Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) social science, term for any or all of the branches of study that deal with humans in their social relations. Often these studies are referred to in the plural as the social sciences. Although human s...

(Encyclopedia) Royal Danish Ballet, one of the oldest major ballet companies, established at the opening of Denmark's Royal Theater in Copenhagen in 1748. Its ballet school, which trains the group's dancers, has als...

(Encyclopedia) philosophy of science, branch of philosophy that emerged as an autonomous discipline in the 19th cent., especially through the work of Auguste Comte, J. S. Mill, and William Whewell. Several of the is...

(Encyclopedia) balloon, lighter-than-air craft without a propulsion system, lifted by inflation of one or more containers with a gas lighter than air or with heated air. During flight, altitude may be gained by disc...

(Encyclopedia) Saint-Simon, Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de klōd äNrē də ro͞ovrwäˈ kôNt də săN-sēmôNˈ [key], 1760–1825, French social philosopher; grand nephew of Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simo...

(Encyclopedia) Dumas, Alexandre pĕr [key], 1802–70, French novelist and dramatist. His father, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, was a general in the Revolution. Dumas delighted many generations of readers with his highly ...

(Encyclopedia) Villon, François fräNswäˈ vēyôNˈ [key], 1431–1463?, French poet, b. Paris, whose original name was François de Montcorbier or François Des Loges. One of the earliest great poets of France, ...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Floor plan of a cathedral cathedral, church in which a bishop presides. The designation is not dependent on the size or magnificence of a church edifice, but is entirely a matter of its assign...

(Encyclopedia) Mill, John Stuart, 1806–73, British philosopher and economist. A precocious child, he was educated privately by his father, James Mill. In 1823, abandoning the study of law, he became a clerk in the...

(Encyclopedia) sculpture, art of producing in three dimensions representations of natural or imagined forms. It includes sculpture in the round, which can be viewed from any direction, as well as incised relief, in ...