Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Michelson, Albert Abraham mīˈkəlsən [key], 1852–1931, American physicist, b. Strelno, Prussia, grad. Annapolis, 1873, and studied at Berlin, Heidelberg, and Paris. He was professor of physics at...

(Encyclopedia) Hirschman, Albert Otto, 1915–2012, U.S. economist and social scientist, b. Berlin, Germany, as Otto Albert Hirschmann, Ph.D. Univ. of Trieste, 1938. Of Jewish descent, he fled Germany when Hitler ca...

(Encyclopedia) Reynolds, Albert, 1935–2014, Irish political leader. A successful business executive, Reynolds won (1977) a seat in the Irish parliament as a member of the Fianna Fáil party. He was minister of pos...

(Encyclopedia) Gurney, A. R. (Albert Ramsdell Gurney, Jr.), 1930–2017, American dramatist, b. Buffalo, N.Y., B.A. Williams College, 1952, M.F.A. Yale School of Drama, 1958. He is best known for often humorous anal...

(Encyclopedia) Paulson, Henry Merritt, Jr., 1946–, U.S. investment banker and government official, b. Palm Beach, Fla., grad. Harvard (M.B.A., 1970). After working as an assistant to the comptroller at the Pentago...

(Encyclopedia) Maxwell, William Keepers, Jr., 1908–2000, American novelist, short-story writer, and editor, b. Lincoln, Ill. Educated at the Univ. of Illinois and Harvard, he began his career as a teacher, but soo...

(Encyclopedia) Motley, Archibald John, Jr., 1891–1981, African American artist, b. New Orleans, grad. Art Institute of Chicago (1918). He was an important figure in the early Harlem Renaissance, though he spent mo...

(Encyclopedia) Dingell, John David, Jr., 1928–2019, American congressman, b. Colorado Springs, Colo.; grad. Georgetown Univ. (B.S., 1949; J.D., 1952). He served in the Army (1944–46) and after a brief career in ...

(Encyclopedia) Jordan, Vernon Eulion, Jr., 1935–2021, African-American civil-rights leader and lawyer, b. Atlanta, Ga., DePauw Univ. (BA, 1957), Howard Univ. Law Sch...

(Encyclopedia) Gordy, Berry, Jr., 1929–, African-American music-industry executive, b. Detroit. After stints in the army and as a professional boxer, Gordy opened a ...