Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) French Academy (L'Académie française), learned society of France. It is one of the five societies of the Institut de France. The work of the French Academy has chiefly consisted of the preparation...

(Encyclopedia) laissez-faire lĕsˌā fârˈ [key] [Fr.,=leave alone], in economics and politics, doctrine that an economic system functions best when there is no interference by government. It is based on the belie...

(Encyclopedia) variable star, star that varies, either periodically or irregularly, in the intensity of the light it emits. Other physical changes are usually correlated with the fluctuations in brightness, such as ...

(Encyclopedia) Lévi-Strauss, Claude klōd lāˈvē-strous [key], 1908–2009, French anthropologist, b. Brussels, Belgium, Ph.D Univ. of Paris, 1948. He carried out research in Brazil from 1935 to 1939. From 1942 t...

(Encyclopedia) New York City Ballet (NYCB), one of the foremost American dance companies of the 20th and 21st cents. It was founded by Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine as the Ballet Society in 1946. In 1948 th...

(Encyclopedia) Conti kôNtēˈ [key], cadet branch of the French royal house of Bourbon. Although the title of prince of Conti was created in the 16th cent., the founder of the continuous line was Armand de Bourbon,...

(Encyclopedia) Bernoulli or Bernouilli both: bĕrno͞oyēˈ [key], name of a family distinguished in scientific and mathematical history. The family, after leaving Antwerp, finally settled in Basel, Switzerland, whe...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Comet: Whatever the direction of a comet's flight, its “tail” always points away from the sun. The tail disappears when the comet is far from the sun. comet [Gr.,=longhaired], a small cele...

(Encyclopedia) tariff, tax on imported and, more rarely, exported goods. It is also called a customs duty. Tariffs may be distinguished from other taxes in that their predominant purpose is not financial but economi...

(Encyclopedia) oceanography, study of the seas and oceans. The major divisions of oceanography include the geological study of the ocean floor (see plate tectonics) and features; physical oceanography, which is conc...