• Davis, Benjamin Oliver, Sr. (United States general)

    Benjamin O. Davis, Sr. became, in 1940, the first Black general in any branch of the U.S. military. Citing census and other records, historian Marvin E. Fletcher has asserted that Davis was born on May 28, 1880. Davis’s military records and his gravestone at Arlington National Cemetery show July 1,

  • Davis, Bette (American actress)

    Bette Davis was a versatile, volatile American actress, whose raw, unbridled intensity kept her at the top of her profession for 50 years. Davis developed a taste for acting while attending her mother’s alma mater, Cushing Academy in Massachusetts. After gaining a smattering of experience in summer

  • Davis, Betty (American funk singer-songwriter)

    Betty Davis was an American singer-songwriter, model, and pioneer of feminist funk, known for her fierce independence, bold fashion, and unapologetically sexual lyrics that pushed the boundaries of music and gender norms in the 1970s. Davis produced most of her own albums, wrote her own music, and

  • Davis, Billy (American songwriter and advertising executive)

    “It’s All Right”: Chicago Soul: But several black music producers—including Roquel (“Billy”) Davis and Carl Davis (who were not related), Johnny Pate (who also was an arranger), and Curtis Mayfield—developed a recognizable Chicago sound that flourished from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s. This lightly gospelized rhythm and blues, which came to be known as…

  • Davis, Brad (American actor)

    Larry Kramer: The Normal Heart and later works: …star of the original production, Brad Davis, committed suicide because of AIDS complications in 1991. The 2014 HBO adaptation won an Emmy Award for best television movie. Kramer later wrote a sequel, The Destiny of Me (1992), which depicted Weeks’s own battle with the disease. (Kramer was himself diagnosed with…

  • Davis, Carl (American music producer)

    “It’s All Right”: Chicago Soul: … producers—including Roquel (“Billy”) Davis and Carl Davis (who were not related), Johnny Pate (who also was an arranger), and Curtis Mayfield—developed a recognizable Chicago sound that flourished from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s. This lightly gospelized rhythm and blues, which came to be known as Chicago soul, replaced the…

  • Davis, Carol Rymer (American radiologist and ballonist)

    Ben L. Abruzzo: Richard Abruzzo and ballooning partner Carol Rymer Davis, a prominent Denver radiologist, won the 2004 Gordon Bennett race, but both were killed in September 2010, during that year’s Bennett race, when their balloon crashed into the Adriatic Sea.

  • Davis, Charles Harold (American painter)

    Charles Harold Davis was an American painter, whose romantic interpretations of the landscape excelled in their cloud effects. Davis was a pupil of the schools of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and was sent to Paris in 1880. Having studied at the Academy Julian, he went to Barbizon and often

  • Davis, Charles Henry (American naval officer and scientist)

    Charles Henry Davis was a U.S. naval officer and scientist. Davis spent two years at Harvard before becoming a midshipman, and he returned there for the study of mathematics between sea cruises. He made the first comprehensive survey of the coasts of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Maine,

  • Davis, Cleland (American officer and inventor)

    artillery: Recoilless guns: …first to succeed was Commander Cleland Davis of the U.S. Navy, who in 1912 developed a gun with a single chamber and two opposite barrels. One barrel carried the projectile, the other an equal weight of grease and lead shot. The explosion of the central cartridge ejected both loads, and,…

  • Davis, Clive (American record company executive)

    Clive Davis is an American music executive and producer who headed several labels, notably CBS Records (1967–73) and Arista (1974–2000), and guided the careers of numerous musicians. Davis earned scholarships to New York University (B.A., 1953) and Harvard Law School (1956), and in 1960 he joined

  • Davis, Clive Jay (American record company executive)

    Clive Davis is an American music executive and producer who headed several labels, notably CBS Records (1967–73) and Arista (1974–2000), and guided the careers of numerous musicians. Davis earned scholarships to New York University (B.A., 1953) and Harvard Law School (1956), and in 1960 he joined

  • Davis, David (United States jurist and politician)

    David Davis was an American politician, a close associate of Abraham Lincoln. He served as a Supreme Court justice and senator during the antebellum, American Civil War, and postwar eras. After graduating from Kenyon College in 1832, Davis earned a law degree from Yale in 1835. He was admitted to

