Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Sylvester, James Joseph, 1814–97, English mathematician. He studied at Cambridge for four years after 1831, but because degrees were limited to members of the Church of England and he was a Jew, he ...

(Encyclopedia) Gawain, Sir gäˈwān, –wĭn [key], one of the most popular heroes of Arthurian legend; nephew of King Arthur. He was regarded, particularly in the early romances, as the model of chivalry—pure, b...

(Encyclopedia) Gray, Horace, 1828–1902, American jurist, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1881–1902), b. Boston. At first a reporter (1854–61) to the Massachusetts supreme court, he later entered i...

(Encyclopedia) Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron tĕnˈĭsən [key], 1809–92, English poet. The most famous poet of the Victorian age, he was a profound spokesman for the ideas and values of his times. Tenny...

(Encyclopedia) Enron Corporation, U.S. company that in 2001 became the largest bankruptcy and stock collapse in U.S. history up to that time. The company was formed in 1985 when InterNorth purchased Houston Natural ...

(Encyclopedia) Lyndhurst, John Singleton Copley, Baron, 1772–1863, British jurist, b. Boston, Mass.; son of John Singleton Copley, the American painter. Educated in England, he was called to the bar in 1804. He at...

(Encyclopedia) Horton, Lester, 1906–53, American modern dancer, choreographer, and teacher, b. Indianapolis. Moving to California in 1928, Horton formed his own company in Los Angeles and also performed in theater...

(Encyclopedia) crossword puzzle, word game in which words corresponding to numbered clues are put into a grid of horizontal and vertical squares to form intersecting words. The puzzle is solved when a player supplie...

(Encyclopedia) Junot, Andoche äNdôshˈ zhünōˈ [key], 1771–1813, French general. Having served under Napoleon Bonaparte in Italy and Egypt, he became ambassador to Portugal (1804–5) and commanded the French ...

(Encyclopedia) Storey, David (David Malcolm Storey), 1933–, English novelist and playwright, b. Wakefield, Yorkshire. His first novel, This Sporting Life (1960), was a disguised autobiography about the brutalizati...