Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) New Delhi dĕlˈē [key], city (1991 pop. 294,149), capital of India and of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, N central India, on the right bank of the Yamuna River. Predominantly an administra...

(Encyclopedia) Tenure of Office Act, in U.S. history, measure passed on Mar. 2, 1867, by Congress over the veto of President Andrew Johnson; it forbade the President to remove any federal officeholder appointed by a...

(Encyclopedia) Oxford, University of, at Oxford, England, one of the oldest English-language universities in the world. The university was a leading center of learning throughout the Middle Ages; such scholars as Ro...

(Encyclopedia) Franklin, Sir John, 1786–1847, British explorer in N Canada whose disappearance caused a widespread search of the Arctic. Entering the navy in 1801, he fought in the battle of Trafalgar. On his firs...

(Encyclopedia) Bhagavad-Gita bŭgˈəvəd-gēˈtə [key] [Skt.,=song of the Lord], Sanskrit poem incorporated into the Mahabharata, one of the greatest religious classics of Hinduism. The Gita (as it is often called...

(Encyclopedia) Lowell Observatory, astronomical observatory located in Flagstaff, Ariz.; it was founded in 1894 by Percival Lowell, the American astronomer who popularized the idea that Mars might support intelligen...

(Encyclopedia) astronaut, crew member on a U.S. manned spaceflight mission; the Soviet term is cosmonaut. Candidates for manned spaceflight are carefully screened to meet the highest physical and mental standards, a...

(Encyclopedia) dark energy, repulsive force that opposes the self-attraction of matter (see gravitation) and causes the expansion of the universe to accelerate. The search for dark energy was triggered by the discov...

(Encyclopedia) Stevens, family of U.S. inventors. John Stevens, 1749–1838, b. New York City, was graduated from King's College (now Columbia Univ.) in 1768. He studied law (1768–71) and soon joined his father, a...

(Encyclopedia) Welles, Gideon wĕlz [key], 1802–78, American statesman, b. Glastonbury, Conn. He was (1826–36) editor and part owner of the Hartford Times, one of the first New England papers to support Andrew J...