Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Williamson, Hugh, 1735–1819, American political leader, physician, and scientist, b. West Nottingham, Pa. He studied theology, preached for a short time, and then was (1760–63) professor of mathem...

(Encyclopedia) Bancroft, Edward, 1744–1821, spy in the American Revolution, b. Westfield, Mass. He studied medicine and natural history, producing a book (1769) on Guiana's flora and fauna, a defense of the coloni...

(Encyclopedia) Rittenhouse, David, 1732–96, American astronomer and instrument maker, b. near Germantown, Pa., self-educated. A clockmaker by trade, he developed great skill in the making of mathematical instrumen...

(Encyclopedia) Sparks, Jared, 1789–1866, American historian and educator, b. Willington, Conn. He studied theology, mathematics, and natural philosophy at Harvard (1817–19). He was pastor of a Unitarian church i...

(Encyclopedia) Parker, Alton Brooks, 1852–1926, American jurist, U.S. presidential candidate (1904), b. Cortland, N.Y. He practiced law in Kingston, N.Y., and was (1877–85) surrogate of Ulster co., N.Y. He becam...

(Encyclopedia) Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act, 1909, passed by the U.S. Congress. It was the first change in tariff laws since the Dingley Act of 1897; the issue had been ignored by President Theodore Roosevelt. The Repub...

(Encyclopedia) Daniels, Josephus, 1862–1948, American statesman, newspaper editor, and author, b. Washington, N.C. He became editor of the Raleigh State Chronicle in 1885 (he was admitted to the bar the same year)...

(Encyclopedia) Clinton. 1 Town (2020 pop. 13,185), Middlesex co., S Conn., on Long Island Sound; settled 1663, set off from Killingworth and inc. 1838. The ...

(Encyclopedia) American Museum of Natural History, incorporated in New York City in 1869 to promote the study of natural science and related subjects. Buildings on its present site facing Central Park were opened in...

(Encyclopedia) Korematsu, Fred Toyosaburo, 1919–2005, Japanese-American internment protester, b. Oakland, Calif. He was a shipyard welder when, after the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor in 1942, President F. D. Roos...