Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Zeno of Elea ēˈlēə [key], c.490–c.430 b.c., Greek philosopher of the Eleatic school. He undertook to support in his only known work, fragments of which are extant, the doctrine of Parmenides by ...

(Encyclopedia) Wexford, town (1991 pop. 15,393), seat of Co. Wexford, SE Republic of Ireland, on Wexford Harbour, which is formed by the Slaney River estuary. Wexford serves as the headquarters of the Roman Catholic...

(Encyclopedia) Kellogg, Edward, 1790–1858, American economist, b. Norwalk, Conn. He advocated a financial scheme to abolish interest, which was often usurious at the time he wrote. Kellogg devised a system of fina...

(Encyclopedia) National Institute of Standards and Technology, governmental agency within the U.S. Dept. of Commerce with the mission of “working with industry to develop and apply technology, measurements, and st...

(Encyclopedia) Burlington, Richard Boyle, 3d earl of, 1694–1753, English patron and architect of the Neo-Palladian movement. Even before age 21, when he became a member of the Privy Council and Lord High Treasurer...

(Encyclopedia) sphere of influence, term formerly applied to an area over which an outside power claims hegemony with the intention of subsequently gaining more definite control, as in colonization, or with the inte...

(Encyclopedia) Cassel, Gustav go͝osˈtäf käˈsəl [key], 1866–1945, Swedish economist and authority on international monetary problems. He was a delegate to many world economic conferences and wrote valuable pa...

(Encyclopedia) loan, in business, sum of money borrowed at a particular interest rate. More generally, it refers to anything given on condition of its return or repayment of its equivalent. A loan may be acknowledge...

(Encyclopedia) usury: see interest.

(Encyclopedia) Rosse, William Parsons, 3d earl of rôs [key], 1800–1867, British astronomer and constructor of telescopes. He served as member of Parliament for King's Co., Ireland (1821–34), Irish representativ...