Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Lancaster, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Lancaster, Joseph, 1778–1838, English educator. In 1801 he founded a free elementary school, using a type of monitorial system for which he acknowledged his debt to Andrew Bell. The Royal Lancasteri...

heart-lung machine

(Encyclopedia)heart-lung machine, device that maintains the circulation of the blood and the oxygen content of the body when connected with the arteriovenous system; it is also called the pump oxygenator. The machi...

Yellen, Janet Louise

(Encyclopedia)Yellen, Janet Louise yĕlˈən [key], 1946–, U.S. economist and government official, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., B.A. Brown (1967), Ph.D. Yale (1971). Yellen taught economics (1971–76) at Harvard and subse...

Sachs, Jeffrey David

(Encyclopedia)Sachs, Jeffrey David săks [key], 1954–, American economist, b. Detroit; grad. Harvard (B.A. 1976, M.A. 1978, Ph.D. 1980). He joined the Harvard faculty in 1980, and became a full professor three ye...

Concert of Europe

(Encyclopedia)Concert of Europe, term used in the 19th cent. to designate a loose agreement by the major European powers to act together on European questions of common interest. The concert emerged after the Congr...

Stubb, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Stubb, Alexander (Cai-Göran Alexander Stubb), 1968–, Finnish political leader, prime minister of Finland (2014–15), b. Helsinki. A member of the center-right National Coalition party (NCP), he se...

Colombo, Emilio

(Encyclopedia)Colombo, Emilio āmēˈlyō kōlômˈbō [key], 1920–2013, Italian political leader. He was elected a member of the constituent assembly in 1946 and a parliamentary deputy for the Christian Democrat...

Berlin, Conference of

(Encyclopedia)Berlin, Conference of, 1884–85, international meeting aimed at settling the problems connected with European colonies in Africa. At the invitation of the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck, represe...

corvée

(Encyclopedia)corvée kôrvāˈ [key], under the feudal system, compulsory, unpaid labor demanded by a lord or king and the system of such labor in general. There were national and local variations, but in broad te...

control systems

(Encyclopedia)control systems, combinations of components (electrical, mechanical, thermal, or hydraulic) that act together to maintain actual system performance close to a desired set of performance specifications...

Browse by Subject