Woodward, Robert Burns, 1917-80, American chemist and educator, b. Boston, grad. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (S.B., 1936; Ph.D., 1937). He taught at Harvard from 1938, becoming Donner professor of science there in 1960. He was one of the first to determine the structure of such organic chemical compounds as penicillin (1945), strychnine (1947), terramycin (1952), and aureomycin (1952). Woodward is best known for his chemical synthesis of the organic substances quinine (1944), patulin (1950), cholesterol (1951), cortisone (1951), strychnine, lysergic acid, lanosterol (1954), reserpine (1956), chlorophyll (1960), and tetracycline (1962). For this work in organic synthesis he was awarded the 1965 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Burns, Robert, 1759-96, Scottish poet.

Life

The son of a hard-working and intelligent farmer, Burns was the oldest of seven children, all of whom had to help in the work on the farm. Although always hard pressed financially, the elder Burns, until his death in 1784, encouraged his sons with their education. As a result, Burns as a boy not only read the Scottish poetry of Ramsay and the collections compiled by Hailes and Herd, but also the works of Pope, Locke, and Shakespeare. By 1781, Burns had tried his hand at several agricultural jobs without success. Although he had begun writing, and his poems were circulated widely in manuscript, none were published until 1786. At this time he had already begun a life of dissipation, and he was not only discouraged but poor and was involved simultaneously with several women.

Burns decided to marry Mary Campbell and migrate to Jamaica. To help finance the journey, he published at Kilmarnock Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1786), which was an immediate success. Mary Campbell died before she and Burns could marry, and Burns changed his mind about migration. He toured the Highlands, brought out a second edition of his poems at Edinburgh in 1787, and for two winters was socially prominent in the Scottish city. In 1788 he married Jean Armour, who had borne him four children, and retired to a farm at Ellisland. By 1791 Burns had failed as a farmer, and he moved to nearby Dumfries, where he held a position as an exciseman. He died at 37 after a severe attack of rheumatic fever.

Verse

Burns's art is at its best in songs such as "Flow Gently, Sweet Afton," "My Heart's in the Highlands," and "John Anderson My Jo." Two collections contain 268 of his songs—George Thomson's Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs for the Voice (6 vol., 1793-1811) and James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum (5 vol., 1787-1803). Some of these, such as "Auld Lang Syne" and "Comin' thro' the Rye," are among the most familiar and best-loved poems in the English language. But his talent was not confined to song; two descriptive pieces, "Tam o' Shanter" and "The Jolly Beggars," are among his masterpieces.

Burns had a fine sense of humor, which was reflected in his satirical, descriptive, and playful verse. His great popularity with the Scots lies in his ability to depict with loving accuracy the life of his fellow rural Scots, as he did in "The Cotter's Saturday Night." His use of dialect brought a stimulating, much-needed freshness and raciness into English poetry, but Burns's greatness extends beyond the limits of dialect. His poems are written about Scots, but, in tune with the rising humanitarianism of his day, they apply to a multitude of universal problems.

Burns, Otway, c.1775-1850, American privateer, b. Onslow co., N.C. At the outbreak of the War of 1812, he outfitted the Baltimore clipper Snap-Dragon as a privateer and began one of the most spectacular privateering careers in American history. He destroyed and captured millions of dollars worth of British shipping and had a $50,000 price set on his head by the British. After the war Burns turned to shipbuilding and later served (1821-35) in the North Carolina legislature.

Burns, Ken (Kenneth Lauren Burns), 1953-, American documentary filmmaker, b. Broooklyn, N.Y., grad. Hampshire College (1975). Acting as producer, director, and cinematographer, Burns typically explores themes from American history, blending period photographs, works of art, film, and music with narration, remarks by historians and other scholars, contemporaneous written materials read by noted actors, and authentic sound effects. His first full-length film, The Brooklyn Bridge (1980), was, like his subsequent works, shown on public television. Burns won particular acclaim for his nine-part Civil War (1990), a re-creation and analysis of the conflict that won an Emmy and numerous other awards and was public broadcasting's highest-rated series. His other films include The Statue of Liberty (1985), Lewis and Clark (1997), various biographies, and the multipart Baseball (1994) and Jazz (2001).

