Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) boron bōrˈŏn [key] [New Gr. from borax], chemical element; symbol B; at. no. 5; interval in which at. wt. ranges 10.806–10.821; m.p. about 2,300℃; sublimation point about 2,550℃; sp. gr. 2.3 ...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Shorthand systems shorthand, any brief, rapid system of writing that may be used in transcribing, or recording, the spoken word. Such systems, many having characters based on the letters of th...

(Encyclopedia) Tibetan art and architecture have been almost entirely religious in character (see Tibetan Buddhism). The art of Tibetan Lamaism retains strong elements drawn from the forms of both Hinduism and Buddh...

(Encyclopedia) Girondists zhērôNdăNˈ [key], political group of moderate republicans in the French Revolution, so called because the central members were deputies of the Gironde dept. Girondist leaders advocated ...

(Encyclopedia) Milwaukee mĭlwŏkˈē [key], city (1990 pop. 628,088), seat of Milwaukee co., SE Wis., at the point where the Milwaukee, Menominee, and Kinnickinnic rivers enter Lake Michigan; inc. 1846. The largest...

(Encyclopedia) Staël, Germaine de zhĕrmĕnˈ də stäl [key], 1766–1817, French-Swiss woman of letters, whose full name was Anne Louise Germaine Necker, baronne de Staël-Holstein. Born in Paris, the daughter of...

(Encyclopedia) deconstruction, in linguistics, philosophy, and literary theory, the exposure and undermining of the metaphysical assumptions involved in systematic attempts to ground knowledge, especially in academi...

(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) 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...