Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Langmuir, Irving lăngˈmyo͞or [key], 1881–1957, American chemist, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. Associated (1909–50) with the research laboratory of the General Electric Company, he introduced atomic-hydrog...

(Encyclopedia) Nathan, George Jean, 1882–1958, American editor and drama critic, b. Fort Wayne, Ind. He left the New York Herald to join H. L. Mencken in editing Smart Set (1914–23), which they made into a guide...

(Encyclopedia) Paley, Grace, 1922–2007, American writer and social activist, b. the Bronx, N.Y., as Grace Goodside. In short stories mainly celebrating the lives of women, Paley paints the daily lives of working-c...

(Encyclopedia) Mayo, Charles Horace māˈō [key], 1865–1939, American surgeon, b. Rochester, Minn., M.D. Northwestern Univ., 1888. He specialized in goiter and cataract operations. His brother, William James Mayo...

(Encyclopedia) Morgan, Julia, 1872–1957, American architect, b. San Francisco, B.S. Univ. of California, Berkeley, 1894. Trained as an engineer, she became the first woman to study architecture at the École des B...

(Encyclopedia) Kahn, Albert kän [key], 1869–1942, American architect, noted as a designer of factories, b. Germany, immigrated to the United States in 1880. He worked as a draftsman in a Detroit architect's offic...

(Encyclopedia) Beiderbecke, Bix (Leon Bismarck Beiderbecke) bīˈdərbĕk [key], 1903–31, American jazz cornetist, pianist, and composer, b. Davenport, Iowa. Mainly self-taught, he was influenced by recordings of ...

(Encyclopedia) Robertson, Pat (Marion Gordon Robertson), 1930–2023, American evangelist and politician, b. Lexington, Va. The son of U.S. Senator A. Willis Robertson...

(Encyclopedia) Death, Dance of, or danse macabre däns məkäˈbrə, –bər, dăns [key], originally a 14th-century morality poem. The poem was a dialogue between Death and representatives of all classes from the P...

(Encyclopedia) Harrison, William Henry, 1773–1841, 9th President of the United States (Mar. 4–Apr. 4, 1841), b. “Berkeley,” Charles City co., Va.; son of Benjamin Harrison (1726?–1791) and grandfather of B...