Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Padilla, Ezequiel āsākyĕlˈp äᵺēˈyä [key], 1890–1971, Mexican political leader. A revolutionary under Pancho Villa, he studied law in New York City. He served as secretary of public educati...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Ordinary light sources produce incoherent light, while a laser produces a beam of coherent light. laser [acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation], device for the cr...

(Encyclopedia) Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act, 1930, passed by the U.S. Congress; it brought the U.S. tariff to the highest protective level yet in the history of the United States. President Hoover desired a limited upwar...

(Encyclopedia) Foster, Hannah Webster, 1759–1840, American novelist, b. Boston. She was one of the earliest American novelists and her epistolary novel, The Coquette (1797), was one of the first of its kind in Ame...

(Encyclopedia) equine encephalitis ēˈkwīn ĕnsĕfˌəlīˈtĭs [key], infectious disease of horses caused by any of several viruses, three of which—the Eastern, Western, and Venezuelan viruses—can also infect...

(Encyclopedia) Timişoara tēmēshwäˈrä [key], Hung. Temesvár, city (1990 pop. 351,293), W Romania, in the Banat, on the Beja Canal. The chief city of the former Banat of Temesvar, it is a railroad hub and an in...

(Encyclopedia) Prohibition party, in U.S. history, minor political party formed (1869) for the legislative prohibition of the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The temperance movement was...

(Encyclopedia) Alexandria. 1 City (2020 pop. 45,275), seat of Rapides parish, central La., on the Red River; inc. 1818. It is a trade, rail, and medical center for a rich agricultural and timber area. ...

(Encyclopedia) supply and demand, in classical economics, factors that are said to determine price, by correlating the amount of a given commodity producers hope to sell at a certain price (supply), and the amount o...

(Encyclopedia) productivity, in economics, the output of any aspect of production per unit of input. It is a measure of the output of a worker, machine, or an entire national economy in the creation of goods and ser...