Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) rapid transit, transportation system designed to allow passenger travel within or throughout an urban area, usually employing surface, elevated, or underground railway systems or some combination of t...

(Encyclopedia) gold, metallic chemical element; symbol Au [Lat. aurum=shining dawn]; at. no. 79; at. wt. 196.96657; m.p. 1,064.43℃; b.p. 2,808℃; sp. gr. 19.32 at 20℃; valence +1 or +3. Gold is very ductile and...

(Encyclopedia) Prime Ministers of Great Britain 1 The modern party system did not evolve until the end of the 18th cent. ...

(Encyclopedia) American architecture, the architecture produced in the geographical area that now constitutes the United States. Wright, generally acknowledged as one of the greatest architects of the 20th cent., ...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Yukon, territory (2001 pop. 28,674), 207,076 sq mi (536,327 sq km), NW Canada. The territory's history began with the explorations in the 1840s of Robert Campbell and John Bell, fur traders f...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Pennsylvania pĕnsəlvāˈnyə [key], one of the Middle Atlantic states of the United States. It is bordered by New Jersey, across the Delaware River (E), Delaware (SE), Maryland (S), West Virg...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Nevada nəvădˈə, –vä– [key], far western state of the United States. It is bordered by Utah (E), Arizona (SE), California (SW, W), and Oregon and Idaho (N). In the 20th cent. the ...

(Encyclopedia) muscular dystrophy dĭsˈtrōfē [key], any of several inherited diseases characterized by progressive wasting of the skeletal muscles. There are five main forms of the disease. They are classified ac...

(Encyclopedia) Peel, Sir Robert, 1788–1850, British statesman. The son of a rich cotton manufacturer, whose baronetcy he inherited in 1830, Peel entered Parliament as a Tory in 1809. He served (1812–18) as chief...

(Encyclopedia) Hudson, river, c.315 mi (510 km) long, rising in Lake Tear of the Clouds, on Mt. Marcy in the Adirondack Mts., NE N.Y., and flowing generally S to Upper New York Bay at New York City; the Mohawk River...