Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Olah, George Andrew

(Encyclopedia)Olah, George Andrew, 1927–2017, American chemist, b. Budapest, Ph.D. Budapest Univ. of Technology and Economics, 1949. Olah was a researcher at Dow Chemical from 1957 to 1965 and a professor at West...

Nečas, Petr

(Encyclopedia)Nečas, Petr pĕtˈər nĕˈchäs [key], 1964–, Czech politician. Trained as a physicist, he graduated (1988) from Brno's Uherske Science Univ. and taught (1983–88) at Masaryk Univ., Brno. After w...

Wilson, J. Tuzo

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, J. Tuzo (John Tuzo Wilson), 1908–93, Canadian geologist and geophysicist, b. Ottawa, Ph.D. Princeton (1936), M.A. Cambridge (1940). He worked for the Geological Survey of Canada (1936–39) ...

Carranza de Miranda, Bartolomé de

(Encyclopedia)Carranza de Miranda, Bartolomé de bärtōlōmāˈ dā käränˈthä dā mēränˈdä [key], 1503–76, Spanish churchman. He joined the Dominicans (1520) and taught at Valladolid. He was active in th...

Bradlaugh, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Bradlaugh, Charles brădˈlô [key], 1833–91, British social reformer, a secularist. Editor of the free-thinking weekly National Reformer from 1860 and later associated with Annie Besant, he was an ...

spinal puncture

(Encyclopedia)spinal puncture, surgical penetration of the spinal canal by a hollow needle introduced between two of the lumbar vertebrae. The arrangement permits injection of antibiotics or anesthetics (see anesth...

stock, in finance

(Encyclopedia)stock, in finance, instrument certifying to shares in the ownership of a corporation. Bonds are similar evidences of shares in a loan to a corporation. Stock yields no dividends until claims of bondho...

Taney, Roger Brooke

(Encyclopedia)Taney, Roger Brooke tôˈnē [key], 1777–1864, American jurist, 5th chief justice of the United States (1836–64), b. Calvert co., Md., grad. Dickinson College, 1795. The Senate, incensed by Tan...

chain reaction

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Chain reaction: A neutron (n) strikes the uranium nucleus (U-235), causing it to split into fission products A and B and release two neutrons. These neutrons can in turn cause further fissions....

punctuation

(Encyclopedia)punctuation [Lat.,=point], the use of special signs in writing to clarify how words are used; the term also refers to the signs themselves. In every language, besides the sounds of the words that are ...