Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

glaucoma

(Encyclopedia)glaucoma glôkōˈmə [key], ocular disorder characterized by pressure within the eyeball caused by an excessive amount of aqueous humor (the fluid substance filling the eyeball). This causes pressure...

appendix

(Encyclopedia)appendix, small, worm-shaped blind tube, about 3 in. (7.6 cm) long and 1⁄4 in. to 1 in. (.64–2.54 cm) thick, projecting from the cecum (part of the large intestine) on the right side of the lower ...

Sharpton, Rev. Al

(Encyclopedia) Sharpton, Rev. Al (Alfred Charles Sharpton), 1954- , African-American minister and civil rights activist, b, Brownsville, Brooklyn, N.Y. A child-prodi...

Beattie, Ann

(Encyclopedia)Beattie, Ann bēˈtē, bāˈ– [key], 1947–, American writer, b. Washington, D.C. She gained attention in the early 1970s with short stories in the New Yorker; the 48 stories she published (1974–...

Assyrian art

(Encyclopedia)Assyrian art. An Assyrian artistic style distinct from that of Babylonian art (see Sumerian and Babylonian art), which was the dominant contemporary art in Mesopotamia, began to emerge c.1500 b.c. and...

Armstrong, Lance

(Encyclopedia)Armstrong, Lance, 1971–, American cyclist, b. Dallas, Tex. He won (1991) the U.S. amateur cycling championship, turned professional (1992), and by the mid-1990s had won the Tour DuPont twice and was...

Lysippos

(Encyclopedia)Lysippos līsĭpˈəs [key], fl. late 4th cent. b.c., Greek sculptor, head of the Sicyon school. Hellenistic sculpture was based largely on the style he introduced. In treating the human figure, he mo...

Saint Mark's Church

(Encyclopedia)Saint Mark's Church, Venice, named after the tutelary saint of Venice. The original Romanesque basilical church, built in the 9th cent. as a shrine for the saint's bones, was destroyed by fire in 967....

Samanid

(Encyclopedia)Samanid sämäˈnĭd [key], Muslim Persian dynasty that ruled (819–1005) in Khorasan and Transoxiana as vassals of the Abbasids; founded by Saman-Khuda, of old Persian aristocracy. The Samanids were...
 

Browse by Subject