Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Feynman, Richard Phillips fīnˈmən [key], 1918–88, American physicist, b. New York City, B.S. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1939, Ph.D. Princeton, 1942. From 1942 to 1945 he worked on the...

(Encyclopedia) Williams, Roger, c.1603–1683, clergyman, advocate of religious freedom, founder of Rhode Island, b. London. A protégé of Sir Edward Coke, he graduated from Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1627 and...

(Encyclopedia) Sidney or Sydney, Sir Philip, 1554–86, English author and courtier. He was one of the leading members of Queen Elizabeth's court and a model of Renaissance chivalry. He served in several diplomatic ...

(Encyclopedia) Weil, Simone sēmônˈ vīl [key], 1909–43, French philosopher and mystic. After receiving her baccalauréat with honors at 15, she studied philosophy for four years, then entered (1928) the prestig...

(Encyclopedia) Bentley, Arthur Fisher, 1870–1957, American political scientist and philosopher, b. Freeport, Ill., studied Johns Hopkins (B.A., 1892; Ph.D., 1895) and Univ. of Berlin. After a year teaching at the ...

(Encyclopedia) Greenwich Village grĕnˈĭch [key], residential district of lower Manhattan, New York City, extending S from 14th St. to Houston St. and W from Washington Square to the Hudson River. North of the mai...

(Encyclopedia) capital, in economics, the elements of production from which an income is derived, usually defined with the exception of land and labor. As originally used in business, capital denoted interest-bearin...

(Encyclopedia) Wallace, David Foster, 1962–2008, American writer, b. Ithaca, N.Y., grad. Amherst College (B.A., 1985), Univ. of Arizona (M.F.A., 1987). He published his comic first novel, The Broom of the System (...

(Encyclopedia) Wilder, Laura Elizabeth Ingalls, 1867–1957, American author of the classic Little House series of children's books, b. Pepin, Wis. She and her pioneer family traveled (1869–79) throughout the Midw...

(Encyclopedia) Logan, Sir William Edmond, 1798–1875, Canadian geologist. Educated in England, he managed (1831–38) coal mines and a copper smelter in Wales. In addition to making studies of clays underlying coal...