Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Sinclair, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Sinclair, Sir John, 1754–1835, Scottish agricultural economist and statistician. He compiled A Statistical Account of Scotland (21 vol., 1791–99), giving information on farming and other industrie...

Williams, Sir George

(Encyclopedia)Williams, Sir George, 1821–1905, English merchant. A vigorous advocate of temperance and an opponent of gambling and tobacco, Williams founded the Young Men's Christian Association in 1844. In 1894 ...

Lincoln, Robert Todd

(Encyclopedia)Lincoln, Robert Todd, 1843–1926, American lawyer and public official, b. Springfield, Ill., son of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln. He served on General Grant's staff and after the Civil War s...

Laughlin, Robert Betts

(Encyclopedia)Laughlin, Robert Betts, 1950–, American physicist, b. Visalia, Calif., Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1979. Laughlin was a researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 198...

Ashe, Arthur Robert

(Encyclopedia)Ashe, Arthur Robert, 1943–93, American tennis player, b. Richmond, Va. Ashe rose from his hometown's public courts to become the first African-American male to reach prominence in tennis. He won the...

Ryman, Robert Tracy

(Encyclopedia)Ryman, Robert Tracy, 1930–2019, American painter, b. Nashville, Tenn. While working (1953–60) as a guard at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City he was immersed in modern and contemporary wor...

Schrieffer, John Robert

(Encyclopedia)Schrieffer, John Robert, 1931–2019, American physicist, b., Oak Park, Ill., Ph.D. Univ. of Illinois, 1957. Schrieffer was a professor at the Univ. of Chicago (1957–60), the Univ. of Illinois (1960...

Hutchins, Robert Maynard

(Encyclopedia)Hutchins, Robert Maynard, 1899–1977, American educator, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., studied at Oberlin College, grad. Yale, 1921, taught in the Yale law school (1925–27), and served as dean (1927–29). He...

Grubbs, Robert Howard

(Encyclopedia)Grubbs, Robert Howard, 1942–2021, American chemist, b. near Possum Trot, Ky., Univ. of Florida (B.S., 1963; M.S., 1965), Columbia, Univ. (Ph.D, 1968)....

Bird, Robert Montgomery

(Encyclopedia)Bird, Robert Montgomery, 1806–54, American playwright and novelist, b. New Castle, Del., M.D. Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1827. He wrote several prizewinning verse plays for the actor Edwin Forrest, nota...

Browse by Subject