BOCHUM

bochum, a town of germany, in the prussian province of westphalia, 11 m. by rail west from dortmund. pop. (1905) 118,000. it is a centre of the iron and steel industries, producing principally cast steel, cast iron, iron pipes, wire and wire ropes, and lamps, with tin and zinc works, coal-mining, factories for carpets, calcium carbide and paper-roofing, brickworks and breweries. the bochumer verein fur bergbau (mining) und gusstahl fabrication (steel manufacture) is one of the principal trusts in this industry, founded in 1854. there are a mining and a metallurgical school.