Columbia Encyclopedia

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jury

(Encyclopedia)jury, body convened to make decisions of fact in legal proceedings. In most criminal cases the charge is first considered by a grand jury with 12 to 23 members. It hears witnesses against the accus...

gay-rights movement

(Encyclopedia)gay-rights movement, organized efforts to end the criminalization of homosexuality and protect the civil rights of homosexuals. While there was some organized activity on behalf of the rights of homos...

McPherson

(Encyclopedia)McPherson, city (1990 pop. 12,422), seat of McPherson co., central Kans., in a farm area on the old Santa Fe Trail; inc. 1874. The city has an oil refinery and factories that make plastics, railroad e...

Munich, Technical University of

(Encyclopedia)Munich, Technical University of, at Munich, Germany; founded 1868 by King Ludwig II, acquired its present name 1970. It has three main campuses, with faculties of architecture, business administration...

Howell, John Adams

(Encyclopedia)Howell, John Adams, 1840–1918, American naval officer and inventor, b. Bath, N.Y., grad. Annapolis, 1858. He served as a lieutenant throughout the Civil War, fighting under Admiral Farragut at Mobil...

Edgehill

(Encyclopedia)Edgehill or Edge Hill, ridge on the border of Warwickshire and Oxfordshire, central England, NW of Banbury. A tower built in 1760 marks the scene of the first great battle of the English civil war, Oc...

Rodoreda, Mercè

(Encyclopedia)Rodoreda, Mercè, 1909–83, Spanish novelist writing in Catalan. Exiled for several decades in Paris and Geneva following the Spanish Civil War, Rodoreda focuses her novel Time of the Doves (1962, tr...

Baker, Sir Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Baker, Sir Benjamin, 1840–1907, English civil engineer. He helped build London's underground railway, Tower Bridge, and the Blackwall Tunnel, and with Sir John Fowler he designed and built the bridg...

Nutley

(Encyclopedia)Nutley, town (1990 pop. 27,099), Essex co., NE N.J., a residential suburb of Newark, on the Passaic River; settled 1680, inc. 1902. Pharmaceuticals, dyestuffs, and machinery are made. After the Civil ...

Sugar Land

(Encyclopedia)Sugar Land, city (2000 pop. 63,328), Fort Bend co., SE Texas, on the Brazos River and Oyster Creek, a W suburb of Houston; inc. 1959. The city, which now has a diversified economy, began as a pre–Ci...