Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

managed health care

(Encyclopedia)managed health care, system of health-care delivery that aims to control costs by assigning set fees for services, monitoring the need for procedures such as tests and surgical operations, and stressi...

Lowell, Abbott Lawrence

(Encyclopedia)Lowell, Abbott Lawrence, 1856–1943, American educator, president of Harvard (1909–33), b. Boston, grad. Harvard (B.A., 1877; LL.B., 1880); brother of Percival Lowell and Amy Lowell. He practiced l...

Magsaysay, Ramón

(Encyclopedia)Magsaysay, Ramón rämōnˈ mägsīˈsī [key], 1907–57, president of the Philippines (1953–57). When the Japanese invaded the Philippines (1941), he joined the army and was commissioned a captain...

Walloons

(Encyclopedia)Walloons wŏlo͞onzˈ [key], group of people living in S Belgium who traditionally spoke a dialect of French called Walloon, but who today for the most part speak standard French. The Walloons, number...

Bunau-Varilla, Philippe Jean

(Encyclopedia)Bunau-Varilla, Philippe Jean fēlēpˈ zhäN bünōˈ-värēyäˈ [key], 1859–1940, French engineer, prominent in the Panama Canal controversy. An engineer after 1884 in the original French company ...

Biosphere 2

(Encyclopedia)Biosphere 2, privately funded ecological research project in which eight people lived sealed in a 3.15-acre (1.28-hectare) structure for two years (Sept. 26, 1991–Sept. 26, 1993). Located in Oracle,...

Snowden, Philip Snowden, 1st Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Snowden, Philip Snowden, 1st Viscount snōˈdən [key], 1864–1937, British statesman. Born to poverty, he was a civil service clerk until crippled by a spinal ailment. Resigning in 1893, he began to...

Battle of Britain

(Encyclopedia)Battle of Britain, in World War II, series of air battles between Great Britain and Germany, fought over Britain from Aug. to Oct., 1940. As a prelude to a planned invasion of England, the German Luft...

Tange, Kenzo

(Encyclopedia)Tange, Kenzo kĕnˈzō tängˈē [key], 1913–2005, Japanese architect. A graduate of the Univ. of Tokyo, he later taught there and at several American universities. The Hiroshima Peace Center (1949)...

transept

(Encyclopedia)transept trănˈsĕptˌ [key], term applied to the transverse portion of a building cutting its main axis at right angles or to each arm of such a portion. Transepts are found chiefly in churches, whe...

Browse by Subject