  • Davis, David Brion (American historian)

    animal rights: Animals and the law: …about slavery,” the American historian David Brion Davis has written, is the

  • Davis, Deborah (screenwriter)

    Yorgos Lanthimos: The Favourite: …directed a film written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara called The Favourite (2018), about a love triangle between the British queen Anne (Olivia Colman) and two women who compete for her attention (Weisz and Emma Stone). Lanthimos made quirky choices for the film, including outlandish dance sequences and surreal

  • Davis, Dwight F. (American politician and athlete)

    Dwight F. Davis was a tennis player best known as the donor of the Davis Cup (properly the International Lawn Tennis Challenge Trophy) for competition among teams representing various nations. He later became a United States cabinet member. For three consecutive years (1899–1901) Davis won the U.S.

  • Davis, Dwight Filley (American politician and athlete)

    Dwight F. Davis was a tennis player best known as the donor of the Davis Cup (properly the International Lawn Tennis Challenge Trophy) for competition among teams representing various nations. He later became a United States cabinet member. For three consecutive years (1899–1901) Davis won the U.S.

  • Davis, Egerton Yorrick (Canadian physician)

    Sir William Osler, Baronet was a Canadian physician and professor of medicine who practiced and taught in Canada, the United States, and Great Britain and whose book The Principles and Practice of Medicine (1892) was a leading textbook. Osler played a key role in transforming the organization and

  • Davis, Elmer (American journalist)

    Elmer Davis was a news broadcaster and writer, director of the U.S. Office of War Information during World War II. Davis had been a reporter and editorial writer for The New York Times when he joined the Columbia Broadcasting System in 1939 as a radio newscaster. He soon gained a national

  • Davis, Elmer Holmes (American journalist)

    Elmer Davis was a news broadcaster and writer, director of the U.S. Office of War Information during World War II. Davis had been a reporter and editorial writer for The New York Times when he joined the Columbia Broadcasting System in 1939 as a radio newscaster. He soon gained a national

  • Davis, Ernest R. (American football player)

    Ernie Davis was an American collegiate gridiron football player who was the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy. As a student at Elmira (N.Y.) Free Academy, Davis was a high-school All-American in football and basketball. Widely recruited to play running back in collegiate football, he

  • Davis, Ernie (American football player)

    Ernie Davis was an American collegiate gridiron football player who was the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy. As a student at Elmira (N.Y.) Free Academy, Davis was a high-school All-American in football and basketball. Widely recruited to play running back in collegiate football, he

  • Davis, Gary (American musician)

    gospel music: Black gospel music: …movement, “We Shall Overcome”; Reverend Gary Davis, a wandering preacher and guitar soloist; Thomas A. Dorsey, a prolific and best-selling songwriter whose works included, most notably, “Precious Lord, Take My Hand”; and the Reverend C.L. Franklin of Detroit (father of soul music singer Aretha Franklin), who issued more than 70…

  • Davis, Geena (American actress)

    Geena Davis is an American actress noted for her skilled performances in comedic roles and the charm and likability she brings to eccentric characters. Davis studied drama at New England College and later at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts, from which she graduated in 1979; she also worked

  • Davis, George E. (British chemist)

    chemical engineering: History: …textbook on the subject, by George E. Davis, a British chemical consultant. This concentrated on the design of plant items for specific operations. The notion of a processing plant encompassing a number of operations, such as mixing, evaporation, and filtration, and of these operations being essentially similar, whatever the product,…

  • Davis, Glenn (American track and field athlete)

    Glenn Davis was an American world-record holder in the 400-metre hurdles (1956–62) who was the first man to win the Olympic gold medal twice in that event. Davis excelled in track for Barberton (Ohio) High School, often scoring more individually than entire opposing teams. At Ohio State University

  • Davis, Glenn Ashby (American track and field athlete)

    Glenn Davis was an American world-record holder in the 400-metre hurdles (1956–62) who was the first man to win the Olympic gold medal twice in that event. Davis excelled in track for Barberton (Ohio) High School, often scoring more individually than entire opposing teams. At Ohio State University

  • Davis, H.L. (American author)

    H.L. Davis was an American novelist and poet who wrote realistically about the West, rejecting the stereotype of the cowboy as hero. Davis worked as a cowboy, typesetter, and surveyor and in other jobs before being recognized for his writing. He first received recognition for his poems, written as

