Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Barras, Paul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de

(Encyclopedia)Barras, Paul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de pōl fräNswäˈ zhäN nēkōläˈ, vēkôNtˈ də bäräˈ [key], 1755–1829, French revolutionary. Although of a noble family, he joined the Jacobins...

Retz, Jean François Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de

(Encyclopedia)Retz, Jean François Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de zhäN fräNswäˈ pōl də gôNdēˈ, də rĕts [key], 1613–79, French prelate and political leader. He was made (1643) coadjutor to his uncle, the ar...

folk drama

(Encyclopedia)folk drama, noncommercial, generally rural theater and pageantry based on folk traditions and local history. This form of drama, common throughout the world, declined in popularity in the West (althou...

fermion

(Encyclopedia)fermion fûrˈmēŏnˌ [key]: see elementary particles; exclusion principle; Fermi-Dirac statistics. ...

statistical mechanics

(Encyclopedia)statistical mechanics, quantitative study of systems consisting of a large number of interacting elements, such as the atoms or molecules of a solid, liquid, or gas, or the individual quanta of light ...

Nabis

(Encyclopedia)Nabis näbēˈ [key] [Heb.,=prophets], a group of artists in France active during the 1890s. Paul Sérusier and Maurice Denis were the principal theorists of the group. Outstanding members were Édoua...

Shawinigan

(Encyclopedia)Shawinigan shəwĭnˈĭgŭn [key], city (1991 pop. 19,931), S Que., Canada, on the St. Maurice River. Just north are the falls of the St. Maurice, 150 ft (46 m) high, with a hydroelectric station supp...

quantum electrodynamics

(Encyclopedia)quantum electrodynamics (QED), quantum field theory that describes the properties of electromagnetic radiation and its interaction with electrically charged matter in the framework of quantum theory. ...

Browse by Subject