Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Knausgård, Karl Ove

(Encyclopedia)Knausgård or Knausgaard, Karl Ove, 1968–, Norwegian writer, b. Oslo grad. Univ. of Bergen. He is best known for his six-volume autobiographical work, Min Kamp (2009–11, tr. My Struggle, 2012–18...

Zeno of Elea

(Encyclopedia)Zeno of Elea ēˈlēə [key], c.490–c.430 b.c., Greek philosopher of the Eleatic school. He undertook to support in his only known work, fragments of which are extant, the doctrine of Parmenides by ...

Sedna

(Encyclopedia)Sedna, in astronomy, the most distant known large object in the solar system. With a highly eccentric elliptical orbit that ranges from an estimated 76 AU to 937 AU, Sedna also has an extremely long o...

Barragán, Luis

(Encyclopedia)Barragán, Luis, 1902–88, Mexican architect. Trained as an engineer, he traveled in France and Spain in the 1920s, and in France again in the early 30s when he met and was influenced by Le Corbusier...

science fiction

(Encyclopedia)science fiction, literary genre in which a background of science or pseudoscience is an integral part of the story. Although science fiction is a form of fantastic literature, many of the events recou...

algebraic geometry

(Encyclopedia)algebraic geometry, branch of geometry, based on analytic geometry, that is concerned with geometric objects (loci) defined by algebraic relations among their coordinates (see Cartesian coordinates). ...

Daubigny, Charles-François

(Encyclopedia)Daubigny, Charles-François shärl-fräNswäˈ dōbēnyēˈ [key], 1817–78, French landscape painter. He went to Italy early in life and later studied in Paris with Paul Delaroche. Although usually ...

Cronkite, Walter

(Encyclopedia)Cronkite, Walter (Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr.) krŏngˈkīt, krŏnˈ– [key], 1916–2009, American news broadcaster, b. St. Joseph, Mo. He left (1935) the Univ. of Texas to write for the Houston Pre...

champagne, sparkling white wine

(Encyclopedia)champagne shămpānˈ [key], sparkling white wine made from grapes grown in the old French province of Champagne. The best champagne is from that part of the Marne valley whose apex is Reims, the cent...

Enceladus

(Encyclopedia)Enceladus ĕnsĕlˈədəs [key], in astronomy, one of the named moons, or natural satellites, of Saturn. Also known as Saturn II (or S2), Enceladus is 310 mi (500 km) in diameter, orbits Saturn at a m...

Browse by Subject