Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Forsyth, Alexander John fôrsīthˈ [key], 1769–1843, Scottish inventor. He invented in 1807 the first workable percussion cap for the ignition of gunpowder in firearms. Forsyth refused an offer fro...

(Encyclopedia) Bell, Alexander Melville, 1819–1905, Scottish-American educator, b. Edinburgh. Bell worked out a physiological or visible alphabet, with symbols that were intended to represent every sound of the hu...

(Encyclopedia) Cuza, Alexander John ko͞oˈzä [key], or Alexander John I, 1820–73, first prince of Romania (1859–66), b. Moldavia. An officer who participated in the 1848 revolution and in the political struggl...

(Encyclopedia) Meiklejohn, Alexander mĭkˈəljŏn [key], 1872–1964, American educator, b. Rochdale, England, grad. Brown Univ., 1893, Ph.D. Cornell, 1897. He taught philosophy at Brown (1897–1912), serving as d...

(Encyclopedia) Wyant, Alexander Helwig wīˈənt [key], 1836–92, American landscape painter, b. Tuscarawas co., Ohio, studied in Cincinnati and in Germany. He was influenced by Inness, who became his friend. Wyant...

(Encyclopedia) Duff, Alexander, 1806–78, Scottish missionary in India. In Calcutta (now Kolkata) he opened (1830) a mission college which became an important center of education in India; both religious and scient...

(Encyclopedia) Bustamante, Sir Alexander bŭsˌtəmănˈtē [key], 1884–1977, prime minister of Jamaica (1962–67). Born William Alexander Clarke, the son of an Irish father and a Jamaican mother, he was adopted...

(Encyclopedia) Luria, Alexander Romanovich ŭlˌyĭksänˈdər rōmänˈəvyĭchˌ lo͝orˈēä [key], 1902–77, Soviet psychologist. Luria made advances in many areas, including cognitive psychology, the processes...

(Encyclopedia) Alexander of Hales, d. 1245, English scholastic philosopher, called the Unanswerable Doctor by his fellow scholastics. He was a Franciscan and a lecturer at the Univ. of Paris. His Summa universae the...

(Encyclopedia) Alexander, in the Bible. 1 Kinsman of Annas. 2 Son of Simon of Cyrene, probably a Christian. 3 Heretic condemned by Paul. 4 Coppersmith who did Paul harm. 5 Jew who tried to speak during a riot at Eph...