  • Davis, Harold Lenoir (American author)

    H.L. Davis was an American novelist and poet who wrote realistically about the West, rejecting the stereotype of the cowboy as hero. Davis worked as a cowboy, typesetter, and surveyor and in other jobs before being recognized for his writing. He first received recognition for his poems, written as

  • Davis, Henry Gassaway (United States politician)

    United States presidential election of 1904: The candidates: As the vice presidential nominee, Henry Gassaway Davis, a railroad tycoon and former West Virginia senator, became, at age 80, the oldest candidate ever to be named to a major party’s presidential ticket.

  • Davis, Henry Winter (American politician)

    Henry Winter Davis was a Maryland unionist during the secession crisis, harsh critic of Abraham Lincoln, and coauthor of the congressional plan for Reconstruction during the American Civil War. Davis graduated from Kenyon College and studied law at the University of Virginia. He began his practice

  • Davis, Hugh (American physician)

    Dalkon Shield: …Shield was invented by physician Hugh Davis and electrical engineer Irwin Lerner in 1968. After promoting the device at medical meetings, they formed the Dalkon Corporation. In 1970 Davis published an article in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology that described a study of 640 women using the Dalkon…

  • Davis, Jacob W. (American entrepreneur)

    Today in History—May 20: How Jeans Turned the Whole World Blue: …was a humble tailor named Jacob Davis, whose name has largely faded from it.

  • Davis, James Robert (American cartoonist)

    Jim Davis is an American cartoonist who is best known as the creator of the comic strip Garfield. The strip’s titular character, a sardonic, lazy, lasagna-loving, Monday-hating, orange tabby cat, became a worldwide sensation after being introduced in 1978. Garfield went on to be one of the most

  • Davis, Jeep (American track and field athlete)

    Glenn Davis was an American world-record holder in the 400-metre hurdles (1956–62) who was the first man to win the Olympic gold medal twice in that event. Davis excelled in track for Barberton (Ohio) High School, often scoring more individually than entire opposing teams. At Ohio State University

  • Davis, Jefferson (president of Confederate States of America)

    Jefferson Davis was the president of the Confederate States of America throughout its existence during the American Civil War (1861–65). After the war, he was imprisoned for two years and indicted for treason but was never tried. Jefferson Davis was the 10th and last child of Samuel Emory Davis, a

  • Davis, Jefferson Finis (president of Confederate States of America)

    Jefferson Davis was the president of the Confederate States of America throughout its existence during the American Civil War (1861–65). After the war, he was imprisoned for two years and indicted for treason but was never tried. Jefferson Davis was the 10th and last child of Samuel Emory Davis, a

  • Davis, Jim (American actor)

    Jim Davis was an American character actor who was best known for his portrayal of Jock Ewing, the tough gravel-voiced patriarch of the oil-rich Ewing family on Dallas, a top-rated American television series. Davis graduated in 1930 from William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri. He worked in a

  • Davis, Joe (British billiards and snooker player)

    Joe Davis was an English billiards and snooker player who was the world snooker champion from 1927 until his retirement in 1946. During his career Davis scored a total of 689 century breaks and held the world record for a maximum break of 147. He also held the world billiard championship from 1928

  • Davis, John (English navigator)

    John Davis was an English navigator who attempted to find the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic to the Pacific. Davis appears to have first proposed his plan to look for the Northwest Passage in 1583 to Sir Francis Walsingham, principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I. In 1585 he began

  • Davis, John W. (American politician)

    John W. Davis was a conservative Democratic politician who was his party’s unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of the United States in 1924. Davis was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1895 but returned to his birthplace two years later. In 1899 he was elected to the West Virginia House of

  • Davis, John William (American politician)

    John W. Davis was a conservative Democratic politician who was his party’s unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of the United States in 1924. Davis was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1895 but returned to his birthplace two years later. In 1899 he was elected to the West Virginia House of

  • Davis, Josh (American musician)

    trip-hop: The notable exception is DJ Shadow (byname of Josh Davis; b. Jan. 1, 1973, Hayward, Calif., U.S.), an American, who honed his version of trip-hop in northern California. A hip-hop fan disillusioned by rap’s commercialization, Shadow created emotionally evocative song suites such as “In/Flux” (1993), “Lost and Found” (1994),…

  • Davis, Judy (Australian actress)

    Gillian Armstrong: …Armstrong and its lead actress, Judy Davis. In her next movie, Starstruck (1982), Armstrong told the story of a young woman hoping to become a pop star in contemporary Sydney.

