Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Whittaker, Charles Evans, 1901–73, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1957–62), b. Troy, Kans. He received his law degree from the Univ. of Kansas City in 1924 and practiced law for many...

(Encyclopedia) Sedgwick, Adam, 1785–1873, English geologist. He was a professor at Cambridge from 1818. His most important work was a study, made with R. I. Murchison, of the rock formation of Devonshire, which th...

(Encyclopedia) Gratz, Rebecca grăts [key], 1781–1869, American philanthropist, b. Philadelphia; daughter of Michael Gratz. Well known for her philanthropies in Philadelphia, she is remembered chiefly as the proba...

(Encyclopedia) Etah ēˈtə [key], abandoned village, NW Greenland, on Smith Sound, opposite Ellesmere Island. The Eskimo tribe discovered there by John Ross in 1818 is known as the Polar Eskimo and was studied by R...

(Encyclopedia) lupus lo͞oˈpəs [key], noninfectious chronic disease in which antibodies in an individual's immune system attack the body's own substances. In lupus, known medically as lupus erythematosus, antibodi...

(Encyclopedia) MacNeice, Louis məknēsˈ [key], 1907–63, Irish poet b. Belfast. Educated at Oxford, he became a classical scholar and teacher and later was a producer and traveled the world for the British Broadc...

(Encyclopedia) Philistia fĭlĭsˈtyə [key], region of SW ancient Palestine, comprising a coastal strip along the Mediterranean and a portion of S Canaan. The chief cities of Philistia were Gaza, Ashqelon, Ashdod, ...

(Encyclopedia) Casanova de Seingalt, Giovanni Giacomo kăzənōˈvə, Ital. jōvänˈnē jäˈkōmō käzänōˈvä dā sāngältˈ [key], 1725–98, Venetian adventurer, author, and celebrated libertine. He studied...

(Encyclopedia) Renan, Ernest ĕrnĕstˈ rənäNˈ [key], 1823–92, French historian and critic. He began training for the priesthood but renounced it in 1845. His first trip to Italy (1849) influenced his interest ...

(Encyclopedia) Brady, Mathew B., c.1823–96, American pioneer in photography, b. Warren co., N.Y. Brady learned the daguerreotype process from S. F. B. Morse and in 1844 opened his own photographic studio in New Yo...