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economic sanctions Economic sanctions, restrictions, including those on trade, travel, and access to financial assets, imposed by a national government upon another government, an organization, or an individual for the purpose of compelling or preventing certain actions or policies on the part of the targeted entity...
Priscilla Presley: A Life in Pictures Priscilla Presley is widely known for her marriage to the “King of Rock and Roll,” Elvis Presley. In the years after Elvis’s death, she became an executor of Graceland, his estate in Memphis, Tennessee, which she helped grow into a hugely successful tourist attraction. She also pursued an acting...
Chris Pine Chris Pine, American actor who is especially adept at portraying intelligent and world-weary characters. He is perhaps best known for the role of Capt. James T. Kirk in the Star Trek movie series. Pine was born into a family of actors. His father, Robert Pine, has appeared in films and television...
Padma Lakshmi Padma Lakshmi, Indian-American fashion model, television personality, and author best known for her role as the host of the cooking competition show Top Chef (2006– ) and of the food and travel series Taste the Nation (2020– ). Born in Chennai, India, Lakshmi moved to New York City in 1974, at the...
Paris Street; Rainy Day Paris Street; Rainy Day, oil-on-canvas painting (1877) by French artist Gustave Caillebotte depicting contemporary Parisians holding umbrellas as they crisscross the city just as a rain shower seems to have subsided. Considered the artist’s masterpiece, Paris Street; Rainy Day merges the modern...
Spencer Haywood Spencer Haywood, American professional basketball player whose lawsuit forced the National Basketball Association (NBA) to end its requirement that a player be out of high school for four years to be eligible to compete in the league. Haywood won an NBA championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in...
Arrested Development Arrested Development, American television sitcom created by Mitchell Hurwitz and executive produced by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. Arrested Development aired from 2003 to 2006 on the Fox network, followed by a two-season reboot on Netflix in 2013 and 2018–19. The series follows the dysfunctional...
biosphere reserve Biosphere reserve, in general, a discrete parcel of terrestrial, marine, or coastal ecosystems that is managed according to special regulations for the purpose of conserving habitats and biological communities within the context of highlighting how people live in balance with their environment....
Encyclopædia Britannica First Edition: Dogs The following is taken from the first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1768–71), where it forms part of the first section of the article “Canis” in volume 2. Editor William Smellie adapted this material from the account in French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon’s Histoire...
history of Tuvalu History of Tuvalu, a survey of notable events and people in the history of Tuvalu, from ancient times to the present day. Tuvalu, located in the west-central Pacific Ocean, is composed of nine small coral islands scattered in a chain lying approximately northwest to southeast over a distance of...
organic chemistry Organic chemistry, field of science concerned with the composition, properties, and structure of chemical elements and compounds that contain carbon atoms. Carbon is unique in the variety and extent of structures that can result from the three-dimensional connections of its atoms. Organic chemistry...
history of Solomon Islands History of Solomon Islands, a survey of notable events and people in the history of Solomon Islands, a country lying in the southwestern Pacific Ocean and part of the island group known as Melanesia. Solomon Islands consists of a double chain of volcanic islands and coral atolls in Melanesia. The...
Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas, oil painting created in 1963 by American artist Ed Ruscha. The image is an icon of the Pop art movement. Ruscha was born in Nebraska but grew up in Oklahoma City, and in 1956 he moved to Los Angeles, California. There, he enrolled at the Chouinard Art Institute...
Mike Davis Mike Davis, American historian, urban theorist, and political activist whose works reflected his commitment to Marxist ideology. He lived most of his life in southern California, and much of his work sought to explain the region’s geography and political economy. His 1990 book City of Quartz:...
Richard Nixon’s “last” press conference Richard Nixon’s “last” press conference, (1962) press conference at which Republican politician Richard Nixon, the former U.S. vice president (1953–61), having lost a close race for the presidency to John F. Kennedy (1960) and a run for the governorship of California to incumbent Edmund G. (“Pat”)...
Lydia Villa-Komaroff Lydia Villa-Komaroff, American molecular biologist whose research led to the discovery that bacteria could be engineered to produce insulin, a hormone that plays a critical role in regulating glucose levels in the blood. Villa-Komaroff’s breakthrough ultimately improved the production and...
