Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) PTA or parent-teacher association: see parent education. ...

(Encyclopedia) Osaka University, at Osaka, Japan; founded 1931 as Osaka Imperial Univ., renamed 1947. It has 11 faculties, 15 graduate schools, 5 research institutes (for microbial diseases, industrial research, pro...

(Encyclopedia) Bergonzi, Carlo, 1924–2014, Italian opera singer. He began his career as a baritone, debuting in 1948, but he made a second debut as a tenor in 1951 after realizing his voice was better suited to th...

(Encyclopedia) Dudley, metropolitan borough, W central England. Dudley's famed iron, coal, and limestone industries began declining c.1870. Other industries include en...

(Encyclopedia) Gauss, Carl Friedrich kärl frēˈdrĭkh gous [key], born Johann Friederich Carl Gauss, 1777–1855, German mathematician, physicist, and astronomer. Gauss was educated at the Caroline College, Brunsw...

(Encyclopedia) kidney, artificial, mechanical device capable of assuming the functions ordinarily performed by the kidneys. In treating cases of kidney failure a tube is inserted into an artery in the patient's arm ...

(Encyclopedia) Rhyniophyta rīˌnēŏfˈətə [key], division of plants known only from fossils, of which the genus Rhynia was perhaps the most important. These plants date from the Silurian and Devonian age. Relati...

(Encyclopedia) American University in Cairo, at Cairo, Egypt; English language; founded 1919. It has faculties of anthropology, computer science, economics and political science, engineering, English and comparative...

(Encyclopedia) Koltsov, Aleksey Vasilyevich əlyĭksyāˈ vəsēˈlyəvĭch kəltsôfˈ [key], 1809–42, Russian poet. Although he had little formal education, he studied great works of literature and became well k...

(Encyclopedia) vending machine, coin-operated, automatic device for selling goods. Many vending machines are capable of making change, and some of the more sophisticated ones accept paper money or credit cards. The ...