Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Roscoe, William

(Encyclopedia)Roscoe, William, 1753–1831, English historian and author. He was called to the bar in 1774, and later, as a member of Parliament, fought against the slave trade (1806). The Life of Lorenzo de' Medic...

Shakespeare, William

(Encyclopedia) CE5 Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616, English dramatist and poet, b. Stratford-upon-Avon. He is widely considered the greatest playwright who ever lived. For about 150 years after his death ...

Shenstone, William

(Encyclopedia)Shenstone, William, 1714–63, English poet and landscape gardener. The Schoolmistress (1742), his best-known poem, was written in imitation of Spenser. His home, “Leasowes,” in Shropshire, was a ...

Shirley, William

(Encyclopedia)Shirley, William, 1694–1771, colonial governor in British North America, b. England. He became a lawyer and in 1731 emigrated to Massachusetts. In 1741 he became governor of Massachusetts. He oppose...

Saroyan, William

(Encyclopedia)Saroyan, William səroiˈən [key], 1908–81, American author, b. Fresno, Calif. Of Armenian background and extremely prolific, he created works that combine optimism, sentimentality, and a rhapsodic...

Barnes, William

(Encyclopedia)Barnes, William, 1801–86, English poet and philologist. After a career as a schoolmaster, he took holy orders in 1847. He is best known for his poems in Dorset dialect, which began to appear in loca...

Sanday, William

(Encyclopedia)Sanday, William, 1843–1920, English theologian and biblical scholar. He was professor of exegesis (1883–95) at Oxford and from 1895 to 1919 Lady Margaret professor of divinity and canon of Christ ...

Baffin, William

(Encyclopedia)Baffin, William, c.1584–1622, British arctic explorer. He was pilot on two expeditions (1615–16) sent out to search for the Northwest Passage under command of Robert Bylot, who was formerly with H...

Prout, William

(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...

Proxmire, William

(Encyclopedia)Proxmire, William (Edward William Proxmire), 1915–2005, U.S. senator (1957–89), b. Lake Forest, Ill. He worked in army counterintelligence during World War II and later entered politics, serving (...
 

Browse by Subject