Elizabeth Debicki Elizabeth Debicki, Australian screen and stage actress best known for playing Diana, princess of Wales, in the fifth season (2022) of the Netflix series The Crown and Jordan Baker in Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (2013). Debicki was born in Paris to an...
calcium carbonate Calcium carbonate (CaCO3), chemical compound consisting of one atom of calcium, one of carbon, and three of oxygen that is the major constituent of limestone, marble, chalk, eggshells, bivalve shells, and corals. Calcium carbonate is either a white powder or a colorless crystal. When heated, it...
Jeanne Baret Jeanne Baret, French botanist and explorer, the first woman to circumnavigate the globe. Disguised as a man aboard a French naval vessel, she collected samples of more than 6,000 plant specimens from around the world. Baret was born in a rural village in France to a family of laborers who likely...
Keith Richards Keith Richards, British musician and guitar innovator best known as the guitarist and songwriter for the British rock band the Rolling Stones. The hard-edged, energetic rock act, one of the most successful in music history, owes much of its success to Richards’s chord-heavy playing style, which is...
The Painter’s Studio The Painter’s Studio, oil painting created in 1854–55 by French artist Gustave Courbet. The most mysterious of his paintings, this relatively early work initially garnered the praise of Eugène Delacroix alone. When this painting was rejected for the Universal Exposition, Courbet opened his own...
Snow Storm—Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth Snow Storm—Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth, oil painting created about 1842 by English seascape artist J.M.W. Turner. Turner’s increasingly experimental work drew heavy criticism during the 1840s, and this painting was damned by some critics as “soapsuds and whitewash.” Influential contemporary...
Snap the Whip Snap the Whip, oil painting created in 1872 by American artist Winslow Homer. When Snap the Whip appeared, Homer was already a somewhat well-known and admired painter. However, this painting can be said to have ushered in a new period in Homer’s career, a transition from his earliest years through...
The Sleeping Gypsy The Sleeping Gypsy, oil painting created in 1897 by French naïve artist Henri Rousseau. This work is perhaps the most important of the period when Rousseau began to receive recognition as an artist and is one of the most famous images of the modern era. Rousseau was entirely self-taught and did not...
William Kamkwamba William Kamkwamba, Malawian inventor and author who worked on projects to improve the lives of his family and the residents of Masitala, the rural village in Malawi where he grew up. As a teenager, he made a windmill out of scrap materials that provided electricity to his family’s house. He wrote a...
interjection Interjection, an exclamatory word or phrase used to express an emotional reaction or to emphasize a thought. It is one of eight parts of speech in English grammar. Interjections are grammatically independent from the words around them, and they can often be removed from a sentence or context...
Israeli-Saudi peace deal Israeli-Saudi peace deal, anticipated agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia to normalize ties. Serious discussions toward normalized ties between the countries began after the Abraham Accords were announced in 2020. Saudi Arabia first raised the prospect of normal relations with Israel in 2002...
Davy Jones Davy Jones, British pop singer and actor best known as the front man for the American music group the Monkees, which had a brief run in the 1960s as a wildly successful made-for-TV foursome, followed by decades of nostalgic reunions. Jones grew up in poverty, sleeping with his three siblings in a...
Narayana Guru Narayana Guru, Indian social reformer, poet, and Hindu sage who led a movement against the Hindu caste system. Guru believed that all people are equal and thus belong to just one caste, the caste of humankind. He expressed this idea in his famous saying, “One caste, one religion, one god for...
timeline of the Holocaust Even before the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, they had made no secret of their anti-Semitism. As early as 1919 Adolf Hitler had written, “Rational anti-Semitism, however, must lead to systematic legal opposition.…Its final objective must unswervingly be the removal of the Jews...
Jonny Kim Jonny Kim, Korean American Navy SEAL, doctor, aviator, and astronaut who is a member of NASA’s Artemis team, which aims to land humans on the Moon for the first time since 1972. Kim is a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy. Kim was born to South Korean immigrants in Los Angeles on February 5,...