  • Davis, Julia Ann (American poet)

    Julia A. Moore was a Midwestern versifier whose maudlin, often unintentionally hilarious poetry was parodied by many. Moore was born into poverty in rural Michigan. She attended school through the third grade, when her mother’s illness forced her to assume many adult responsibilities. She began

  • Davis, Katharine Bement (American penologist)

    Katharine Bement Davis was an American penologist, social worker, and writer who had a profound effect on American penal reform in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Davis graduated from the Rochester (New York) Free Academy in 1879 and for 10 years thereafter taught high-school science in

  • Davis, Kingsley (American sociologist)

    Kingsley Davis was an American sociologist and demographer who coined the terms population explosion and zero population growth. His specific studies of American society led him to work on a general science of world society, based on empirical analysis of each society in its habitat. Davis received

  • Davis, Kristin (American actress)

    Sex and the City: …idealistic and naive Charlotte (Kristin Davis). The dynamics of their relationships are revealed with wit and playful irreverence as the four friends experience love, loss, and betrayal. Carrie’s tumultuous relationship with the charismatic yet emotionally unavailable Mr. Big (Chris Noth) underpins the story line, forming a defining relationship in…

  • Davis, Lucy (British actress)

    The Office: Premise and characters: …branch include Dawn Tinsley (Lucy Davis), an artistically inclined but drifting office receptionist; Tim Canterbury (Martin Freeman), an amiable but also drifting sales representative; Gareth Keenan (Mackenzie Crook), a humorless, self-important assistant regional manager and team leader; and Chris Finch (Ralph Ineson), a lecherous and bullying sales representative whom…

  • Davis, Lydia (American writer)

    Lydia Davis is an American writer noted for her idiosyncratic and extremely short stories often characterized by vivid observations of mostly mundane and routine occurrences. Davis grew up surrounded by readers, writers, and teachers. Her father, Robert Gorham Davis, taught English literature at

  • Davis, Margaret Bryan (American paleoecologist)

    Margaret Bryan Davis was an American paleoecologist best known for her pioneering work in the science of palynology (the study of plant pollen and spores). Her most-influential work involved the use of pollen recovered from lake sediment and soil to reconstruct ancient plant communities. Her

  • Davis, Marlin Jim (American actor)

    Jim Davis was an American character actor who was best known for his portrayal of Jock Ewing, the tough gravel-voiced patriarch of the oil-rich Ewing family on Dallas, a top-rated American television series. Davis graduated in 1930 from William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri. He worked in a

  • Davis, Meryl (American ice skater)

    Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir: …by their American training partners, Meryl Davis and Charlie White. The next year, the pair rebounded to capture their second world championship as well as the first of three consecutive Canadian titles. At the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, Virtue and Moir again finished behind Davis and White,…

  • Davis, Michael (American musician)

    the MC5: Formed in suburban Detroit in 1965 as a bar band that played mostly cover versions of other performers’ songs, the MC5 (for Motor City Five) developed a chaotic, heavy, explosive sound that borrowed…

  • Davis, Michael Ryan (American historian, urban theorist, and political activist)

    Mike Davis was an American historian, urban theorist, and political activist whose works reflected his commitment to Marxist ideology. He lived most of his life in southern California, and much of his work sought to explain the region’s geography and political economy. His 1990 book City of Quartz:

  • Davis, Mike (American historian, urban theorist, and political activist)

    Mike Davis was an American historian, urban theorist, and political activist whose works reflected his commitment to Marxist ideology. He lived most of his life in southern California, and much of his work sought to explain the region’s geography and political economy. His 1990 book City of Quartz:

  • Davis, Miles (American musician)

    Miles Davis was an American jazz musician and one of the major influences on the art from the late 1940s to the end of the 20th century. A titan of modern jazz music, Davis was an outstanding trumpeter known for his cool, intimate, luminous playing and a visionary bandleader and composer who

