Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

chemurgy

(Encyclopedia)chemurgy kĕmˈərjē [key], branch of applied chemistry concerned with preparing industrial products from agricultural raw materials. Among such products are plastics manufactured from casein and soy...

Wurtz, Charles Adolphe

(Encyclopedia)Wurtz, Charles Adolphe shärl ädôlfˈ vürts [key], 1817–84, French chemist. He was professor at the Sorbonne (1852–75), at the Faculty of Medicine, Paris (1853–75), and at the Faculty of Scie...

Constitutional Union party

(Encyclopedia)Constitutional Union party, in U.S. history, formed when the conflict between North and South broke down the older parties. The Constitutional Union group, composed of former Whigs and remnants of the...

Latin Monetary Union

(Encyclopedia)Latin Monetary Union. In 1865, France, Belgium, Italy, and Switzerland (joined in 1868 by Greece) agreed to regulate their national currencies on a uniform basis, thus making it freely interchangeable...

Western European Union

(Encyclopedia)Western European Union (WEU), European security and defense organization. It was set up in Brussels in 1955 as a defensive, economic, social, and cultural organization, consisting of Belgium, France, ...

Union, Act of

(Encyclopedia)Union, Act of. For the union of England and Scotland (1707), see Great Britain; for the union of Ireland (1800) with Great Britain, see Ireland. ...

Union League Clubs

(Encyclopedia)Union League Clubs, in U.S. history, organizations formed throughout the North in the Civil War after the military defeats and Republican election losses of 1862. A convention at Cleveland (May, 1863)...

Browse by Subject