Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) AIDS or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, fatal disease caused by a rapidly mutating retrovirus that attacks the immune system and leaves the victim vulnerable to infections, malignancies, and neuro...

(Encyclopedia) ligament lĭgˈəmənt [key], strong band of white fibrous connective tissue that joins bones to other bones or to cartilage in the joint areas. The bundles of collagenous fibers that form ligaments t...

(Encyclopedia) Holbrook, Josiah, 1788–1854, American educator, founder of the lyceum movement, b. Derby, Conn., grad. Yale (1810). He experimented with various schools where manual training, farming, and formal i...

(Encyclopedia) Ben Bella, Ahmed äkhmĕdˈ bĕn bĕlˈlä [key], 1919–2012, Algerian statesman. After World War II he joined the Algerian nationalist movement and soon became a leader of its underground paramilita...

(Encyclopedia) Tiradentes tērəᵺĕnˈtəs [key], 1748–92, Brazilian patriot. His real name was José Joaquim da Silva Xavier. He gained his nickname, which means “tooth-puller,” working as a healer in his y...

(Encyclopedia) Ramgoolam, Sir Seewoosagur, 1900–1985, Mauritian political leader. A physician, he was a leader of the Labor party and active in the Mauritian independence movement. Ramgoolam served as chief minist...

(Encyclopedia) Friedan, Betty Naomi frēdănˈ [key], 1921–2006, American social reformer and feminist, b. Peoria, Ill. as Bettye Goldstein, educated at Smith College (B.A., 1942) and the Univ. of California at Be...

(Encyclopedia) Chartism, workingmen's political reform movement in Great Britain, 1838–48. It derived its name from the People's Charter, a document published in May, 1838, that called for voting by ballot, univer...

(Encyclopedia) Manning, Henry Edward, 1808–92, English churchman, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Ordained a Catholic priest, Manning became a celebrated confessor, an ardent advocate of prison reform, a...