Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) piano or pianoforte, musical instrument whose sound is produced by vibrating strings struck by felt hammers that are controlled from a keyboard. The piano's earliest predecessor was the dulcimer. The ...

(Encyclopedia) Brandeis, Louis Dembitz brănˈdīs [key], 1856–1941, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1916–39), b. Louisville, Ky., grad. Harvard law school, 1877. As a successful Boston lawyer (1879...

(Encyclopedia) campaign, political, organized effort to secure nomination and election of candidates for government offices. In the United States, the most important political campaigns are those for the nomination ...

(Encyclopedia) public health, field of medicine and hygiene dealing with the prevention of disease and the promotion of health by government agencies. In the United States, public health authorities are engaged in m...

(Encyclopedia) epilepsy, a chronic disorder of cerebral function characterized by periodic convulsive seizures. There are many conditions that have epileptic seizures. Sudden discharge of excess electrical activity,...

(Encyclopedia) Holocaust hŏlˈəkôstˌ, hōˈlə– [key], name given to the period of persecution and extermination of European Jews by Nazi Germany. Romani (Gypsies), homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, the disabl...

(Encyclopedia) Nouvel, Jean zhäN no͞ovĕlˈ [key], 1945–, French architect, grad. École des Beaux-Arts, Paris (1971). He opened his own firm in 1975, and became known for innovative techniques, the use of moder...

(Encyclopedia) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, scientific research centers run by the Univ. of California, located in Berkeley, Calif., and Livermore, Calif., respec...

(Encyclopedia) Mazepa, Ivan ēvänˈ məzyāˈpə [key], c.1640–1709, Cossack hetman [leader] in the Russian Ukraine. He was made hetman (1687) on the insistence of Prince Gallitzin, adviser to the Russian regent,...

(Encyclopedia) Pickering, Timothy, 1745–1829, American political leader and Revolutionary War army officer, b. Salem, Mass. He was admitted to the bar (1768) and played an active part in pre-Revolutionary activiti...