Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

158 results found

Nash, John Forbes, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Nash, John Forbes, Jr., 1928–2015, American mathematician, b. Bluefield, W.Va., grad. Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie-Mellon Univ., B.A. and M.A. 1948), Ph.D. Princeton 1950. During a...

Southeast Asia Treaty Organization

(Encyclopedia)Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), alliance organized (1954) under the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty by representatives of Australia, France, Great Britain, New Zealand, Pakistan, ...

Soweto

(Encyclopedia)Soweto [acronym for south-west townships], city, now part of City of Johannesburg metropolitan municipality, Gauteng prov., NE South Africa. Located 10 mi (16 km) SW of Johannesburg, Soweto grew as bl...

Oceania

(Encyclopedia)Oceania ōshēănˈĭkə [key], collective name for the approximately 25,000 islands of the Pacific, usually excluding such nontropical areas as the Ryukyu and Aleutian islands and Japan, as well as T...

Titulescu, Nicholas

(Encyclopedia)Titulescu, Nicholas tēto͞olĕˈsko͞o [key], 1882?–1941, Romanian statesman. A professor of law at Bucharest Univ., he was finance minister (1917, 1920–21) and served as foreign minister from 19...

boycott

(Encyclopedia)boycott, concerted economic or social ostracism of an individual, group, or nation to express disapproval or coerce change. The practice was named (1880) after Capt. Charles Cunningham Boycott, an Eng...

Inns of Court

(Encyclopedia)Inns of Court, collective name of the four legal societies in London that have the exclusive right of admission to the bar. These societies—Lincoln's Inn, Gray's Inn, the Inner Temple, and the Middl...

Mauss, Marcel

(Encyclopedia)Mauss, Marcel märsĕlˈmōs [key], 1872–1950, French sociologist and anthropologist. Nephew of eminant sociologist Émile Durkheim, Mauss graduated from the Univ. of Bordeaux and the École Pratiqu...

cordage

(Encyclopedia)cordage kôrˈdĭj [key], collective name for rope and other flexible lines. It is used for such purposes as wrapping, hauling, lifting, and power transmission. Early man used strips of hide, animal h...

Clinton, George

(Encyclopedia) Clinton, George, 1941- , American singer, songwriter, producer, and bandleader, b. Kannapolis, N.C. Although born in North Carolina, Clinton was ...
 

Browse by Subject