Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Kardelj, Edvard

(Encyclopedia)Kardelj, Edvard ĕdˈvärt kärˈdĕlyə [key], 1910–79, Yugoslavian politician. A Slovenian schoolteacher, he early joined the Yugoslav Communist party. In 1940 he became a politburo member. He was...

Bradford, Augustus Williamson

(Encyclopedia)Bradford, Augustus Williamson, 1806–81, Civil War governor of Maryland (1862–66), b. Bel Air, Md. As a delegate to the 1861 peace conference in Washington, he strongly pleaded for the Union and be...

land-grant colleges and universities

(Encyclopedia)land-grant colleges and universities, U.S. institutions benefiting from the provisions of the Morrill Act (1862), which gave to the states federal lands for the establishment of colleges offering prog...

money

(Encyclopedia)money, term that refers to two concepts: the abstract unit of account in terms of which the value of goods, services, and obligations can be compared; and anything that is widely established as a mean...

occupational disease

(Encyclopedia)occupational disease, illness incurred because of the conditions or environment of employment. Unlike with accidents, some time usually elapses between exposure to the cause and development of symptom...

communications satellite

(Encyclopedia)communications satellite artificial satellite that functions as part of a global radio-communications network. Echo 1, the first communications satellite, launched in 1960, was an instrumented inflat...

Nagin, Ray

(Encyclopedia)Nagin, Ray (Clarence Ray Nagin, Jr.), 1956–, African-American politician, b. New Orleans. A Louisiana cable-television executive before entering politics, Nagin won the 2002 mayoral election handily...

Ribičič, Mitja

(Encyclopedia)Ribičič, Mitja mēˈtyä rĭbĭchĭˈch [key], 1919–2013, Yugoslav politician. A Slovenian, he participated in the revolutionary student movement and joined the Communist party in 1941. He was a m...

plea bargaining

(Encyclopedia)plea bargaining, negotiation in which a defendant agrees to plead guilty to a criminal charge in exchange for concessions by the prosecutor (representing the state). The defendant waives the right to ...

executive order

(Encyclopedia)executive order, in the United States, official document initiated and signed by the president containing directives concerning how the executive branch shall carry out its responsibilities under the ...