Mandy Patinkin Mandy Patinkin, American actor and singer known for his award-winning performances on stage, film, and television. His notable credits include the movies Yentl (1983) and The Princess Bride (1987), the stage musical Sunday in the Park with George (1984–85), and the TV series Homeland (2011–20)....
Lynda Barry Lynda Barry, American cartoonist and author known for her syndicated weekly comic strip Ernie Pook’s Comeek (1979–2008) and the graphic novels The Good Times Are Killing Me (1988) and What It Is (2008). Barry was born to a father of Irish and Norwegian descent who worked as a butcher and a mother...
Text of the Constitution of the United States On September 17, 1787, the United States Constitution—the oldest written constitution still in effect today—was approved and signed in Philadelphia by thirty-nine delegates to the federal convention. The document has been hailed as the most successful work of its kind in modern history. The...
index case Index case, in public health, the first case of a disease or other condition that is noticed by health authorities. Index cases may be reported in relation to infectious disease outbreaks or to occurrences of noninfectious diseases or health conditions. They may also be reported within a region or...
history of the Netherlands History of the Netherlands, a survey of notable events and people in the history of the Netherlands, from its founding in 1579 to the present. For information concerning the period prior to that date, see history of the Low Countries. “Netherlands” means low-lying country; the name Holland (from...
radio-frequency identification Radio-frequency identification (RFID), method of wireless communication that uses electromagnetic waves to identify and track tags attached to objects, people, or animals. The attached tags, called RFID tags, store digitally encoded data that can be read by an RFID reader. The reader does not need...
Tracy Chapman Tracy Chapman, American singer-songwriter who quickly rose to fame in the late 1980s as result of the phenomenal overnight success of her eponymous debut album, which sold some one million copies within two weeks of its release in 1988, partly as a result of the broad appeal of its lead single,...
Morocco earthquake of 2023 Morocco earthquake of 2023, severe earthquake that struck near the town of Oukaïmedene in western Morocco on September 8, 2023. More than 2,900 people were killed and 5,500 people injured in the shallow magnitude-6.8 temblor and its aftershocks. The earthquake heavily damaged parts of the ancient...
global food security Global food security, the availability of and access to resources in sufficient quantities to achieve adequate nutrition for the world population. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, in 2022 some 2.4 billion people—about 29.6 percent of the world...
Connie Chung Connie Chung, American broadcast journalist who helped break down gender barriers in the late 20th century to become one of the first woman reporters on national television in the United States. She was also the first Asian American anchor of a major network newscast. Among the many exclusive...
Hunter Biden Hunter Biden, American attorney and businessman and the sole surviving son of Joe Biden, 46th president of the United States. The Yale-educated lawyer has held an array of positions at law firms, financial institutions, and lobbying firms that have raised questions about whether he has profited...
Jerusalem in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Whose capital is it? For decades Jerusalem’s status has been among the most contentious issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The city is home to hundreds of thousands of people who belong to either nationality, Israeli or Palestinian, and both Israelis and Palestinians want the historic city to serve as their...
Marc Brown Marc Brown, American children’s book author and illustrator, best known as the creator of the Arthur series, of which he wrote dozens of books. He also helped to create the Arthur television series, which aired in more than 80 countries. Brown grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania. His father, LeRoy Brown,...
cross-validation Cross-validation, data resampling technique used in machine learning to evaluate the performance of predictive models. Cross-validation is used to assess a model’s predictive capability by testing its generalizability with different portions of a dataset. Cross-validation is one of the most common...
Ian Hacking Ian Hacking, Canadian philosopher whose historical analyses of the natural and social sciences as well as mathematics greatly influenced 20th- and 21st-century philosophical discourse. Hacking was the only child of Harold and Margaret (née MacDougall) Hacking. He grew up in Vancouver and attended...
Alexander Soros Alexander Soros, American philanthropist and a son of financier and philanthropist George Soros. Alexander Soros was born in New York City in 1985 to George Soros and Susan Weber, then a decorative arts specialist. He was George’s fourth child but the first from his marriage to Weber. Soros grew up...
