Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Beach, Amy, 1867–1944, American composer and pianist, b. Henniker, N.H., as Amy Marcy Cheney. A child prodigy, she received rather meagre training as a pianist in the United States, and toured there...

(Encyclopedia) Thornton, Matthew, 1714–1803, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Ireland. Taken to America as a child, he studied medicine and in 1740 began p...

(Encyclopedia) Spassky, Boris, 1937–, Soviet chess champion. A child prodigy, he became an international master at the age of 16 and in 1955, at age 18, he became an international grand master. Subsequently in int...

(Encyclopedia) Greco, José hōsāˈ grĕkˈō [key], 1918–2001, Spanish-American dancer and choreographer, b. Italy. Greco emigrated to the United States as a child. He first appeared as a professional dancer in ...

(Encyclopedia) Guido of Siena sēĕnˈə [key], fl. 13th cent., Italian painter. All that is known of him is an inscription on a large and almost completely repainted Virgin and Child Enthroned, formerly in San Dome...

(Encyclopedia) family leave, social policy permitting workers to take a specified amount of time off from the job to attend to pressing family needs. The U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act (1993) attempts to balance ...

(Encyclopedia) Linacre or Lynaker, Thomas both: lĭˈnəkər [key], 1460?–1524, English humanist and physician. He took the degree of doctor of medicine at the Univ. of Padua, returned to England c.1492, and becam...

(Encyclopedia) myxedema mĭksədēˈmə [key], condition associated with severe hypothyroidism and lack of thyroid hormone in the adult. In the child it is known as cretinism. Symptoms include a dry swelling of the ...

(Encyclopedia) Paterson, William, 1745–1806, American political leader and jurist, b. Co. Antrim, Ireland. He emigrated to America as a child. Raised in New Jersey, he practiced law there and was attorney general ...

(Encyclopedia) National Institutes of Health (NIH), agency of the U.S. Public Health Service, with headquarters in Bethesda, Md. It was established initially in 1887 as a laboratory in the U.S. Marine Hospital on St...