Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Randall, John Ernest, Jr., 1924–2020, American ichthyologist, b. Los Angeles, Ph.D. Univ. of Hawaii, Manoa, 1955. A marine taxonomist, he named 30 new genera and hundreds of new species of fish. Par...

(Encyclopedia) Spinola, Ambrogio ämbrôˈjō spēˈnōlä [key], 1569–1630, Spanish general, b. Italy, of a noble Genoese family. In 1602, Spinola entered Spanish service in the Netherlands. He took (1604) Ostend...

(Encyclopedia) Thomas, Michael Tilson, 1944–, American conductor, composer, and pianist, b. Hollywood, Calif. A musical prodigy, he won Tanglewood's Koussevitsky Prize at 24 and shortly thereafter (1969) made his ...

(Encyclopedia) Ghez, Andrea Mia, 1965–, American astrophysicist, b. New York City, Ph.D. California Institute of Technology, 1992. She has been on the faculty at the Univ. of California, Los Angeles, since 1994. G...

(Encyclopedia) Gretzky, Wayne (Wayne Douglas Gretzky), 1961–, Canadian ice hockey player, b. Brantford, Ont. He played with the Edmonton Oilers (1978–88), Los Angeles Kings (1988–96), St. Louis Blues (1996), a...

(Encyclopedia) Davis, Al (Allen Davis), 1929–2011, American football executive, b. Brockton, Mass. After coaching mainly college teams in the 1950s, he was (1960–62) a coach with the Los Angeles, then San Diego,...

(Encyclopedia) Meyer, Eugene, 1875–1959, American financier and newspaper publisher, b. Los Angeles. He was a successful broker and a director of many corporations. In 1917 he was appointed to guide American war p...

(Encyclopedia) Millet, Jean François, 1814–75, French painter. He was born into a poor farming family. In 1837 an award enabled him to go to Paris, where he studied with Delaroche. In 1849 he settled in Barbizon,...

(Encyclopedia) Namath, Joe (Joseph William Namath) nāˈməth [key], 1943–, American football player, b. Beaver Falls, Pa. Namath's brilliance as a quarterback at the Univ. of Alabama earned him a three-year no-cu...

(Encyclopedia) Ashe, Arthur Robert, 1943–93, American tennis player, b. Richmond, Va. Ashe rose from his hometown's public courts to become the first African-American male to reach prominence in tennis. He won the...