patriarcha; or, The Natural Power of Kings (pub. posthumously in 1680), a defense of the divine right of monarchs by an exposi...

Grove, Robert Moses

(Encyclopedia)Grove, Robert Moses (Lefty Grove), 1900–1975, American baseball player, b. Lonaconing, Md. A left-handed pitcher, he played for the Philadelphia Athletics (1925–33) and Boston Red Sox (1934–41)....

Irwin, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Irwin, Robert, 1928–, American painter and sculptor, b. Long Beach, Calif. Irwin was one of the founders of the California-based Light and Space movement. Early in his career, he painted in the abst...

Markham, Sir Clements Robert

(Encyclopedia)Markham, Sir Clements Robert märˈkəm [key], 1830–1916, English geographer and writer. While in the navy he served on a British expedition (1850–51) to the Arctic to search for the explorer Sir ...

Robert I, king of Scotland

(Encyclopedia)Robert I or Robert the Bruce, 1274–1329, king of Scotland (1306–29). He belonged to the illustrious Bruce family and was the grandson of that Robert the Bruce who in 1290 was an unsuccessful claim...

Robinson, Sir Robert

(Encyclopedia)Robinson, Sir Robert, 1886–1975, British chemist, D.Sc. Univ. of Manchester, 1910. Robinson taught at the universities of Sydney (1912–15), Liverpool (1915–20), St. Andrews (1921–22), Manchest...

Ovshinsky, Stanford Robert

(Encyclopedia)Ovshinsky, Stanford Robert, 1922–2012, American inventor and scientist, b. Akron, Ohio. Self-taught, he developed a new type of lathe in the 1940s, the first of many innovations and patents. Special...

Browse by Subject