Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

social security

(Encyclopedia)social security, government program designed to provide for the basic economic security and welfare of individuals and their dependents. The programs classified under the term social security differ f...

Versailles, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Versailles, Treaty of, any of several treaties signed in the palace of Versailles, France. For the Treaty of Versailles of 1783, which ended the American Revolution, see Paris, Treaty of, 1783. The...

Schleswig-Holstein

(Encyclopedia)Schleswig-Holstein shlĕsˈvĭkh-hôlˈshtīn [key], state (1994 pop. 2,595,000), c.6,050 sq mi (15,670 sq km), NW Germany. Kiel (the capital and chief port), Lübeck, Flensburg, and Neumünster are t...

Cornelius, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Cornelius, Peter pāˈtər kôrnāˈlēo͝os [key], 1824–74, German composer and poet; follower of Liszt and Wagner. He wrote music criticism, songs, and poetry but is best known for his operas Der ...

Guthrie, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Guthrie, Samuel, 1782–1848, American physician, b. Brimfield, Mass. In Sackets Harbor, N.Y., where he settled after serving as surgeon in the War of 1812, he invented a percussion powder and a punch...

Jena

(Encyclopedia)Jena yāˈnä [key], city (1994 pop. 100,090), Thuringia, E central Germany, on the Saale River. Manufactures of this industrial center include pharmaceuticals, glass, optical and precision instrument...

Menger, Carl

(Encyclopedia)Menger, Carl kärl mĕngˈər [key], 1840–1921, Austrian economist, a founder of the Austrian school of economics. He was professor of economics at the Univ. of Vienna from 1873 until 1903, when he ...

Welsbach mantle

(Encyclopedia)Welsbach mantle or Welsbach burner [for C. A. von Welsbach], cylindrical framework of gauze impregnated with oxides of thorium and cerium. When heated in a gas flame, it produces a very bright light b...

Whitehead, Gustave Albin

(Encyclopedia)Whitehead, Gustave Albin, 1874–1927, German inventor and airplane pioneer, b. Gustav Albin Weisskopf. He immigrated to the United States in 1893 and later Americanized his name, but never became a c...

Quedlinburg

(Encyclopedia)Quedlinburg kvādˈlēnbo͝orkh [key], city (1994 pop. 26,853), Saxony-Anhalt, central Germany, at the foot of the lower Harz Mts. It is an industrial center and an agricultural market. Manufactures i...