Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Mason, John Young, 1799–1859, American statesman, b. Greensville co., Va. He studied law under Tapping Reeve at Litchfield, Conn., and was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1819. Mason served in the s...

(Encyclopedia) Backus, John Warner, 1924–2007, American computer scientist, b. Philadelphia, grad. Columbia (M.A. 1950). Trained as a mathematician, he was hired (1950) by IBM Corp. as a computer programmer. From ...

(Encyclopedia) Reynolds, John Fulton, 1820–63, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Lancaster, Pa. He distinguished himself in the Mexican War. In the Civil War, Reynolds was made (Aug., 1861) a brigadier g...

(Encyclopedia) Chivington, John Milton, 1821–92, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Lebanon, Ohio. Ordained a Methodist minister (1844), he served in Missouri and Nebraska before moving to Denver as presi...

(Encyclopedia) Flory, Paul John, 1910–85, American chemist, b. Sterling, Ill., Ph.D. Ohio State Univ., 1934. Flory was a researcher with the DuPont Company (1934–37) and a professor at the Univ. of Cincinnati (1...

(Encyclopedia) Sloat, John Drake, 1781–1867, American naval officer, b. near Goshen, N.Y. He entered the navy as a midshipman in 1800 and resigned after a year's service, but reentered for service in the War of 18...

(Encyclopedia) Winslow, John Ancrum, 1811–73, American naval officer, b. Wilmington, N.C. Appointed a midshipman in 1827, he served in the Mexican War and was commissioned commander in 1855. In the Civil War, Wins...

(Encyclopedia) Young, John Watts, 1930–2018, American astronaut, b. San Francisco. A Navy test pilot, he joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's astronaut program in 1962. Young served as pilot ...

(Encyclopedia) Adams, Charles Francis, 1807–86, American public official, minister to Great Britain (1861–68), b. Boston; son of John Quincy Adams. After a boyhood spent in various European capitals, he was grad...

(Encyclopedia) Van Vleck, John Hasbrouck, 1899–1980, American physicist, b. Middletown, Conn., Ph.D. Harvard, 1922. As a professor at Harvard, Van Vleck developed fundamental theories on the quantum mechanics of m...