Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ulan-Ude

(Encyclopedia)Ulan-Ude o͞olänˌ-o͞odĕˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 353,000), capital of the Buryat Republic, SE Siberian Russia, on the Selenga River near its confluence with the Uda. A major transportation hub, it...

Whittingham, Michael Stanley

(Encyclopedia)Whittingham, Michael Stanley, 1941–, British-American chemist, Ph.D. Oxford, 1968. Whittingham worked for Exxon Research & Engineering from 1972 to 1984, then joined Schlumberger Ltd. In 1988, h...

Watson, Thomas John, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Watson, Thomas John, Jr., 1914–93, American industrialist, b. Dayton, Ohio. The son of Thomas John Watson, Sr., the founder of the International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), he joined the family b...

Wabash Case

(Encyclopedia)Wabash Case, popular name for Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad Company v. Illinois, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1886. The decision narrowed earlier ones (see Munn v. Illinois) favorab...

Betancourt, Rómulo

(Encyclopedia)Betancourt, Rómulo rōˈmo͞olō bĕtänko͝orˈ [key], 1908–81, Venezuelan political leader, president of Venezuela (1945–48, 1959–64). Following a stormy career as a leader of radical student...

Suzuki, Kantaro

(Encyclopedia)Suzuki, Kantaro so͞ozo͞oˈkē [key], 1867–1948, Japanese admiral. He served briefly as prime minister from Apr., 1945, until Aug. 15, the day after the announcement of Japan's surrender in the la...

Struensee, Johann Friedrich

(Encyclopedia)Struensee, Johann Friedrich yōˈhän frēˈdrĭkh shtro͞oˈənzā, stro͞oˈ– [key], 1737–72, Danish politician, b. Germany. As physician to Christian VII he gained complete mastery over the ins...

Sturzo, Luigi

(Encyclopedia)Sturzo, Luigi lo͞oēˈjē sto͞orˈtsō [key], 1871–1959, Italian priest and political leader. He taught philosophy and sociology at a seminary in his native Sicily. In 1919 he founded the Popular ...

Uyuni, Salar de

(Encyclopedia)Uyuni, Salar de sälärˈ dā o͞oyo͞oˈnē [key], salt flats (c.4,250 sq mi/11,000 sq km), Potosí dept., SW Bolivia, in the altiplano. The Río Grande de Lípez flows into the flats in the southeas...

toucan

(Encyclopedia)toucan to͞okănˈ, to͞oˈkän [key], perching bird of the New World tropics, related to the woodpeckers. Toucans vary in size from the jay-sized toucanets to the 24-in. (62-cm) tocos of the Amazon b...

Browse by Subject