Burns, John, 1858-1943, British union leader and politician. A factory worker as a child, he was largely self-educated and was led by his reading to radical socialism. Burns became an outstanding orator, and in 1889 he was one of the leaders of the London dock strike, an attempt to organize the ill-paid unskilled laborers. Burns was elected (1892) to Parliament among the first labor representatives, but he quarreled with James Keir Hardie and soon abandoned both socialism and the trade union movement. Henceforth associated with the Liberals, he was president of the local government board (1905-14), but resigned from the cabinet in protest against Britain's entry into World War I. He retired from Parliament in 1918.

Burns, George, 1896-1996, b. New York City as Nathan Birnbaum, and his wife Gracie Allen, 1906-64, b. San Francisco, American comedy team (1923-58). In vaudeville in the 1920s, on radio (1932-50) and television (1950-58) and in films, they played an endlessly patient husband and scatterbrained wife. Although he continued to perform after his wife's retirement, his solo career did not flourish until he won an Academy Award for The Sunshine Boys (1975). Subsequently, Burns enjoyed great success as a cigar-puffing nightclub entertainer and as a film actor, becoming particularly well-known for his role as God in three motion pictures.

Burns, Arthur Frank, 1904-87, American economist, b. Austria, grad. Columbia Univ. (A.B., 1925; A.M., 1925; Ph.D., 1934). He taught economics at Rutgers Univ. (1927-44), and then joined (1944) the faculty of Columbia, where he became John Bates Clark professor of economics in 1959. A member of the National Bureau of Economic Research from 1933, he was director of research (1945-53) and president (1957-67) of that organization. Under President Eisenhower, Burns was chairman (1953-56) of the Council of Economic Advisers. He returned to government service as economic counselor (1969-70) to President Nixon. As chairman (1970-78) of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System, he advocated fiscal and monetary restraint. He later (1981-85) served as ambassador to West Germany.

(born April 10, 1917, Boston, Mass., U.S.—died July 8, 1979, Cambridge, Mass.) U.S. chemist. He attended MIT and taught at Harvard University (1938–79). Recognizing that physical measurement revealed molecular structure better than chemical reaction, in 1940–42 he developed “Woodward's rules” for determining structure by ultraviolet spectroscopy. In 1945 his methods finally clarified the structure of penicillin and of many more complex natural products. He proposed the correct biosynthetic pathway of steroid hormones. He was the most accomplished synthesist of complex organic compounds, including quinine (1944) and vitamin B₁₂ (1971, in more than 100 reactions), a task that led to the fundamental concept of conservation of orbital symmetry. He received a 1965 Nobel Prize, and in 1963 the new Woodward Research Institute in Basel, Switz., was named for him.

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(born Jan. 25, 1759, Alloway, Ayrshire, Scot.—died July 21, 1796, Dumfries, Dumfriesshire) National poet of Scotland. The son of a poor farmer, he early became familiar with orally transmitted folk song and tales. His father's farm failed, and a farm he started himself quickly went bankrupt. Handsome and high-spirited, he engaged in a series of love affairs, some of which produced children, and celebrated his lovers in his poems. His Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1786) brought acclaim but no financial security, and he eventually took a job as an exciseman. He later began collecting and editing hundreds of traditional airs for James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum (1787–1803) and George Thomson's Select Collection of Original Scotish Airs (1793–1818); he substantially wrote many of these songs, though he did not claim them or receive payment for them. Among his best-known songs are “Auld Lang Syne,” “Green Grow the Rashes, O,” “John Anderson My Jo,” “A Red, Red Rose,” and “Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon.” He freely proclaimed his radical opinions, his sympathies with the common people, and his rebellion against orthodox religion and morality.

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orig. Nathan Birnbaum

(born Jan. 20, 1896, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died March 9, 1996, Beverly Hills, Calif.) U.S. comedian best known for his collaboration with Gracie Allen (1902–64). Burns and Allen formed a comedy team in 1925 and were married in 1926. They performed on radio in The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1932–50), with Burns playing the straight man to Allen's malaprop-prone chatterbox, before their show moved to television (1950–58). They made 13 films together, including The Big Broadcast films of 1932, 1936, and 1937. Burns returned to the screen in films such as The Sunshine Boys (1975, Academy Award) and Oh, God! (1977) and its sequels. Famous for his wry humour and his cigars, he continued performing into his late 90s.

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