Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Walker, Francis Amasa

(Encyclopedia)Walker, Francis Amasa, 1840–97, American economist, statistician, and educator, b. Boston, grad. Amherst; son of Amasa Walker. In the Civil War he was brevetted brigadier general. Walker's activitie...

bourse

(Encyclopedia)bourse bo͝ors [key], term applied to a European stock exchange. The first international bourse was established in Antwerp in the 16th cent. The Paris bourse, dating from 1720 but completely reorganiz...

Szewińska, Irena

(Encyclopedia)Szewińska, Irena, 1946–2018, Polish sprinter and long jumper, b. Leningrad (now St. Petersburg, Russia) as Irena Kirszenstein, grad. Univ. of Warsaw, 1970. In her first Olympics (1964), she won sil...

Vattel, Emerich de

(Encyclopedia)Vattel, Emerich de āˈmərĭkh də vätĕlˈ [key], 1714–67, Swiss philosopher and jurist. He served (1746–58) as Saxon minister at Bern and later in the cabinet of Augustus III at Dresden. He is...

Preston, Lewis Thompson

(Encyclopedia)Preston, Lewis Thompson, 1926–95, American financial executive, b. New York City. After serving as a U.S. Marine during World War II and graduating from Harvard (1951), he joined J. P. Morgan. He be...

Census of Marine Life

(Encyclopedia)Census of Marine Life, an international program (2001–2010) to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of living organisms in the oceans. A project involving more than 2,700 sc...

Cincinnati, Society of the

(Encyclopedia)Cincinnati, Society of the [Lat. pl. of Cincinnatus], organization formed (1783) by officers of the Continental Army just before their disbanding after the American Revolution. The organization, with ...

American Civil Liberties Union

(Encyclopedia)American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), nonpartisan organization devoted to the preservation and extension of the basic rights set forth in the U.S. Constitution. Founded (1920) by such prominent figur...

strike

(Encyclopedia)strike, concentrated work stoppage by a group of employees, the chief weapon of organized labor. A suspension of work on the employer's part is called a lockout. Strikes usually result from conflicts ...

dumping

(Encyclopedia)dumping, selling goods at less than the normal price, usually as exports in international trade. It may be done by a producer, a group of producers, or a nation. Dumping is usually done to drive compe...

Browse by Subject