Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) calculus of variations, branch of mathematics concerned with finding maximum or minimum conditions for a relationship between two or more variables that depends not only on the variables themselves, a...

(Encyclopedia) Judgment Day or Doomsday, central point of early Christian, Jewish, and Islamic eschatology, sometimes called the Day of the Lord. References to it throughout the Bible are numerous. The Christian bel...

(Encyclopedia) consular service, organized body of public officers maintained by a government in the important ports and trade centers of foreign countries to protect the persons and interests of its nationals and t...

(Encyclopedia) Henry, Patrick, 1736–99, political leader in the American Revolution, b. Hanover co., Va. Largely self-educated, he became a prominent trial lawyer. Henry bitterly denounced (1765) the Stamp Act and...

(Encyclopedia) Baum, L. Frank (Lyman Frank Baum) bôm [key], 1856–1919, American journalist, playwright, and author of children's stories, b. Chittenango, N.Y. He and his family moved to South Dakota in 1888, wher...

(Encyclopedia) William Rufus: see William II, king of England. ...

(Encyclopedia) Frederick William, crown prince of Germany: see William. ...

(Encyclopedia) Kellogg, W. K. (Will Keith Kellogg): see Kellogg, John Harvey. ...

(Encyclopedia) William the Conqueror: see William I, king of England. ...

(Encyclopedia) Le Châtelier's principle, chemical principle that states that if a system in equilibrium is disturbed by changes in determining factors, such as temperature, pressure, and concentration of components...