Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Sacrobosco, Johannes de yōhänˈəs də săkrōbŏsˈkō [key], or John of Hollywood, c.1200–1256, English mathematician and astronomer. He wrote several widely read and influential books: Algorism...

(Encyclopedia) Bush, George Herbert Walker, 1924–2018, 41st President of the United States (1989–93), b. Milton, Mass., B.A., Yale Univ., 1948. Bush's handling of domestic affairs was less successful. The savi...

(Encyclopedia) Mitchell, George John, 1933–, U.S. public official, b. Waterville, Maine. An attorney in private and government practice in the 1960s and 1970s, he was a protege of Senator Edmund Muskie. Generally ...

(Encyclopedia) Moore, George Edward, 1873–1958, English philosopher, b. Upper Norwood. He was educated at Cambridge, where he was a fellow (1898–1904) and then a lecturer (1911–25) in the department of moral s...

(Encyclopedia) Mount Stephen, George Stephen, 1st Baron, 1829–1921, Canadian financier and railroad builder, b. Scotland. He emigrated to Canada in 1850, became a manufacturer, and was (1876–81) president of the...

(Encyclopedia) Saavedra y Fajardo, Diego de dyāˈgō ᵺā sävāˈᵺrä ē fähärˈᵺō [key], 1584–1648, Spanish writer and diplomat in the reign of Philip IV. His chief works are Empresas políticas [politi...

(Encyclopedia) Gass, Patrick, 1771–1870, American explorer, member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, b. Perry co., Pa. His journal of the trip across the continent first appeared in 1807 and was widely read. Gass...

(Encyclopedia) anagram [Gr.,=something read backward], rearrangement of the letters of a word or words to make another word or other words. A famous Latin anagram was an answer made out of a question asked by Pilate...

(Encyclopedia) Gordon, Charles William, pseud. Ralph Connor, 1860–1937, Canadian clergyman and novelist. His popular stories were based on his experience as a Presbyterian missionary in the lumber and mining camps...

(Encyclopedia) illiteracy, inability to meet a certain minimum criterion of reading and writing skill. Throughout most of history most people have been illiterate. In feudal society, for example, the ability to re...