Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Legault, François, 1957–, Canadian business executive and politician. An accountant by training, he cofounded and led the budget airline Air Transat (1986–97). As a member of the separatist Parti...

(Encyclopedia) Persad-Bissessar, Kamla, 1952—, Trinidadian political leader. A lawyer of South Asian descent and a member of the United National Congress (UNC), she was appointed to Trinidad and Tobago's senate in...

(Encyclopedia) Mott Foundation, philanthropic trust created (1926) by automobile executive Charles Stewart Mott (1875–1973) to support programs dealing with selected urban problems. The foundation originally conce...

(Encyclopedia) avalanche, rapidly descending large mass of snow, ice, soil, rock, or mixtures of these materials, sliding or falling in response to the force of gravity. Avalanches, which are natural forms of erosio...

(Encyclopedia) virtual telescope, a computerized interferometer (see interference) that merges the images from two or more telescopes to obtain a single, large, enhanced image. The image in each telescope is made fr...

(Encyclopedia) Destutt de Tracy, Antoine Louis Claude, Comte äNtwänˈ lwē klōd kôNt dĕstütˈ də träsēˈ [key], 1754–1836, French philosopher and psychologist. Although active in the Napoleonic government...

(Encyclopedia) Blow, Susan Elizabeth, 1843–1916, American educator, b. St. Louis. After study in New York City under a disciple of Froebel, she opened in Carondelet (now in St. Louis) the first successful public k...

(Encyclopedia) Kingston upon Thames, outer borough (1991 pop. 130,300) of Greater London, SE England. Mainly residential, it has light engineering works and manufactures electronic equipment. It also contains one of...

(Encyclopedia) Trowbridge trōˈbrĭj, trouˈ– [key], town (1991 pop. 27,299), Wiltshire, S England. It is a market town and a long-established center for the manufacture of woolen goods. Brewing, food processing,...

(Encyclopedia) Anderson, Elizabeth Garrett, 1836–1917, English physician. A sister of Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Elizabeth also worked for woman suffrage. With difficulty she obtained a private medical education u...