  • Davis, Miles Dewey, III (American musician)

    Miles Davis was an American jazz musician and one of the major influences on the art from the late 1940s to the end of the 20th century. A titan of modern jazz music, Davis was an outstanding trumpeter known for his cool, intimate, luminous playing and a visionary bandleader and composer who

  • Davis, Mount (mountain, Pennsylvania, United States)

    Mount Davis, highest point in Pennsylvania, U.S., at an elevation of 3,213 feet (979 meters). The peak is on a ridge of the Allegheny and Appalachian mountains in Somerset county, 15 miles (24 km) south-southwest of Somerset, near the Maryland

  • Davis, Nancy (American first lady)

    Nancy Reagan was an American first lady (1981–89)—the wife of Ronald Reagan, 40th president of the United States—and actress, noted for her efforts to discourage drug use by American youths. Christened Anne Frances, she was quickly nicknamed Nancy by her mother and used that name throughout her

  • Davis, Natalie Zemon (Canadian-American historian)

    Martin Guerre: … as the impostor; the historian Natalie Zemon Davis, who advised the filmmakers, told the story and explored why the impostor succeeded in The Return of Martin Guerre, first published in French in 1982 and in English in 1983. Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil’s musical Martin Guerre opened in 1996.

  • Davis, Ossie (American actor and playwright)

    Ossie Davis was an American writer, actor, director, and social activist who was known for his contributions to African American theatre and film and for his passionate support of civil rights and humanitarian causes. He was also noted for his artistic partnership with his wife, Ruby Dee, which was

  • Davis, Patricia Ann (American actress and author)

    Nancy Reagan: Marriage to Ronald Reagan and turn to politics: Their daughter, Patricia Ann (“Patti”) Reagan, was born in October, and their son, Ronald Prescott Reagan, in 1958; Ronald Reagan was already the father of a daughter, Maureen Reagan, and had adopted a son, Michael Reagan, with his first wife in 1945.

  • Davis, Patti (American actress and author)

    Nancy Reagan: Marriage to Ronald Reagan and turn to politics: Their daughter, Patricia Ann (“Patti”) Reagan, was born in October, and their son, Ronald Prescott Reagan, in 1958; Ronald Reagan was already the father of a daughter, Maureen Reagan, and had adopted a son, Michael Reagan, with his first wife in 1945.

  • Davis, Paulina Kellogg Wright (American reformer)

    Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis was an American feminist and social reformer, active in the early struggle for woman suffrage and the founder of an early periodical in support of that cause. Paulina Kellogg grew up from 1820, when her parents died, in the home of a strict and religious aunt in LeRoy,

  • Davis, Philip (prime minister of The Bahamas)

    The Bahamas: Independence of the The Bahamas: …to the PLP, whose leader, Philip Davis, became prime minister.

  • Davis, Raiford Chatman (American actor and playwright)

    Ossie Davis was an American writer, actor, director, and social activist who was known for his contributions to African American theatre and film and for his passionate support of civil rights and humanitarian causes. He was also noted for his artistic partnership with his wife, Ruby Dee, which was

  • Davis, Raymond, Jr. (American scientist)

    Raymond Davis, Jr. was an American physicist who, with Koshiba Masatoshi, won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2002 for detecting neutrinos. Riccardo Giacconi also won a share of the award for his work on X-rays. Davis received a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1942. After military service during World

  • Davis, Rebecca (American physician)

    Rebecca Lee Crumpler was the first Black woman to become a medical doctor in the United States and one of the first African Americans to write a medical book. She published A Book of Medical Discourses in 1883. At a time when most medical schools did not admit African Americans, and fewer than 300

  • Davis, Rebecca Blaine Harding (American author)

    Rebecca Blaine Harding Davis was an American essayist and writer, remembered primarily for her story “Life in the Iron Mills,” which is considered a transitional work of American realism. Rebecca Harding graduated from the Washington Female Seminary in 1848. An avid reader, she had begun dabbling

  • Davis, Rennie (American activist)

    Chicago Seven: …the group; David Dellinger and Rennie Davis of the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (MOBE); and John Froines and Lee Weiner, who were alleged to have made stink bombs.

