Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) anesthesia ănĭsthēˈzhə [key] [Gr.,=insensibility], loss of sensation, especially that of pain, induced by drugs, especially as a means of facilitating safe surgical procedures. Early modern medic...

(Encyclopedia) Brandeis, Louis Dembitz brănˈdīs [key], 1856–1941, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1916–39), b. Louisville, Ky., grad. Harvard law school, 1877. As a successful Boston lawyer (1879...

(Encyclopedia) chemical industry, the business of using chemical reactions to turn raw materials, such as coal, oil, and salt, into a variety of products. During the 19th and 20th cent. technological advances in the...

(Encyclopedia) Harvard University, mainly at Cambridge, Mass., including Harvard College, the oldest American college. From two distinct schools, Radcliffe College for women (est. 1879, chartered 1894) and Harvar...

(Encyclopedia) Providence, city (1990 pop. 160,728), state capital and seat of Providence co., NE R.I., a port at the head of Providence Bay; founded by Roger Williams 1636, inc. as a city 1832. The largest city in ...

(Encyclopedia) New England, name applied to the region comprising six states of the NE United States—Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The region is thought to have been ...

(Encyclopedia) Annan, Kofi Atta kōˈfē äˈtä ănˈən [key] 1938–2018, Ghanaian diplomat, the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations (1997–2006) and the first person to hold that office who came fro...

(Encyclopedia) Brown, John, 1800–1859, American abolitionist, b. Torrington, Conn. He spent his boyhood in Ohio. Before he became prominent in the 1850s, his life ha...

(Encyclopedia) Gehry, Frank Owen gĕrˈē [key], 1929–, American architect, b. Toronto, Ont., as Frank Owen Goldberg. He is widely considered one of the finest and most artful of contemporary architects. In 1947, ...

(Encyclopedia) Fuller, Margaret, 1810–50, American writer, lecturer, and public intellectual, b. Cambridgeport (now part of Cambridge), Mass. She was one of the most influential personalities in the American liter...