Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) genetic testing, medical screening for genetic disorders, by examining either a person's DNA directly or a person's biochemistry or chromosomes for indirect evidence. Testing may be done to identify a...

(Encyclopedia) Carson, Edward Henry Carson, Baron, 1854–1935, Irish politician. After a successful legal career in Dublin, he was elected to the British Parliament (1892) and called to the English bar (1893). He s...

(Encyclopedia) defibrillator, device that delivers an electrical shock to the heart in order to stop certain forms of rapid heart rhythm disturbances (arrhythmias). The shock changes a fibrillation to an organized r...

(Encyclopedia) Du Pont, Pierre Samuel, 1870–1954, American industrialist, b. Wilmington, Del., grad. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1890. Du Pont worked as a chemist with the family's company, helping to d...

(Encyclopedia) Duvalier, Jean-Claude düvälyāˈ [key], 1951–2014, president of Haiti (1971–86). At age 19, he was proclaimed “president for life” upon the death of his father, Francois Duvalier. Under gre...

(Encyclopedia) easement, in law, the right to use the land of another for a specified purpose, as distinguished from the right to possess that land. If the easement benefits the holder personally and is not associat...

(Encyclopedia) Bowring, Sir John bouˈrĭng [key], 1792–1872, British diplomat, linguist, and writer. An extraordinarily versatile linguist, he is remembered for his anthologies and translations of poetry from man...

(Encyclopedia) centering, the framework of wood or of wood and steel built to support a masonry arch or vault during its construction. The centering itself must be rigidly supported, either by posts from the ground ...

(Encyclopedia) Humala Tasso, Ollanta Moisés, 1962–, Peruvian army officer and political leader, b. Lima. The son of a labor lawyer, Humala joined the Peruvian army in 1982, became an officer, and during the 1990s...

(Encyclopedia) Herndon, William Henry, 1818–91, friend, law partner, and biographer of Abraham Lincoln, b. Greensburg, Ky. In 1844 he became the junior member of the Springfield, Ill., law firm of Lincoln and Hern...