Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Richardson, Lewis Fry, 1881–1953, British physicist and pioneering meteorologist, grad. Cambridge (1903), Univ. of London (B.Sc. 1929). Richardson worked at the National Physical Laboratory (1902–...

(Encyclopedia) Baretti, Giuseppe Marc'Antonio jo͞ozĕpˈpā märkäntôˈnyō bärĕtˈtē [key], 1719–89, Italian writer and lexicographer. Baretti held various official positions in several Italian cities while...

(Encyclopedia) Rattle, Sir Simon, 1955–, British conductor, b. Liverpool, studied Royal Academy of Music, London. Originally a percussionist, he became part of the Merseyside Youth Orchestra at 11 and of the Royal...

(Encyclopedia) Gay, John, 1685–1732, English playwright and poet, b. Barnstaple, Devon. Educated at the local grammar school, he was apprenticed to a silk mercer for a brief time before commencing his literary car...

(Encyclopedia) Evans, Sir Martin John, British geneticist, Ph.D., University College London, 1969. After serving on the faculty at University College London (1966–78) and Cambridge (1978–99), he became a profess...

(Encyclopedia) Clink, district in Southwark, a Greater London borough, England. The Clink prison was used from the 13th cent. as a detention place for heretics. Its name is now a slang term for a prison or jail. ...

(Encyclopedia) Philips, Katherine (Fowler), 1631–64, English poet. Conductor of several literary salons in London, she began the Society of Friendship under the pseudonym “Matchless Orinda.” The first collecte...

(Encyclopedia) Bond Street, in Westminster, London, England, famous for its fashionable shops. Among the noted residents of Bond St. have been the authors Laurence Sterne, James Boswell, and Jonathan Swift; Admiral ...

(Encyclopedia) Daudet, Alphonse älfôNsˈ dōdāˈ [key], 1840–97, French writer, b. Nîmes (Provence). Daudet made his mark with gentle naturalistic stories and novels portraying French life both in the province...

(Encyclopedia) Carey, Peter, 1943–, Australian novelist, b. near Melbourne. Carey's combination of science fiction and fantasy motifs with a realistic style, displayed in the short stories in The Fat Man in Histor...