Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

serial music

(Encyclopedia)serial music, the body of compositions whose fundamental syntactical reference is a particular ordering (called series or row) of the twelve pitch classes—C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B—t...

color-field painting

(Encyclopedia)color-field painting, abstract art movement that originated in the 1960s. Coming after the abstract expressionism of the 1950s, color-field painting represents a sharp change from the earlier movement...

Chavín de Huántar

(Encyclopedia)Chavín de Huántar chävēnˈ dā wänˈtär [key], archaeological site in the northeastern highlands of Peru, near the headwaters of the Marañon River. It flourished between c.900 b.c. and 200 b.c....

entrepreneur

(Encyclopedia)entrepreneur änˌtrəprənûrˈ [key] [Fr.,=one who undertakes], person who assumes the organization, management, and risks of a business enterprise. It was first used as a technical economic term by...

Baade, Walter

(Encyclopedia)Baade, Walter välˈtər bäˈdə [key], 1893–1960, German-born American astronomer. From 1919 to 1931 he was on the staff of the Hamburg observatory; from 1931 to 1958, at the Mt. Wilson observator...

fund-raising

(Encyclopedia)fund-raising, large-scale soliciting of voluntary contributions, especially in the United States. Fund-raising is widely undertaken by charitable organizations, educational institutions, and political...

hemolysis

(Encyclopedia)hemolysis hĭmŏlˈĭsĭs [key], destruction of red blood cells in the bloodstream. Although new red blood cells, or erythrocytes, are continuously created and old ones destroyed, an excessive rate of...

Kelantan

(Encyclopedia)Kelantan kəlănˈtən, kəlänˌtänˈ [key], state (1991 pop. 1,207,684), 5,780 sq mi (14,970 sq km), central Malay Peninsula, Malaysia, on the South China Sea. It is bordered on the N by Thailand. ...

Bacon, Francis, English painter

(Encyclopedia)Bacon, Francis, 1910–92, English painter, b. Dublin. A self-taught artist, Bacon rejected abstraction in painting to explore a repertoire of strange, fractured, and often bizarre figurative images, ...

Murcia, autonomous community and former kingdom, Spain

(Encyclopedia)Murcia Span. mo͞orˈthyä [key], autonomous community and former Moorish kingdom (2011 pop. 1,462,128), 4,368 sq mi (11,314 sq km), SE Spain, on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the province of Murc...

Browse by Subject