Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Cushing, William Barker, 1842–74, Union naval hero in the Civil War, b. Delafield, Wis., educated at Annapolis. Cushing became noted for a series of daredevil exploits, particularly for his sinking ...

(Encyclopedia) Hansen, William Webster, 1909–49, U.S. physicist, b. Fresno, Calif. Hansen received his doctorate in physics from Stanford in 1933 and joined the faculty there in 1934. He invented the high-quality ...

(Encyclopedia) O'Brien, William Shoney, c.1826–1878, American silver magnate, b. Dublin, Ireland. He was brought to the United States as a child and worked in a New York grocery store before going to California in...

(Encyclopedia) Hamilton, William, 1704–54, English poet, b. Scotland. He is best known for the poem “The Braes of Yarrow” (1724).

(Encyclopedia) Oman, Sir Charles William Chadwick ōˈmən [key], 1860–1946, British historian, b. India, educated at Oxford under William Stubbs. He was a foremost military historian; his most notable works are A...

(Encyclopedia) Rehnquist, William Hubbs rĕnˈkwĭst [key], 1924–2005, American public official, 16th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1986–2005), b. Milwaukee, Wis., as William Donald Rehnquist. After r...

(Encyclopedia) Manning, William Thomas, 1866–1949, American Episcopal bishop of New York, b. England, received his collegiate and theological training at the Univ. of the South, Sewanee, Tenn. Ordained a priest (1...

(Encyclopedia) Ireland, William Henry, 1777–1835, English forger of Shakespearean documents and manuscripts. Besides forging deeds and signatures relating to Shakespeare, Ireland fabricated two plays, Vortigern an...

(Encyclopedia) Harvey, William Henry, 1811–66, Irish botanist. An authority on algae, he wrote A Manual of the British Algae (1841), Phycologia Britannica (4 vol., 1846–51), and Phycologia Australica (5 vol., 18...

(Encyclopedia) William of Newburgh, 1136?–1198?, English chronicler, monk of Newburgh, Yorkshire. He wrote the Historia rerum Anglicarum, a history of England from 1066 to 1198. Its chief value lies in the comment...