Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) gum, term commonly applied to any of a wide variety of colloidal substances somewhat similar in appearance and general characteristics, exuded by or extracted from plants. In this classification, howe...

(Encyclopedia) sociology, scientific study of human social behavior. As the study of humans in their collective aspect, sociology is concerned with all group activities—economic, social, political, and religious. ...

(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) Howard, John, 1726–90, English prison reformer. He had great influence in improving sanitary conditions and securing humane treatment in prisons throughout Europe. He was responsible (1774) for pers...

(Encyclopedia) Elwood, city (2020 pop. 8,410), Madison co., central Ind.; inc. 1872. It has large canneries and plants that make a variety of metal, electrical, and ma...

(Encyclopedia) Smith, Henry John Stephen, 1826–83, British mathematician. He was a lecturer in mathematics (1850–73) and, from 1860 to 1883, Savilian professor of geometry at Oxford. He is especially noted for h...

(Encyclopedia) Saranac Lake, village (1990 pop. 5,377), Essex and Franklin counties, N N.Y., in the Adirondacks; settled c.1819 as a lumbering town, inc. 1892. It is a year-round resort community; tourism is the mai...

(Encyclopedia) Germain, Sophie sôfēˈ zhĕrmăNˈ [key], 1776–1831, French mathematician. Although self-taught, she mastered mathematics and corresponded with J. L. Lagrange and C. F. Gauss. She is known especia...

(Encyclopedia) Lichtenstein, Roy lĭkˈtənstīnˌ [key], 1923–97, American painter, b. New York City. A master of pop art, Lichtenstein derived his subject matter from popular sources such as comic strips, the im...

(Encyclopedia) Martin, Glenn Luther, 1886–1955, American aviation pioneer, b. Macksburg, Iowa. Martin built his first airplane in 1909, and in 1912 set the world over-water record, flying from mainland California ...