Joan Benoit Samuelson Joan Benoit Samuelson, American long-distance runner who won the first Olympic gold medal awarded for the women’s marathon, which debuted at the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. During her career, she also held U.S. records for the 10 km, the half-marathon, and the marathon as well as a world...
Tim Lincecum Tim Lincecum, American baseball player who was a star pitcher for the San Francisco Giants in the early 21st century. He earned the nickname “The Freak” for his unconventional pitching delivery that involved a high-kicking windup, an extraordinarily long stride down the mound, and a whiplike...
sustainable development Sustainable development, approach to social, economic, and environmental planning that attempts to balance the social and economic needs of present and future human generations with the imperative of preserving, or preventing undue damage to, the natural environment. Sustainable development lacks a...
list of country calling codes This is an alphabetically ordered list of the countries of the world with their calling codes. To dial a telephone number in another country, one dials the international prefix (011, when dialing from a landline in the U.S.; cell phones use the plus sign [+]), the country code, the area code, and...
list of brightest stars These are the 26 brightest stars as seen from Earth, listed in descending order of brightness. The list includes each star’s apparent magnitude and constellation (except for the Sun). Astronomical magnitude is on a scale in which smaller magnitudes are brighter than larger...
Democratic National Convention Democratic National Convention (DNC), quadrennial meeting of the U.S. Democratic Party, at which delegates select the party’s presidential and vice presidential nominees. The Democratic Party held its first national convention in May 1832 in Baltimore, Maryland. The party, which had been known...
gum arabic Gum arabic, dried water-soluble exudate that comes primarily from two species of acacia in sub-Saharan Africa, Acacia senegal and A. seyal, and that has numerous applications, particularly in the food industry and in areas such as ceramics, painting, photography, and printmaking. Humans have in...
Grace Slick Grace Slick, American musician and artist best known as the colead vocalist of the classic rock band Jefferson Airplane and its spinoff bands, Jefferson Starship and Starship. Slick’s striking beauty, stage presence, and dynamic contralto voice enabled Jefferson Airplane to become one of the most...
history of Cameroon History of Cameroon, a survey of the notable events and people in the history of Cameroon, from the 5th century ce to the present day. Cameroon is located at the junction of western and central Africa. The country’s name is derived from Rio dos Camarões (“River of Prawns”)—the name given to the...
reaction formation Reaction formation, in the field of psychoanalysis, a defense mechanism wherein an anxiety-producing impulse is replaced by an opposite idea or behaviour. Reaction formation was first conceptualized by Austrian-born British psychoanalyst Anna Freud; it was one of 10 types of defense mechanisms...
National Lampoon National Lampoon, American adult-oriented humour magazine published between 1970 and 1998, notable for its spot-on parodies as well as its influence on popular culture. National Lampoon was established by Harvard University graduates Henry Beard, Robert Hoffman, and Doug Kenney, all of whom had...
Thomas Hudner Thomas Hudner, American naval officer and the first Medal of Honor recipient of the Korean War. He was a subject of the 2022 film Devotion. Hudner grew up in a manufacturing town in Massachusetts. After attending Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, he was accepted into the United States...
member states of the Commonwealth The 56 member states of the Commonwealth, which is also called Commonwealth of Nations, encompass the United Kingdom and 55 of its former dependencies. After becoming independent, these 55 states have chosen to work with one another and with the United Kingdom in cooperation while also recognizing...
paranormal Paranormal, term commonly applied to experiences or events that seem unusual or unnatural. Those who experience paranormal events often attribute them to magical, supernatural, or folkloric origins while disregarding the steps normally taken to attain rational scientific explanations. Because of...
Jodie Comer Jodie Comer, English actress best known for playing psychopathic assassin Villanelle on the award-winning BBC America spy thriller Killing Eve (2018–22). Comer is the eldest of two children born to Donna Comer, a Merseyrail employee, and James Comer, a physiotherapist for Everton Football Club. The...
