Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Vizcarra, Martín (Martín Alberto Vizcarra Cornejo), 1963–, Peruvian political leader. A civil engineer, he worked from 1992 to 2010 in his family's construction business. As a member of the Alianz...

(Encyclopedia) Abadi, Haidar Jawad Kadhim al-, 1952–, Iraqi political leader. A Shiite, Abadi received a doctorate in electrical engineering from the Univ. of Manchester (1981), then lived and worked in exile in B...

(Encyclopedia) Danby, Thomas Osborne, earl of, 1631–1712, English statesman. Under the patronage of the 2d duke of Buckingham, he was appointed treasurer of the navy (1668), a privy councilor (1672), and lord trea...

(Encyclopedia) fiber optics, transmission of digitized messages or information by light pulses along hair-thin glass or plastic fibers. Each fiber is surrounded by a cladding having a high index of refractance so th...

(Encyclopedia) pressure group, body, organized or unorganized, that actively seeks to promote its particular interests within a society by exerting pressure on public officials and agencies. Pressure groups direct t...

(Encyclopedia) Cotonou kōtōno͞oˈ [key], city, capital of Atlantique prov., S Benin, on the Gulf of Guinea. ...

(Encyclopedia) Worcester, industrial city (1990 pop. 169,759), seat of Worcester co., central Mass., on the Blackstone River; inc. 1722. The canalization (1828) of the Blackstone River marked the beginning of Worces...

(Encyclopedia) Győr dyör [key], Ger. Raab (räb), city (1991 est. pop. 129,598), NW Hungary, near the Slovakian border and at the confluence of the Rába and Danube rivers. Győr is a road and rail hub, a river po...

(Encyclopedia) Bond, Julian (Horace Julian Bond), 1940–2015, U.S. civil-rights leader, b. Nashville, Tenn. As a student at Morehouse College, he participated in sit-ins at segregated Atlanta restaurants. He was a ...

(Encyclopedia) Windhoek vĭntˈho͞ok [key], city (1991 pop. 147,056), capital of Namibia. It is Namibia's largest city and its administrative, communications, and economic center. Windhoek is one of the world's maj...