Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Whitney, Eli, 1765–1825, American inventor of the cotton gin, b. Westboro, Mass., grad. Yale, 1792. When he was staying as tutor at Mulberry Grove, the plantation of Mrs. Nathanael Greene, Whitney w...

(Encyclopedia) Hampton, Wade, c.1752–1835, American planter and soldier, b. Halifax co., Va. He served in the American Revolution and took part in South Carolina politics, opposing the ratification of the U.S. Con...

(Encyclopedia) Charles XIV (Charles John; Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte) zhäN bäptēstˈ zhül bĕrnädôtˈ [key], 1763–1844, king of Sweden and Norway (1818–44), French Revolutionary general. Bernadotte ros...

(Encyclopedia) track and field athletics or athletics, sports of foot racing, hurdling, jumping, vaulting, and throwing varied weights and objects. They are usually separated into two categories: track, the running ...

(Encyclopedia) patent, in law, governmental grant of some privilege, property, or authority. Today patent refers to the granting to the inventor of a useful product or process the privilege to exclude others from ma...

(Encyclopedia) Clymer, George klīˈ mər [key], 1739–1813, American political leader, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Philadelphia. A prosperous merchant, he ardently supported the colonial cause be...

(Encyclopedia) Mars, family of American food manufacturers. Franklin Clarence Mars, 1882–1934, b. Hancock, Minn., was a chocolate manufacturer who produced candy at home before opening a candy factory (1911) in Ta...

(Encyclopedia) Davis, James John, 1873–1947, American public official, b. Wales. After emigrating (1881) to the United States, he worked as a puddler in ironworks in Pennsylvania and, moving to Elwood, Ind., becam...

(Encyclopedia) Onganía, Juan Carlos hwän kärˈlōs ōngänēˈä [key], 1914–95, president of Argentina (1966–70). He served (1963–65) as commander in chief of the army and in 1962 led a revolt within the a...

(Encyclopedia) William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, philanthropic organization founded in 1966 by engineer and entrepeneur William R. Hewlett (1913–2001), co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, his wife, Flora Lamson Hew...