Freaks and Geeks Freaks and Geeks, cult-classic teen coming-of-age television series focusing on two groups of high-school students in suburban Michigan in 1980. Freaks and Geeks aired on the NBC network for one season from 1999 to 2000 before its cancellation. Created by Paul Feig with Judd Apatow serving as its...
Fermi paradox Fermi paradox, contradiction between the seemingly high likelihood for the emergence of extraterrestrial intelligence and the lack of evidence for its existence. The paradox has two broad forms: (1) Why has Earth not already been visited? and (2) Why is there no evidence for extraterrestrial...
Awkwafina Awkwafina, American comedian, actress, and rapper known for her low raspy voice, explicit comedy raps, and quick delivery of comedic one-liners. After she posted her rap song “My Vag” on YouTube in 2012, her fame steadily rose, and she soon landed parts in such movies as Ocean’s Eight (2018), Crazy...
Diane Nash Diane Nash, American civil rights activist who was a leading figure in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s, especially known for her involvement in sit-ins and the Freedom Rides. Nash’s efforts contributed to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965....
Edmund Pettus Bridge Edmund Pettus Bridge, bridge crossing the Alabama River in Selma, Alabama, that was the site of what became known as “Bloody Sunday,” a landmark event in the history of the American civil rights movement. On that day, March 7, 1965, white law-enforcement officers violently dispersed protesters, the...
Herb Alpert Herb Alpert, American trumpeter and music industry executive known for leading the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass and for cofounding A&M Records. Hit albums by Herb Alpert, one of the best-selling instrumentalists of all time, helped A&M Records become an industry powerhouse. Alpert was the...
Oslo Accords Oslo Accords, set of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) that established a peace process for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a mutually negotiated two-state solution. The agreements resulted in limited self-governance for Palestinians in the West Bank...
Ghost Forests Are Becoming the New Haunts of Climate Change What are ghost forests? How do ghost forests emerge, and how do they affect the global environment?...
womanism Womanism, feminist intellectual framework that focuses on the conditions and concerns of women of colour, especially Black women. Womanists work to address injustices that have not been generally recognized within mainstream feminism. The term womanist was coined by the American author Alice Walker...
The Old Testament Trinity The Old Testament Trinity, tempera icon created about 1410 by Andrey Rublyov, who is regarded as one of the greatest medieval Russian painters of icons and frescoes. The Old Testament Trinity is perhaps the most revered and valued icon in Russia. Rublyov is thought to have received his training...
Prismes Électriques Prismes Électriques, Orphist oil painting created in 1914 by Russian-born artist Sonia Delaunay. This painting is an icon of the full and mature expression of Orphism. Delaunay was born in Gradizhsk, Ukraine (then in the Russian Empire) and grew up in St. Petersburg before moving to Paris in 1905,...
Portrait of Mademoiselle Charlotte du Val d’Ognes Portrait of Mademoiselle Charlotte du Val d’Ognes, unsigned oil painting believed to have been created about 1801 that is attributed to French artist Marie Denise Villers. The painting, which was likely exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1801, has had different attributions and interpretations, mostly...
Ginger Baker Ginger Baker, English drummer and percussionist known for his flamboyant playing style that incorporated intricate polyrhythms influenced by jazz, rock, and West African music. Baker was widely considered rock’s first superstar drummer, serving as the drummer for the seminal British rock outfits...
St. Joseph the Carpenter St. Joseph the Carpenter, oil painting created about 1642–44 by French artist Georges de la Tour. One of the candle-lit paintings for which Tour is best known, this intimate religious scene is also touchingly human. The story of the artist’s life and works is patchy. Although he enjoyed success and...
The Red Studio The Red Studio, oil painting created in 1911 by French artist Henri Matisse. It is a challenging painting that has confounded critics and viewers and is regarded as a foundational piece of modern art. Matisse is known as the great colourist of the 20th century, and The Red Studio is one of the best...
Malcolm-Jamal Warner Malcolm-Jamal Warner, American actor, director, and musician who is perhaps best known for his work on The Cosby Show (1984–92), one of the most popular sitcoms in television history. He also is a noted spoken-word artist. Warner was born in New Jersey. His parents—Pamela Warner, who later became...
