Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Bramah, Joseph brămˈə, bräˈ– [key], 1748–1814, English inventor. In 1784 he took out his first patent on a safety lock, and in 1795 he patented his hydraulic press, known as the Bramah press ...

(Encyclopedia) Joachim, Joseph yōˈsĕf yōˈäkhĭm [key], 1831–1907, Hungarian violinist; friend of Mendelssohn, Brahms, and Schumann. In his long career his performances of violin masterpieces came to be accep...

(Encyclopedia) Erlanger, Joseph ûrˈlăng-ər [key], 1874–1965, American scientist, b. San Francisco, grad. Univ. of California (B.S., 1895), M.D. Johns Hopkins, 1899. For his contributions to physiology, especia...

(Encyclopedia) Beuys, Joseph yōˈzĕf bois [key], 1921–86, German artist, b. Krefeld; one of the most influential of postmodern artists. Drafted into the Luftwaffe during World War II, he was wounded several time...

(Encyclopedia) Hewes, Joseph hyo͞oz [key], 1730–79, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Kingston, N.J. He moved (1760) to Edenton, N.C., and became a wealthy...

(Encyclopedia) Grimaldi, Joseph grĭmălˈdē [key], 1779–1837, English pantomime actor and clown. He made his debut at the age of three in Robinson Crusoe at Sadler's Wells, London. For many years he performed th...

(Encyclopedia) Whiting, William Henry Chase, 1825–65, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. Biloxi, Miss. He served in the U.S. army until Feb., 1861, when he resigned and entered the Confederate servi...

(Encyclopedia) Skeat, Walter William, 1835–1912, English scholar and philologist. Skeat took holy orders in 1860, but illness cut short his church career. At Cambridge he served as a lecturer in mathematics (1864�...

(Encyclopedia) Pennell, Joseph pĕnˈəl [key], 1857–1926, American illustrator, etcher, lithographer, and author, b. Philadelphia, studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Much of his time was spent ...

(Encyclopedia) Roth, Joseph or Józef yōˈzĕf rōt [key], 1894–1939, Austrian novelist, essayist, journalist, and publisherb. Brody, Galicia. An outspoken critic of Hitler and militarism, he moved to Paris in 19...