Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

fiber, dietary

(Encyclopedia)fiber, dietary, bulky part of food that cannot be broken down by enzymes in the small intestine of the digestive system. Almost all natural fiber comes from plants. Although fiber has little nutrition...

Leland, Charles Godfrey

(Encyclopedia)Leland, Charles Godfrey hänsˈ brītmän [key], 1824–1903, American author, b. Philadelphia, grad. College of New Jersey (now Princeton), 1845, studied at Heidelberg, Munich, and Paris. While edito...

Zuloaga, Ignacio

(Encyclopedia)Zuloaga, Ignacio ēgnäˈthyō tho͞olōäˈgä [key], 1870–1945, Spanish painter. He was the son of a celebrated Basque goldsmith. Zuloaga lived chiefly in Paris after 1889, but his subjects were u...

Botero, Fernando

(Encyclopedia)Botero, Fernando, 1932–, Colombian figurative painter and sculptor, b. Medellín, one of the most celebrated contemporary Latin American artists. He attended his native city's university (grad. 1950...

African art

(Encyclopedia)African art, art created by the peoples south of the Sahara. The predominant art forms are masks and figures, which were generally used in religious ceremonies. The decorative arts, especially in text...

chamber of commerce

(Encyclopedia)chamber of commerce, local association of business people organized to promote the welfare of their community, especially its commercial interests. Each chamber of commerce usually has an elected boar...

Stradella, Alessandro

(Encyclopedia)Stradella, Alessandro älĕs-sänˈdrō strädĕlˈlä [key], 1642?–1682, Italian composer of operas, cantatas, oratorios, and instrumental music. Few facts but many legends exist concerning his lif...

Brook, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Brook, Alexander, 1898–1980, American painter, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. Brook's paintings, which are consistently realistic, include portraits, still-life subjects, landscapes, and figures. His color is su...

Morris

(Encyclopedia)Morris, family of prominent American landowners and statesmen. Richard Morris, d. 1672, left England after serving in Oliver Cromwell's army, became a merchant in Barbados, and emigrated to New York C...

Mathews, Max Vernon

(Encyclopedia)Mathews, Max Vernon, 1926–2011, American engineer known as the father of computer music, b. Columbus, Nebr., grad. California Institute of Technology (B.S., 1950), Massachusetts Institute of Technol...