Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Wood, Robert Williams, 1868–1955, American physicist, b. Concord, Mass., grad. Harvard (B.A., 1891). After studying abroad he became associated with Johns Hopkins as professor of experimental physic...

(Encyclopedia) Williams, John, 1796–1839, English missionary, called the Apostle of Polynesia. Under the London Missionary Society he went (1817) to the Society Islands. He discovered Rarotonga in 1823 and founded...

(Encyclopedia) Manning, Peyton Williams, 1976–, American football player, b. New Orleans. Part of a National Football League quarterback dynasty (his father, Archie, led the New Orleans Saints; his brother Eli pla...

(Encyclopedia) Cushing, Harvey Williams, 1869–1939, American neurosurgeon, b. Cleveland, B.A. Yale, 1891, M.D. Harvard, 1895. Associated with Johns Hopkins (1896–1912), Harvard (1912–32), and Yale (1933–37),...

(Encyclopedia) Williams, William, 1731–1811, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Lebanon, Conn. He served in the French and Indian War and held many public of...

(Encyclopedia) Williams, Venus Ebone Starr, 1980–, b. Lynwood, Calif., and Serena Jameka Williams, 1981–, b. Saginaw, Mich., African-American tennis players. Coached by their father, Richard, both sisters turned...

(Encyclopedia) Kramer, Jack (John Albert Kramer), 1921–2009, American tennis player, b. Las Vegas, Nev. He excelled at tennis while still in high school. Kramer and Frederick (Ted) Schroeder won the U.S. national ...

(Encyclopedia) Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, summer dance concert series held annually near Lee, Mass., in the Berkshires. The site, originally an 18th-century farm, was purchased by the American modern dancer Ted ...

(Encyclopedia) Plath, Sylvia, 1932–63, American poet, b. Boston. Educated at Smith College and Cambridge, Plath published poems even as a child and won many academic and literary awards. Her first volume of poetry...

(Encyclopedia) Garfield, Harry Augustus, 1863–1942, American educator, b. Hiram, Ohio, grad. Williams 1885, studied law at Columbia; son of President James A. Garfield. From 1888 to 1903 he practiced law in Clevel...