Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Beyoncé, 1981- , American popular singer, songwriter, and actress, b. Beyoncé Giselle Knowles, Houston, Tx. Beyoncé first gained fame as the lead si...

(Encyclopedia) bhakti bŭkˈtē [key] [Skt.,=devotion], theistic devotion in Hinduism. Bhakti cults seem to have existed from the earliest times, but they gained strength in the first millennium a.d. The first full ...

(Encyclopedia)  Taylor, Cecil, 1929-2018, African-American jazz pianist, composer, and poet, b. Queens, N.Y. A child prodigy on the piano, Taylor studied at the N.Y. ...

(Encyclopedia)  Reed, Ishmael Scott, 1938- , African-American novelist, poet, and social critic, b. Chattanooga, Tn. When he was a child, Reed’s family moved ...

(Encyclopedia) spinal column, bony column forming the main structural support of the skeleton of humans and other vertebrates, also known as the vertebral column or backbone. It consists of segments known as vertebr...

(Encyclopedia) erythroblastosis fetalis ərĭthˌrəblăstōˈsĭs [key], hemolytic disease of a newborn infant caused by blood group incompatibility between mother and child. Although the Rh factor is responsible f...

(Encyclopedia) family, a basic unit of social structure, the exact definition of which can vary greatly from time to time and from culture to culture. How a society defines family as a primary group, and the functio...

(Encyclopedia) Parmigianino –jäˈnō [key], 1503–40, Italian painter and etcher, one of the most sensitive mannerist artists (see mannerism) and one of the period's finest draftsmen. His real name was Girolamo ...

(Encyclopedia) multiple personality, a very rare psychological disorder in which a person has two or more distinct personalities, each with its own thoughts, feelings, and patterns of behavior. The personalities oft...

(Encyclopedia) learning disabilities, in education, any of various disorders involved in understanding or using spoken or written language, including difficulties in listening, thinking, talking, reading, writing, s...