Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Davy, Sir Humphry

(Encyclopedia)Davy, Sir Humphry, 1778–1829, English chemist and physicist. The son of a woodcarver, he received his early education at Truro and was apprenticed (1795) to a surgeon-apothecary at Penzance. While d...

Rattle, Sir Simon

(Encyclopedia)Rattle, Sir Simon, 1955–, British conductor, b. Liverpool, studied Royal Academy of Music, London. Originally a percussionist, he became part of the Merseyside Youth Orchestra at 11 and of the Royal...

Key, Sir John Phillip

(Encyclopedia)Key, Sir John Phillip, 1961–, New Zealand investment banker and political leader, b. Auckland, studied Univ. of Canterbury (B.Comm., 1982) and Harvard. Trained as an accountant, Key worked for a lar...

Evans, Sir Martin John

(Encyclopedia)Evans, Sir Martin John, British geneticist, Ph.D., University College London, 1969. After serving on the faculty at University College London (1966–78) and Cambridge (1978–99), he became a profess...

Dundee, John Graham of Claverhouse, 1st Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Dundee, John Graham of Claverhouse, 1st Viscount klăvˈərəs, dŭndēˈ [key], 1649?–1689, Scottish soldier, known as Bonnie Dundee. After service abroad under William of Orange (later William III...

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...

Challenger expedition

(Encyclopedia)Challenger expedition, British oceanographic expedition under the direction of the Scottish professor Charles Wyville Thompson and the British naturalist Sir John Murray. Taking place from 1872 to 187...

Randolph, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Randolph, Edward, c.1632–1703, English colonial agent in America. In 1676 he carried royal instructions to Massachusetts Bay that required the colony to send representatives to England to satisfy co...

Manchester, city, England

(Encyclopedia)Manchester mănˈchəstər, –chĕsˌtər [key], city and metropolitan borough (1991 pop. 397,400), NW England, a port on the Irwell, Medlock, Irk, and Tib rivers. Manchester remains the center of th...

Gournay, Vincent de

(Encyclopedia)Gournay, Vincent de văNsäNˈ də go͞ornāˈ [key], 1712–59, French economist, precursor of the physiocrats and of Adam Smith. A wealthy merchant, he was in government service as intendant of comm...
 

Browse by Subject