Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Vane, Sir John Robert, 1927–2004, British pharmacologist, Ph.D. Oxford, 1953. With B. I. Samuelsson and Sune K. Bergström, Vane was awarded the 1982 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The trio ...

(Encyclopedia) Burns, Robert, 1759–96, Scottish poet. Burns's art is at its best in songs such as “Flow Gently, Sweet Afton,” “My Heart's in the Highlands,” and “John Anderson My Jo.” Two collections...

(Encyclopedia) Shiller, Robert James, 1946–, American economist, b. Detroit, grad. Univ. of Michigan (B.A., 1967), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (S.M., 1968; Ph.D., 1972). A professor at Yale since 1982, S...

(Encyclopedia) Gates, Robert Michael, 1943–, American government official, U.S. secretary of defense (2006–11), b. Wichita, Kans. A circumspect and pragmatic career intelligence officer, he joined (1966) the Cen...

(Encyclopedia) Wheaton. 1 City (1990 pop. 51,464), seat of Du Page co., NE Ill., a residential suburb of Chicago; inc. 1859. It is a religious center and the headquarters of the Theosophical Society of America. Many...

(Encyclopedia) Dillon, John Forrest, 1831–1914, American jurist, b. Montgomery co., N.Y., M.D. State Univ. of Iowa, 1850. He abandoned medical practice early in his career and was admitted to the Iowa bar in 1852....

(Encyclopedia) Alabama, river, 315 mi (507 km) long, formed in central Ala. by the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers N of Montgomery, Ala., and flowing SW to Mobile, Ala., where it joins the Tombigbee to...

(Encyclopedia) Conroe kŏnˈrō [key], city (2020 pop. 89,956), seat of Montgomery co., SE Tex.; inc. 1885. ...

(Encyclopedia) Pratt, Daniel, 1799–1873, American industrialist, b. Temple, N.H. He moved to Georgia at the age of 20, and after he had become a partner in a cotton gin he went (1833) to Alabama, where he founded ...