Columbia Encyclopedia

(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) Frederick William I, 1688–1740, king of Prussia (1713–40), son and successor of Frederick I. He continued the administrative reforms and the process of centralization begun by Frederick William, t...

(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) Frederick William IV, 1795–1861, king of Prussia (1840–61), son and successor of Frederick William III. A romanticist and a mystic, he conceived vague schemes of reform based on a revival of the m...

(Encyclopedia) Frederick William II, 1744–97, king of Prussia (1786–97), nephew and successor of Frederick II (Frederick the Great). He had the power but lacked the ability of his distinguished predecessors. He ...

(Encyclopedia) Faber, Frederick William fāˈbər [key], 1814–63, English theologian and hymn writer. A friend of John Henry Newman and an adherent of the Oxford movement, he became (1843) rector of Eton. In 1845 ...

(Encyclopedia) John Frederick I, 1503–54, elector (1532–47) and duke (1547–54) of Saxony; last elector of the Ernestine branch of the house of Wettin. Like his father, John the Steadfast, whom he succeeded, Jo...

(Encyclopedia) Frederick William III, 1770–1840, king of Prussia (1797–1840), son and successor of Frederick William II. Well-intentioned but weak and vacillating, he endeavored to maintain neutrality in the Nap...

(Encyclopedia) Villiers, George William Frederick: see Clarendon, George William Frederick Villiers, 4th earl of. ...

(Encyclopedia) MacMonnies, Frederick William məkmŏnˈēz [key], 1863–1937, American sculptor and painter, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., studied with Augustus Saint-Gaudens and with Falguière in Paris. His fountain for the...