Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Sinclair, Sir John, 1754–1835, Scottish agricultural economist and statistician. He compiled A Statistical Account of Scotland (21 vol., 1791–99), giving information on farming and other industrie...

(Encyclopedia) Bowring, Sir John bouˈrĭng [key], 1792–1872, British diplomat, linguist, and writer. An extraordinarily versatile linguist, he is remembered for his anthologies and translations of poetry from man...

(Encyclopedia) Franklin, Sir John, 1786–1847, British explorer in N Canada whose disappearance caused a widespread search of the Arctic. Entering the navy in 1801, he fought in the battle of Trafalgar. On his firs...

(Encyclopedia) Fowler, Sir John, 1817–98, English engineer. With Benjamin Baker, he designed and built the Forth Bridge (1882–90) in Scotland, the first major structure made of steel. He also designed much of th...

(Encyclopedia) Oldcastle, Sir John, 1378?–1417, English leader of Lollardry. He married the heiress of Lord Cobham in 1408 and was known as “the good Lord Cobham.” Under the rule of Henry IV he performed valua...

(Encyclopedia) Auchinleck, Sir Claude John Eyre âr ôˌkĭnlĕkˈ, ôˌkhĭn– [key], 1884–1981, British field marshal. In World War II he commanded briefly (1940) at Narvik, Norway, then in building defenses in...

(Encyclopedia) Lawes, Sir John Bennet, 1814–1900, English agriculturist. He founded the famous experimental farm at Rothamsted, where, with the English chemist Sir J. H. Gilbert, he experimented with plants and an...

(Encyclopedia) Millais, Sir John Everett mĭlāˈ [key], 1829–96, English painter. A prodigy, he began studying at the Royal Academy at the age of 11. In 1848, together with William Holman Hunt and Dante Gabriel R...

(Encyclopedia) Pople, Sir John Anthony pōpˈəl [key], 1925–2004, British computational chemist. Trained as a mathematician at Cambridge (B.A. 1946, Ph.D. 1951), he worked at Cambridge (1951–58) and England's N...

(Encyclopedia) Glubb, Sir John Bagot băgˈət [key], 1897–1986, British soldier. He served in France during World War I and in 1920 was posted to Iraq, where he lived among Arab Bedouins and studied their languag...