Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Douglas-Home, Alexander Frederick, Baron Home of the Hirsel

(Encyclopedia)Douglas-Home, Alexander Frederick, Baron Home of the Hirsel dŭgˈləs-hyo͞om [key], 1903–95, British politician. Educated at Eton and Oxford, he was elected to the House of Commons in 1931 as a Co...

calculus of variations

(Encyclopedia)calculus of variations, branch of mathematics concerned with finding maximum or minimum conditions for a relationship between two or more variables that depends not only on the variables themselves, a...

Quezon, Manuel Luis

(Encyclopedia)Quezon, Manuel Luis mänwĕl lo͞oēsˈ kāˈsōn [key], 1878–1944, first president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines (1935–44). While a law student, he joined (1899) Emilio Aguinaldo's insur...

Adams, John, 2d President of the United States

(Encyclopedia)Adams, John, 1735–1826, 2d President of the United States (1797–1801), b. Quincy (then in Braintree), Mass., grad. Harvard, 1755. John Adams and his wife, Abigail Adams, founded one of the most di...

Colorado, state, United States

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Colorado kŏlərădˈə, –rădˈō, –räˈdō [key], state, W central United States, one of the Rocky Mt. states. It is bordered by Wyoming (N), Nebraska (N, E), Kansas (E), Oklahoma and Ne...

United States Naval Academy

(Encyclopedia)United States Naval Academy, at Annapolis, Md.; for training young men and women to be officers of the U.S. navy or marine corps. George Bancroft, Secretary of the Navy, founded and opened (1845) it a...

Iowa, state, United States

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Iowa īˈəwə [key], midwestern state in the N central United States. It is bounded by the Mississippi River, across which lie Wisconsin and Illinois (E); Missouri (S); Nebraska and South Dako...

Saint-Germain, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Germain, Treaty of săN-zhĕrmăNˈ [key], any of several treaties signed at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, France. 1 The Treaty of Saint-Germain of 1570 terminated the first phase of the Fr...

Clinton, George, vice president of the United States

(Encyclopedia)Clinton, George, 1739–1812, American statesman, vice president of the United States (1805–1812), b. Little Britain, N.Y. Before he was 20 he served on a privateer and, in the French and Indian War...

Berlin, Congress of

(Encyclopedia)Berlin, Congress of, 1878, called by the signers of the Treaty of Paris of 1856 (see Paris, Congress of) to reconsider the terms of the Treaty of San Stefano, which Russia had forced on the Ottoman Em...