Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

sharia

(Encyclopedia)sharia, the religious law of Islam. As Islam makes no distinction between religion and life, Islamic law covers not only ritual but many aspects of life. The actual codification of canonic law is the ...

nucleosynthesis

(Encyclopedia)nucleosynthesis or nucleogenesis, in astronomy, production of all the chemical elements from the simplest element, hydrogen, by thermonuclear reactions within stars, supernovas, and in the big bang at...

Delambre, Jean Baptiste Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Delambre, Jean Baptiste Joseph zhäN bätēstˈ zhôzĕfˈ dəläNˈbrə [key], 1749–1822, French astronomer and mathematician. He was a member of the bureau of longitudes from 1795 and professor at...

Dumdum

(Encyclopedia)Dumdum dŭmˈdəm [key], four towns in Suburban Kolkata (Calcutta), West Bengal state, E cent...

Cynewulf

(Encyclopedia)Cynewulf kĭnˈəwo͝olfˌ, ko͝onˈ– [key], fl. early 9th cent.?, Old English religious poet of Northumbria or Mercia. Four poems have been ascribed to him on the evidence of his signatures in rune...

Albéniz, Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Albéniz, Isaac ēsäkˈ älbāˈnēth [key], 1860–1909, Spanish pianist and composer. He made his debut as a pianist at the age of four. When still young, he ran away from home and traveled in Nort...

Fifth Monarchy Men

(Encyclopedia)Fifth Monarchy Men, religious group active during the time of the Commonwealth and Protectorate in England. They were millenarians expecting the imminent coming of Jesus to rule the earth. His monarch...

Ivrea

(Encyclopedia)Ivrea ēvrĕˈä [key], city, Piedmont, NW Italy, on the Dora Baltea River. It is a commercia...

Heywood, John

(Encyclopedia)Heywood, John hāˈwo͝od [key], 1497?–1580?, English dramatist. He was employed at the courts of Henry VIII and Mary I as a singer, musician, and playwright. At the accession of Elizabeth I in 1564...

Froome, Chris

(Encyclopedia)Froome, Chris (Christopher Clive Froome), 1985– British bicycle racer, b. Nairobi, Kenya. The most dominant road cyclist of the 2010s, he turned professional in 2007 and has ridden with Teams Konica...