Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Brooks, Preston Smith

(Encyclopedia)Brooks, Preston Smith, 1819–57, U.S. Congressman (1852–57), b. Edgefield District, S.C. A lawyer and the nephew of Senator Andrew Pickens Butler, he is remembered as the man who in 1856 caned Char...

Alexander, Grover Cleveland

(Encyclopedia)Alexander, Grover Cleveland, 1887–1950, American baseball player, b. St. Paul, Nebr. One of the great right-handed pitchers in National League history, Alexander pitched 696 games and won 373 of the...

Alexander of Aphrodisias

(Encyclopedia)Alexander of Aphrodisias ăfrōdĭshˈēəs [key], fl. a.d. 200, Greek Peripatetic philosopher. A celebrated ancient commentator on Aristotle, he was often called the Exegete. Among his extant writing...

Horta, Victor, Baron

(Encyclopedia)Horta, Victor, Baron, 1861–1947, Belgian architect. The Tassel House in Brussels (1892–93), his first mature work, was the earliest monument of art nouveau. It was excelled only by his later works...

Alexander Bay

(Encyclopedia)Alexander Bay, town, part of the Richtersveld local municipality, Northern Cape prov., NW South Africa, where the Orange River enters the Atlantic Ocean. Especially rich alluvial diamond deposits were...

Trenchard, Hugh Montague Trenchard, 1st Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Trenchard, Hugh Montague Trenchard, 1st Viscount, 1873–1956, British air marshal. He entered the army in 1893 and served in the South African War. During World War I he commanded the Royal Flying Co...

Selborne, Roundell Palmer, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Selborne, Roundell Palmer, 1st earl of sĕlˈbôrn [key], 1812–95, British jurist and statesman. Called to the bar in 1837, he entered Parliament in 1847 as a nominal Conservative. He soon was assoc...

Mount Stromlo Observatory

(Encyclopedia)Mount Stromlo Observatory, astronomical observatory located on Mt. Stromlo, near Canberra, Australia. Established in 1924 (14 years after the first telescope was erected there), it has been operated b...

Ramsey of Canterbury, Arthur Michael Ramsey, Baron

(Encyclopedia)Ramsey of Canterbury, Arthur Michael Ramsey, Baron, 1904–88, archbishop of Canterbury (1961–74), b. Cambridge, England. He was educated at Repton School; Magdalene College, Cambridge; and Cuddesdo...

Garden, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Garden, Alexander, c.1730–1791, Scottish-American naturalist and physician, b. Aberdeenshire, Scotland. He settled in Charleston, S.C., where he collected mineral, plant, and animal specimens and di...

Browse by Subject