Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Glenn, John Herschel, Jr., 1921–2016, American astronaut and politician, b. Cambridge, Ohio. On Feb. 20, 1962, he became the first American and the third person to orbit the earth, circling the glob...

(Encyclopedia) Herschel hûrˈshəl [key], family of distinguished English astronomers. Sir William Herschel,Sir William Herschel, 1738–1822, born Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel, was a great pioneer in astronomy. Bor...

(Encyclopedia) Fenno, Richard Francis Jr., 1926–2020, American political scientist, b. Winchester, Mass., Ph.D. Harvard, 1956. Fenno spent his entire career at the Univ. of Rochester (1957–2003), where he became...

(Encyclopedia) Miller, Glenn (Alton Glenn Miller), 1904–44, American jazz trombonist, bandleader, and composer, b. Clarinda, Iowa. Playing in Ben Pollack's band by 1927, he was a freelance musician in New York Cit...

(Encyclopedia) Connally, John Bowden, Jr. kŏnˈəlē [key], 1917–93, U.S. public official, b. Floresville, Tex. A lawyer, he became associated with Lyndon B. Johnson, managed the latter's successful senatorial ca...

(Encyclopedia) Nash, John Forbes, Jr., 1928–2015, American mathematician, b. Bluefield, W.Va., grad. Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie-Mellon Univ., B.A. and M.A. 1948), Ph.D. Princeton 1950. During a...

(Encyclopedia) McEnroe, John Patrick, Jr. măkˈənrōˌ [key], 1959–, American tennis player, b. Weisbaden, West Germany. He grew up in Douglaston, Queens, N.Y. After winning the National Collegiate Athletic Asso...

(Encyclopedia) Watson, Thomas John, Jr., 1914–93, American industrialist, b. Dayton, Ohio. The son of Thomas John Watson, Sr., the founder of the International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), he joined the family b...

(Encyclopedia) Portman, John Calvin, Jr., 1924–2017, American architect and developer, b. Walhalla, S.C., grad. Georgia Institute of Technology (1950). In the 1960s and 70s, he radically changed the look of the ho...

(Encyclopedia) Martin, Glenn Luther, 1886–1955, American aviation pioneer, b. Macksburg, Iowa. Martin built his first airplane in 1909, and in 1912 set the world over-water record, flying from mainland California ...