Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Cambridge Platonists, group of English philosophers, centered at Cambridge in the latter half of the 17th cent. In reaction to the mechanical philosophy of Thomas Hobbes this school revived certain Pl...

(Encyclopedia) Thomas, Saint, one of the Twelve Apostles, called Didymus. According to John, he refused to believe in the resurrection until he saw Jesus' wounds; hence the expression “doubting Thomas.” John 11....

(Encyclopedia) Wriothesley, Thomas: see Southampton, Thomas Wriothesley, 1st earl of; Southampton, Thomas Wriothesley, 4th earl of. ...

(Encyclopedia) Tyrwhitt, Thomas tĭrˈĭt [key], 1730–86, English scholar. He was noted for his studies of Shakespeare (1766) and for his edition of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (5 vol., 1775–78). Tyrwhitt reveale...

(Encyclopedia) Guy, Thomas gī [key], 1645?–1724, English philanthropist, founder of Guy's Hospital, London (1721). As a printer and bookseller, Guy amassed a fortune, which he devoted to private and institutional...

(Encyclopedia) Newcomen, Thomas nyo͞oˈkəmən, nyo͞okŭmˈən [key], 1663–1729, English inventor of an early atmospheric steam engine (c.1711). It was an improvement over an earlier engine patented (1698) by Th...

(Encyclopedia) Thomas, Ambroise äNbrwäzˈ tōmäˈ [key], 1811–96, French operatic composer, studied at the Paris Conservatory, receiving the Prix de Rome in 1832. He later taught composition there and became it...

(Encyclopedia) will, in philosophy and psychology, term used to describe that which is alleged to stimulate the motivation of purposeful activity. It is characteristic of the will that it can be observed only in one...

(Encyclopedia) Thomas, Dylan dĭlˈən [key], 1914–53, Welsh poet, b. Swansea. An extraordinarily individualistic writer, Thomas is ranked among the great 20th-century poets. He grew up in Swansea, the son of a te...

(Encyclopedia) Lieber, Thomas: see Erastus, Thomas. ...