Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

telephone

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Hand telephone telephone, device for communicating sound, especially speech, usually by means of wires in an electric circuit. The telephones now in general use evolved from the device invente...

Utah State University

(Encyclopedia)Utah State University, mainly at Logan; coeducational; land-grant and state supported; chartered 1888, opened 1890. It publishes Utah Science, Western Historical Quarterly, and Western American Litera...

Clay, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Clay, Henry, 1777–1852, American statesman, b. Hanover co., Va. In 1828, Clay again supported Adams for President, and Jackson's success bitterly disappointed him. Although he intended to retir...

Citrine, Walter McLennan Citrine, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Citrine, Walter McLennan Citrine, 1st Baron sĭtrēnˈ [key], 1887–1983, English trade union leader. An electrician, he became district secretary of the electrical trade union in 1914 and rose to be...

Fraser, Douglas Andrew

(Encyclopedia)Fraser, Douglas Andrew, 1916–2008, American labor leader, b. Glasgow, Scotland. His family emigrated to the United States when he was a child and settled in Detroit, where he began his working life ...

Hollerith, Herman

(Encyclopedia)Hollerith, Herman hōˈlərĭth [key], 1860–1929, American inventor, b. Buffalo, N.Y. After graduating from Columbia Univ. (B.S., 1879), he worked on the U.S. Census of 1880. Intrigued by the proble...

Bacon, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Bacon, Robert, 1860–1919, American banker and government official, b. Jamaica Plain, Mass. He embarked upon a career in business and in 1894 accepted a partnership with J. P. Morgan and Company. He ...

North Dakota

(Encyclopedia)CE5 North Dakota, state in the N central United States. It is bordered by Minnesota, across the Red River of the North (E), South Dakota (S), Montana (W), and the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan...

Kimberley, geographical area, Australia

(Encyclopedia)Kimberley, geographical area, c.139,000 sq mi (360,010 sq km), Western Australia, NW Australia. The Kimberley Goldfield was the site (1882) of the first major Western Australian gold strike. Cattle an...

Solidarity

(Encyclopedia)Solidarity, Polish independent trade union federation formed in Sept., 1980. Led by Lech Wałęsa, it grew rapidly in size and political power and soon posed a threat to Poland's Communist government ...