Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

354 results found

modern architecture

(Encyclopedia)modern architecture, new architectural style that emerged in many Western countries in the decade after World War I. It was based on the “rational” use of modern materials, the principles of funct...

Shakespeare, William

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616, English dramatist and poet, b. Stratford-upon-Avon. He is widely considered the greatest playwright who ever lived. For about 150 years after his death ...

Labour party

(Encyclopedia)Labour party, British political party, one of the two dominant parties in Great Britain since World War I. Harold Wilson, who became leader on Gaitskell's death in 1963, was able to lead the party t...

children's book illustration

(Encyclopedia)children's book illustration, any type of picture or decorative work produced for books specifically intended for a youthful audience. During the 1960s a number of seldom-used techniques were introd...

secret police

(Encyclopedia)secret police, policing organization operating in secrecy for the political purposes of its government, often with terroristic procedures. Many states, including Chile, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Romania,...

biography

(Encyclopedia)biography, reconstruction in print or on film, of the lives of real men and women. Together with autobiography—an individual's interpretation of his own life—it shares a venerable tradition, meeti...

atom

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Bohr-Rutherford atom CE5 Probability distribution of the electron in the hydrogen atom: A. Ground state B. Highly excited state atom [Gr.,=uncuttable (indivisible)], basic unit of matte...

American architecture

(Encyclopedia)American architecture, the architecture produced in the geographical area that now constitutes the United States. Wright, generally acknowledged as one of the greatest architects of the 20th cent., ...

chemistry

(Encyclopedia)chemistry, branch of science concerned with the properties, composition, and structure of substances and the changes they undergo when they combine or react under specified conditions. Organic chemi...

Confederacy

(Encyclopedia)Confederacy, name commonly given to the Confederate States of America (1861–65), the government established by the Southern states of the United States after their secession from the Union. (For the...

Browse by Subject