Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Faraday, Michael fârˈədē, –dāˌ [key], 1791–1867, English scientist. The son of a blacksmith, he was apprenticed to a bookbinder at the age of 14. He had little formal education, but acquired...

(Encyclopedia) Garcetti, Eric Michael, 1971–, American politician, b. Los Angeles, grad. Columbia (B.A., 1993; M.A., 1993), stud. Oxford and London School of Economics. The son of Los Angeles district attorney Gil...

(Encyclopedia) Cohan, George Michael kōhănˈ, kōˈhăn, kōˈən [key], 1878–1942, American showman, b. Providence, R.I. As a child he appeared in vaudeville as one of “The Four Cohans” with his father, mot...

(Encyclopedia) Ignatieff, Michael Grant ĭgnătˈēəf [key], 1947–, Canadian politician, writer, and academic, b. Toronto, B.A. Univ. of Toronto (1969), Ph.D. Harvard (1976), M.A. Cambridge (1978). He was an assi...

(Encyclopedia) Drayton, Michael, 1563–1631, English poet. The son of a prosperous tradesman, he received his educational training in the house of Sir Henry Goodere, where he served as page. There he made a lasting...

(Encyclopedia) Walzer, Michael, 1935–, American political philosopher, b. New York City, attended Brandeis Univ. (B.A., 1956), Cambridge (1956–57), and Harvard (Ph.D., 1961). A prominent liberal thinker and prol...

(Encyclopedia) Troup, George Michael, 1780–1856, governor of Georgia (1823–27), b. McIntosh Bluff, on the Tombigbee River, Ala. (then a part of Georgia). As governor, he was an extreme supporter of states' right...

(Encyclopedia) Sovern, Michael Ira, 1931–2020, American lawyer and educator, president of Columbia Univ. (1980–93), b. New York City. He graduated from the Columbia Univ. Law School in 1955 and after 1957 he was...

(Encyclopedia) Heseltine, Michael Ray Dibdin hĕsˈəltīnˌ, hĕzˈ– [key], 1933–, British politician. After studying law at Oxford, he built a successful career in publishing before entering the House of Commo...

(Encyclopedia) Milken, Michael Robert mĭlˈkən [key], 1946–, American financial executive, b. Van Nuys, Calif. Nicknamed the “junk bond king,” he was an executive at Drexel Burnham Lambert, Inc., where he tr...