Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Dempsey, Jack (William Harrison Dempsey), 1895–1983, American boxer, b. Manassa, Colo. Dempsey, called the “Manassa Mauler,” emerged from fights on saloon floors near mining camps to become (191...

(Encyclopedia) Tunney, Gene (James Joseph Tunney), 1898–1978, American boxer, b. New York City. He began boxing in neighborhood clubs as a youngster. In World War I, he served in the U.S. marines and while in Pari...

(Encyclopedia) Captain Jack (d. 1873), subchief of the Modoc and leader of the hostile group in the Modoc War (1872–73). Jack, whose Modoc name was Kintpuash kĭntˈpo͞oäsh [key], had agreed (1864) to leave his ...

(Encyclopedia) Kerouac, Jack (John Kerouac) kĕrˈəwăkˌ [key], 1922–69, American novelist, b. Lowell, Mass., studied at Columbia. One of the leaders of the beat generation, a term he is said to have coined, he ...

(Encyclopedia) LaLanne, Jack ləlānˈ [key], 1914–2011, American fitness advocate and television personality, b. San Francisco as François Henri LaLanne. Widely regarded as the founder of the modern fitness move...

(Encyclopedia) Levine, Jack ləvīnˈ [key], 1915–2010, American painter, b. Boston. Levine began his career with the Federal Arts Project. His savagely realistic paintings, executed with diffused, prismatic textu...

(Encyclopedia) Jack Russell terrier, breed of dog developed in the 19th cent. by an English clergyman, the Rev. John (Parson Jack) Russell, 1795–1883, for hunting. The Jack Russell resembles the fox terrier and, l...

(Encyclopedia) Welch, Jack (John Francis Welch, Jr.), 1935–2020, American business executive, b. Salem, Mass., grad. Univ. of Massachusetts (1957); Univ. of Illinois (M.S., 1958; Ph.D., chemical engineering, 1960)...

(Encyclopedia) jack, mechanical device used to multiply a relatively small applied force so that it can lift and support heavy loads, or sometimes, move massive objects into a desired position. The lever jack, often...

(Encyclopedia) Sheppard, Jack, 1702–24, English criminal. Raised in a workhouse, he ran away with Bess Lyon, known as Edgeworth Bess, who, with another girl known as Poll Maggott, incited him to a short but specta...