Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Carter, Gary Edmund, 1954–2012, American baseball player, b. Culver City, Calif. A superb catcher and clutch-hitting right-handed slugger, he played in the majors for 19 years. Drafted (1972) by the...

(Encyclopedia) Head, Sir Edmund Walker, 1805–68, British governor-general of Canada (1854–61), cousin of Sir Francis Bond Head. An Oxford scholar and tutor, he published several books. His success as lieutenant ...

(Encyclopedia) Abbott, Lyman, 1835–1922, American clergyman and editor, b. Roxbury, Mass., son of Jacob Abbott. He was ordained a minister in 1860 and was pastor in several churches before succeeding Henry Ward Be...

(Encyclopedia) Wurster, William Wilson, 1895–1973, American architect, b. Stockton, Calif. Wurster was a major designer of town and country dwellings in the roomy and comfortable West Coast aesthetic termed “Bay...

(Encyclopedia) Wilson, Charles Erwin, 1890–1961, American industrialist and cabinet officer, b. Minerva, Ohio. He was an electrical engineer with Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company from 1909 to 1919 a...

(Encyclopedia) Kean, Edmund, 1787?–1833, English actor. Kean's acting expressed the ideal of the romantic temperament. A small man with a wild spirit and a gruff voice, he was lauded for his facial mobility; accor...

(Encyclopedia) Gaines, Edmund Pendleton, 1777–1849, U.S. army officer, b. Culpeper co., Va.; brother of George Strother Gaines. He spent his boyhood in Tennessee and at the age of 22 joined the U.S. army. He surve...

(Encyclopedia) Swan, Sir Joseph Wilson, 1828–1914, English chemist and physicist. He made an incandescent lamp using a carbon filament (1860), 20 years before Edison's lamp. Noted for important contributions to ph...

(Encyclopedia) York, Edmund of Langley, duke of, 1341–1402, fifth son of Edward III of England. He was made (1362) earl of Cambridge, served on expeditions to Spain and France, and married (1372) Isabel, daughter ...

(Encyclopedia) Reagan, Ronald Wilson rāˈgən [key], 1911–2004, 40th president of the United States (1981–89), b. Tampico, Ill. In 1932, after graduation from Eureka College, he became a radio announcer and spo...