Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) stamp tax, method of collecting duties on certain transactions by means of a validating stamp attached to the taxable instrument, which may be a judicial act, a commercial document, a transfer of prop...

(Encyclopedia) butadiene byo͞otˌədīˈēn [key], colorless, gaseous hydrocarbon. There are two structural isomers of butadiene; they differ in the location of the two carbon-carbon double bonds in the butadiene m...

(Encyclopedia) butane byo͞oˈtān [key], C4H10, gaseous alkane, a hydrocarbon that is obtained from natural gas or by refining petroleum. It can be liquefied at room temperature by compression. There are two struct...

(Encyclopedia) chelating agents kēˈlātĭng [key]. Certain organic compounds are capable of forming coordinate bonds (see chemical bond) with metals through two or more atoms of the organic compound; such organic ...

(Encyclopedia) forgery, in criminal law, willful fabrication or alteration of a written document with the intent to injure the interests of another in a fraudulent manner. The crime may be committed even though the ...

(Encyclopedia) Karplus, Martin, 1930–, Austrian-American theoretical chemist, b. Vienna, Ph.D. California Institute of Technology, 1953. He has been a professor at Harvard since 1967, studying the electronic struc...

(Encyclopedia) Warshel, Arieh, 1940–, Israeli-American chemist, b. Kibbutz Sde Nahum (in what is now Israel), Ph.D. Weizmann Institute, 1969. He has been a professor at the Univ. of Southern California since 1976....

(Encyclopedia) National Gallery, London, one of the permanent national art collections of Great Britain, est. 1824. The nucleus of museum was the 38-picture collection of the late English banker John Julius Angerste...

(Encyclopedia) Rutledge, John, 1739–1800, American jurist and political leader, 2d chief justice of the United States, b. Charleston, S.C.; brother of Edward Rutledge. After studying law in London he began practic...

(Encyclopedia) over-the-counter, method of buying and selling securities outside the organized stock exchange. Unlike an organized stock exchange, the over-the-counter market is composed of dealers who negotiate mos...