Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Blount, Winton Malcolm, Jr., 1921–2002, U.S. postmaster general (1969–71), b. Union Springs, Ala. A successful building contractor, he was (1946–68) president and chairman of the board of Blount...

(Encyclopedia) Adams, Robert McCormick, Jr., 1926–, American anthropologist, b. Chicago, Ill., grad. Univ. of Chicago (Ph.B., 1947; M.A., 1952; Ph.D., 1956). He served on the faculty of the Univ. of Chicago (1955�...

(Encyclopedia) Taylor, Joseph Hooton, Jr., 1941–, American astrophysicist, b. Philadelphia, Ph.D. Harvard, 1968. Taylor was a professor at the Univ. of Massachusetts at Amherst from 1969 to 1980, when he joined th...

(Encyclopedia) Pinzón, Martín Alonso märtēnˈ älōnˈsō pēnthōnˈ [key] d.1493, Spanish navigator. The commander of the Pinta on Columbus's first voyage to the New World in 1492, he was already an experience...

(Encyclopedia) Navarrete, Martín Fernández de nävärāˈtā [key], 1765–1844, Spanish historian and hydrographer. Joining (1780) the Spanish navy, he entered (1796) the navy department and later established it...

(Encyclopedia) Holder, Eric Himpton, Jr., 1951–, U.S. lawyer and government official, b. Queens, N.Y., grad. Columbia (B.A. 1973, J.D. 1976). He was a trial attorney with the U.S. Justice Dept. from 1976 to 1988, ...

(Encyclopedia) Mays, Willie Howard, Jr. (“Say Hey” Willie Mays), 1931–, American baseball player, b. Fairfield, Ala. He began his professional career at 17 with the Black Barons of the Negro National League. I...

(Encyclopedia) Phelps, Edmund Strother, Jr., 1933–, American economist, b. Evanston, Ill., Ph.D. Yale, 1959. He has been a professor at Yale (1960–66), the Univ. of Pennsylvania (1966–71), Columbia (1971–), ...

(Encyclopedia) Brennan, William Joseph, Jr., 1906–97, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1956–90), b. Newark, N.J. After receiving his law degree from Harvard, he practiced law in Newark. He served as ...