Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

241 results found

Dorsett, Tony

(Encyclopedia)Dorsett, Tony (Anthony Drew Dorsett) dôrˈsət [key], 1954–, American football player, b. Rochester, Pa. The first running back to gain over 6,000 yards in Division I-A, he won the Heisman Trophy a...

Butler, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Butler, Joseph, 1692–1752, English bishop and exponent of natural theology. Butler held a series of church offices, ending his career as bishop of Durham. His principle writings are Fifteen Sermons ...

Phillips, David Graham

(Encyclopedia)Phillips, David Graham, 1867–1911, American writer, b. Madison, Ind., grad. College of New Jersey (now Princeton), 1887. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Cincinnati and New York City, rising to ...

Sassetta

(Encyclopedia)Sassetta säs-sĕtˈtä [key], c.1400–1450, Italian painter of the Sienese school, whose original name was Stefano di Giovanni. A popular artist, he painted many large altarpieces, scenes from the l...

Fallen Timbers

(Encyclopedia)Fallen Timbers, battle fought in 1794 between tribes of the Northwest Territory and the U.S. army commanded by Anthony Wayne; it took place in NW Ohio at the rapids of the Maumee River just southwest ...

Edwards, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Edwards, Edward, 1812–86, English library pioneer. As assistant from 1839 in the British Museum, he helped Sir Anthony Panizzi draw up the rules for the catalog. Edwards collected library statistics...

state flowers

(Encyclopedia)state flowers. Each state of the United States has designated, usually by legislative action, one flower as its floral emblem; the rose has been designated by Congress as the national flower of the Un...

Browne, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Browne, Thomas, d. 1825, Loyalist commander in the American Revolution. A resident of Augusta, Ga., he was the victim of colonist violence in 1775, when he was tarred and feathered for ridiculing the ...

Cheever, John

(Encyclopedia)Cheever, John, 1912–82, American author, b. Quincy, Mass. His expulsion from Thayer Academy was the subject of his first short story, published by the New Republic when he was 17. Many of his subseq...

Tahmasp

(Encyclopedia)Tahmasp täˈmäsp [key], 1514–76, shah of Persia (1524–76), son and successor of Ismail and the second of the Safavid dynasty. He successfully repulsed persistent invasions by the Uzbeks. Sulayma...