Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Mason, William, 1724–97, English poet, editor, and cleric. His works include two plays, Elfrida (1752) and Caractacus (1759), based on classical dramas. He was a friend of Thomas Gray, whose Life an...

(Encyclopedia) Barrow, Sir John, 1764–1848, British geographer, promoter of arctic exploration. His early travels as secretary to Earl Macartney (who was ambassador to China and governor of the Cape of Good Hope c...

(Encyclopedia) Hopkins, William, 1793–1866, English geologist. Hopkins studied mathematics at Cambridge, and then supported himself as a private mathematics tutor. Many of England's best mathematicians and mathema...

(Encyclopedia) Tell, William, legendary Swiss patriot. According to legend, Tell was a native of Uri, one of the Swiss forest cantons. Gessler, the canton's Austrian bailiff, decreed that Swiss citizens must remove ...

(Encyclopedia) Prout, William, 1785–1850, English chemist and physician. Prout's hypothesis, advanced in 1815–16, suggested that atomic weights of elements are multiples of that of hydrogen and that elements are...

(Encyclopedia) Laud, William, 1573–1645, archbishop of Canterbury (1633–45). He studied at St. John's College, Oxford, and was ordained a priest in 1601. From the beginning Laud showed his hostility to Puritanis...

(Encyclopedia) Linacre or Lynaker, Thomas both: lĭˈnəkər [key], 1460?–1524, English humanist and physician. He took the degree of doctor of medicine at the Univ. of Padua, returned to England c.1492, and becam...

(Encyclopedia) Tenison, Thomas tĕnˈĭsən [key], 1636–1715, English churchman, archbishop of Canterbury (1695–1715). In 1680 he became rector of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London; there he came into prominence ...

(Encyclopedia) Brogan, Denis William brōˈgən [key], 1900–1974, British historian and political scientist, b. Glasgow, Scotland. He was educated at the Univ. of Glasgow, Oxford, and Harvard and was professor of ...

(Encyclopedia) Hornaday, William Temple hôrˈnədā [key], 1854–1937, American naturalist, b. Plainfield, Ind. He was educated at Iowa State College (now Iowa State Univ.), continued his study of zoology and muse...