Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Benjamin, Walter

(Encyclopedia)Benjamin, Walter, 1892–1940, German essayist and critic. He is known for his synthesis of eccentric Marxist theory and Jewish messianism. In particular, his essays on Charles Baudelaire and Franz Ka...

Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Benjamin [Heb.,=son of fortune], younger son of Jacob and Rachel, eponymous ancestor of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. His mother, dying, named him Benoni bĕnōˈnī [key] [Heb.,=son of my sorrow]. ...

Day, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Day, Benjamin, 1838–1916, American printer; son of Benjamin Henry Day. While working in New York City, Day invented a process, utilizing celluloid sheets, for shading plates in the color printing of...

Constant, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Constant, Benjamin (Henri Benjamin Constant de Rebecque) äNrēˈ bäNzhämăNˈ kôNstäNˈ də rəbĕkˈ [key], 1767–1830, French-Swiss political writer and novelist, b. Lausanne. His affair (1794...

Church, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Church, Benjamin, 1639–1718, New England colonial soldier in King Philip's War, b. Plymouth, Mass. He took a leading part in the Great Swamp Fight (Dec., 1675), W of Kingston, R.I., and finally hunt...

Chew, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Chew, Benjamin, 1722–1810, American public official and judge, b. Anne Arundel co., Md. He read law in Philadelphia under Andrew Hamilton and was admitted (1746) to the bar. After practicing law at ...

Champney, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Champney, Benjamin chămpˈnē [key], 1817–1907, American painter, b. New Ipswich, N.H. Champney studied drawing and was apprenticed to a lithographer in Boston. He traveled to Europe in 1846, paint...

Franklin, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Franklin, Benjamin, 1706–90, American statesman, printer, scientist, and writer, b. Boston. The only American of the colonial period to earn a European reputation as a natural philosopher, he is bes...

Hoadly, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Hoadly, Benjamin hōdˈlē [key], 1676–1761, English prelate, center of the Bangorian Controversy within the Church of England. He was a leader in the Low Church group. In 1715 he was appointed bish...

Hale, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Hale, Benjamin, 1797–1863, American educator, b. Newburyport, Mass., grad. Bowdoin, 1818. He served as tutor at Bowdoin and in 1823 founded and became principal of Gardiner Lyceum, Gardiner, Maine, ...