Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

nuclear strategy

(Encyclopedia)nuclear strategy, a policy for the use of nuclear weapons. The first atomic bombs were used in the context of the Allies' World War II policy of strategic bombing. Early in the cold war, U.S. policy w...

National Defense Education Act

(Encyclopedia)National Defense Education Act (NDEA), federal legislation passed in 1958 providing aid to education in the United States at all levels, public and private. NDEA was instituted primarily to stimulate ...

Office of Strategic Services

(Encyclopedia)Office of Strategic Services (OSS), U.S. agency created (1942) during World War II under the jurisdiction of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the purpose of obtaining information about enemy nations and ...

Teller, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Teller, Edward, 1908–2003, American physicist, b. Budapest, Hungary, Ph.D. Univ. of Leipzig, 1930, where he studied under Werner Heisenberg. Fleeing the Nazis, he came to the United States in 1935 a...

Nitze, Paul Henry

(Encyclopedia)Nitze, Paul Henry nĭtˈsə [key], 1907–2004, American public official, b. Amherst, Mass., grad. Harvard, 1927. After working in investment banking, he entered government service in 1940 and served ...

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

(Encyclopedia)Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), U.S. government agency administered by the Department of Defense (see Defense, United States Department of). It was established in 1958, in reaction ...

Chambly

(Encyclopedia)Chambly shäNblēˈ [key], city, S Que., Canada, on the Richelieu River, E of Montreal. C...

Schlesinger, James Rodney

(Encyclopedia)Schlesinger, James Rodney, 1929–2014, U.S. secretary of defense (1973–75) and secretary of energy (1977–79), b. New York City. After graduating from Harvard (A.B., 1950; A.M., 1952; Ph.D., 1956)...

Scopus, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Scopus, Mount skōˈpəs [key], peak, 2,736 ft (834 m) high, NNE of Jerusalem. Dominating Jerusalem, it has long held strategic importance in the defense of the city. Roman legions camped there in a.d...

Browse by Subject