Columbia Encyclopedia

(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) Prior, Matthew, 1664–1721, English poet and diplomat, b. Wimborne, Dorset. With his appointment as secretary to the embassy at The Hague during the negotiations leading to the Treaty of Ryswick (169...

(Encyclopedia) Evans, Oliver, 1755–1819, American inventor, b. near Newport, Del. He joined his brothers in a flour-milling business in Wilmington, and after studying similar earlier devices, he developed, install...

(Encyclopedia) natural rights, political theory that maintains that an individual enters into society with certain basic rights and that no government can deny these rights. The modern idea of natural rights grew ou...

(Encyclopedia) Formula One (F1), type of racecar used in Grand Prix automobile racing. Capable of speeds exceeding 230 mph (370 kph), the technologically sophisticated F1 cars are low-slung, open-wheeled, single-sea...

(Encyclopedia) Branson, city (2020 pop. 12,638), Taney and Stone cos., SW Mo.; inc. 1912. Located in the Ozark mountains, the town was originally established when Reub...

(Encyclopedia) FitzGerald, Edward, 1809–83, English man of letters. A dilettante and scholar, FitzGerald spent most of his life living in seclusion in Suffolk. His masterpiece, a translation of The Rubaiyat of Oma...

(Encyclopedia) Sutherland, George, 1862–1942, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1922–38), b. Buckinghamshire, England. He was taken by his family to Springville, Utah from England in 1864. After study...

(Encyclopedia) white-collar workers, broad occupational grouping of workers engaged in nonmanual labor; frequently contrasted with blue-collar (manual) employees. American in origin, the term has close analogues in ...

(Encyclopedia) Empedocles ĕmpĕdˈəklēz [key], c.495–c.435 b.c., Greek philosopher, b. Acragas (present Agrigento), Sicily. Leader of the democratic faction in his native city, he was offered the crown, which h...