  • Davis, Richard Harding (American author)

    Richard Harding Davis was a U.S. author of romantic novels and short stories and the best known reporter of his generation. Davis studied at Lehigh and Johns Hopkins universities and in 1886 became a reporter on the Philadelphia Record. He then worked on various newspapers in Philadelphia and New

  • Davis, Roman Griffin (British actor)

    Taika Waititi: Jojo Rabbit and Reservation Dogs: …is about a boy (Roman Griffin Davis) who is an enthusiastic Nazi and has Adolf Hitler (Waititi) as his imaginary friend but then discovers and befriends a Jewish girl (Thomasin McKenzie) whom his mother (Scarlett Johansson) has hidden in the attic. The dark comedy was nominated for the Academy…

  • Davis, Roquel (American songwriter and advertising executive)

    “It’s All Right”: Chicago Soul: But several black music producers—including Roquel (“Billy”) Davis and Carl Davis (who were not related), Johnny Pate (who also was an arranger), and Curtis Mayfield—developed a recognizable Chicago sound that flourished from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s. This lightly gospelized rhythm and blues, which came to be known as…

  • Davis, Ruth Elizabeth (American actress)

    Bette Davis was a versatile, volatile American actress, whose raw, unbridled intensity kept her at the top of her profession for 50 years. Davis developed a taste for acting while attending her mother’s alma mater, Cushing Academy in Massachusetts. After gaining a smattering of experience in summer

  • Davis, Sammy, Jr. (American entertainer)

    Sammy Davis, Jr. was an American singer, dancer, actor, and entertainer who broke down barriers for African American performers in the 20th century. Considered a consummate showman, he earned the nickname “Mr. Entertainment” for his versatile talents and his seemingly boundless energy on the stage

  • Davis, Samuel George, Jr. (American entertainer)

    Sammy Davis, Jr. was an American singer, dancer, actor, and entertainer who broke down barriers for African American performers in the 20th century. Considered a consummate showman, he earned the nickname “Mr. Entertainment” for his versatile talents and his seemingly boundless energy on the stage

  • Davis, Shani (American athlete)

    Shani Davis is an American speed skater who was the first African American athlete to win an individual Winter Olympics gold medal. Davis learned to roller-skate at age two and a year later was skating so fast that he had to be slowed by the rink’s skate guards. He switched to ice skating at age

  • Davis, Sir Colin (British conductor)

    Sir Colin Davis was an English conductor, the foremost modern interpreter of the composer Hector Berlioz, whose complete orchestral and operatic works Davis recorded. Davis turned to conducting after studying clarinet at the Royal College of Music in London. He was appointed assistant conductor of

  • Davis, Sir Colin Rex (British conductor)

    Sir Colin Davis was an English conductor, the foremost modern interpreter of the composer Hector Berlioz, whose complete orchestral and operatic works Davis recorded. Davis turned to conducting after studying clarinet at the Royal College of Music in London. He was appointed assistant conductor of

  • Davis, Sir Thomas (prime minister of Cook Islands)

    Oceanic literature: Early writings: …Oceania was Makutu (1960) by Thomas Davis, a Cook Islander, and Lydia Henderson, his New Zealand-born wife. Like their earlier autobiography, Doctor to the Islands (1954), it was written in English. The novel, which deals with the cultural conflict between Pacific and Western values in an imaginary land called Fenua…

  • Davis, Stuart (American painter)

    Stuart Davis was an American abstract artist whose idiosyncratic Cubist paintings of urban landscapes presaged the use of commercial art and advertising by Pop artists of the 1960s. Davis grew up in an artistic environment. His father was a graphic artist and art editor of a Philadelphia newspaper,

  • Davis, Thomas Osborne (Irish author)

    Thomas Osborne Davis was an Irish writer and politician who was the chief organizer and poet of the Young Ireland movement. A Protestant who resented the traditional identification of Irish nationalism with Roman Catholic interests, he evolved, while at Trinity College, Dublin, an ideal of uniting

  • Davis, Varina (first lady of the Confederate States)

    Richmond Bread Riot: …four, and Minerva Meredith, whom Varina Davis (the wife of President Davis) described as “tall, daring, Amazonian-looking,” the crowd of more than 100 women armed with axes, knives, and other weapons took their grievances to Letcher on April 2. Letcher listened, but his words failed to pacify the crowd, and…

  • Davis, Victor (Canadian athlete)

    Victor Davis was a Canadian swimmer, a fierce competitor who won four Olympic medals and 31 national titles. At the 1982 world championships in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Davis set a world record and won a gold medal in the 200-meter breaststroke. At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, he once again won a

  • Davis, Viola (American actress)

    Viola Davis is an American actress known for her precise, controlled performances and her regal presence. She accomplished the rare feat of winning the four major North American entertainment awards (EGOT: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony). Davis was raised in Central Falls, Rhode Island, where her

  • Davis, Virginia Elizabeth (American actress)

    Geena Davis is an American actress noted for her skilled performances in comedic roles and the charm and likability she brings to eccentric characters. Davis studied drama at New England College and later at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts, from which she graduated in 1979; she also worked

  • Davis, Walter (American basketball player)

    Phoenix Suns: In 1977 the Suns drafted Walter Davis, who would go on to set the franchise scoring record during his 11 years with the team.

  • Davis, William Morris (American geographer)

    William Morris Davis was a U.S. geographer, geologist, and meteorologist who founded the science of geomorphology, the study of landforms. In 1870 he began three years of service as a meteorologist with the Argentine Meteorological Observatory, Córdoba. In 1876 he obtained a position with Harvard

  • Davisean window (architecture)

    Alexander Jackson Davis: …window type he later called Davisean—vertically unified, multistoried, and often recessed windows.

  • Davison, Emily (British activist)

    Emily Davison was a British activist who became a martyr to the cause of women’s suffrage when she entered the racetrack during the 1913 Epsom Derby and moved in front of King George V’s horse, which struck her while galloping at full force. She never regained consciousness. Davison was born to a

  • Davison, Emily Wilding (British activist)

    Emily Davison was a British activist who became a martyr to the cause of women’s suffrage when she entered the racetrack during the 1913 Epsom Derby and moved in front of King George V’s horse, which struck her while galloping at full force. She never regained consciousness. Davison was born to a

  • Davison, Wild Bill (American musician)

    Wild Bill Davison was an American jazz cornet player who recorded some 800 songs and traveled extensively in his 70-year career. After playing in Ohio with the Ohio Lucky Seven, Davison moved to Chicago in the late 1920s and performed in legendary gangster-run nightclubs. He worked with

  • Davison, William (English royal official)

    William Davison was a secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England, chiefly remembered for his part in the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. Of Scottish descent (by his own account), he went to Scotland as secretary to the English ambassador, Henry Killigrew, in 1566. He remained there for about 10

  • Davison, William Edward (American musician)

    Wild Bill Davison was an American jazz cornet player who recorded some 800 songs and traveled extensively in his 70-year career. After playing in Ohio with the Ohio Lucky Seven, Davison moved to Chicago in the late 1920s and performed in legendary gangster-run nightclubs. He worked with

  • Davisson, Clinton Joseph (American physicist)

    Clinton Joseph Davisson was an American experimental physicist who shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1937 with George P. Thomson of England for discovering that electrons can be diffracted like light waves, thus verifying the thesis of Louis de Broglie that electrons behave both as waves and as

  • Davisville (Rhode Island, United States)

    North Kingstown: …includes the villages of Allenton, Davisville, Hamilton, Lafayette, Quonset Point, Saunderstown, Slocum, and Wickford (the administrative centre).

  • Davitt, Michael (Irish political leader)

    Michael Davitt was the founder of the Irish Land League (1879), which organized resistance to absentee landlordism and sought to relieve the poverty of the tenant farmers by securing fixity of tenure, fair rent, and free sale of the tenant’s interest. Davitt was the son of an evicted tenant farmer.

  • Davos (Switzerland)

    Davos, town, Graubünden canton, eastern Switzerland, consisting of two villages, Davos-Platz and Davos-Dorf, in the Davos Valley, on the Landwasser River, 5,118 feet (1,560 metres) above sea level. The town is mentioned in historical documents of 1160 and 1213; it was then inhabited by

  • Davos (international conference)

    The World Economic Forum is an international organization that convenes political leaders, business executives, policymakers, and representatives of civil society to discuss global economic, political, and social issues. It is best known for its annual winter meeting held in Davos, Switzerland. The