Jean Berko Gleason Jean Berko Gleason, American psycholinguist best known as the creator of the Wug Test, a tool used to study children’s language acquisition. A pioneer in the field of children’s language, Gleason has been called the founder of experimental developmental psycholinguistics. She created the Wug Test...
Stanley Cup champions Stanley Cup champions, winners of the annual best-of-seven series of ice hockey games that determines that season’s titlist in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Stanley Cup is named for its donor, Frederick Arthur, Lord Stanley of Preston, a former governor-general of Canada. He originally...
McGurk effect McGurk effect, an audiovisual speech illusion that demonstrates the impact of visual cues on speech perception, particularly the identification of spoken syllables. The effect was named after cognitive psychologist Harry McGurk, who, along with cognitive psychologist John MacDonald, discovered the...
Bertha Pappenheim Bertha Pappenheim, Austrian Jewish activist who was a founder of the League of Jewish Women and who is widely considered to have been the first patient of psychoanalysis. Pappenheim was a well-documented patient of Austrian physician Josef Breuer in the early 1880s; she became known by the...
Roxane Gay Roxane Gay, American writer and cultural critic who gained acclaim in 2014 for her book Bad Feminist, a collection of essays that reflects on her personal experiences, pop culture, and hot-button social issues. A prolific writer, she also published works of fiction and memoir, served as an editor...
history of the Dominican Republic History of the Dominican Republic, a survey of important events and people in the history of the Dominican Republic from the time of European settlement. The Dominican Republic occupies the eastern two-thirds of Hispaniola, the second largest island of the Greater Antilles chain in the Caribbean...
Heavy Metal Heavy Metal, Canadian animated science-fiction anthology film directed by Gerald Potterton and released in 1981. The film features stories that originally appeared in Heavy Metal magazine, as well as tales conceived specifically for the film. Aimed at an adult audience, Heavy Metal was hailed as an...
How deep is the ocean? The prospect of comprehending just how vast and deep Earth’s oceans are is a challenging one. Earth’s surface is dominated by the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Southern oceans, which together cover some 71 percent of the planet and whose average collective depth is 12,100 feet (3,688...
Alexander Litvinenko Alexander Litvinenko, Russian security agent who investigated domestic organized crime in his role as a member of the KGB and its successor (from 1994) the Federal Security Service (FSB). He died after being intentionally poisoned with polonium-210; numerous investigatory bodies ruled that the...
Sarah, Duchess of York Sarah, Duchess of York, former wife (1986–96) of Prince Andrew, Duke of York. After they divorced in 1996, Sarah became a prolific author, television personality, entrepreneur, and public figure. A descendant of British royalty, Ferguson was the second daughter of parents who divorced when she was...
Elliot Page Elliot Page, Canadian actor best known for his performances in the comedy-drama film Juno (2007) and the Netflix television series The Umbrella Academy (2019– ). Page was assigned female at birth and named Ellen by his parents, graphic designer Dennis Page and elementary school teacher Martha...
Rudolf Vrba Rudolf Vrba, Slovak Jewish biochemist, one of five Jewish prisoners to ever escape Auschwitz, the most lethal of the extermination camps in existence during World War II. Vrba’s detailed retelling of events at Auschwitz informed the 1944 Vrba-Wetzler Report, a critical account of the protocol for...
Genie Genie, American child raised in social isolation and subject to severe abuse and neglect prior to being discovered by a social worker in 1970. The child, called Genie by scientists to protect her identity, was physically underdeveloped, incontinent, barely able to walk, and unable to speak when she...
Super Bowl champions Super Bowl champions, winners of the annual American football title game in the National Football League (NFL). The Super Bowl was first played in 1967 and was initially called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game, as it was, at the time, contested between the winners of two separate football...
cursive Cursive, style of handwriting distinguished by rounded shapes in a word and, frequently, connection of characters. Cursive style allows the pen to flow in continuous strokes, accelerating the handwriting speed of a practiced hand. Though modern cursive is often associated with languages that use...
Robert H. Bork Robert H. Bork, American legal scholar, federal judge, and onetime U.S. solicitor general (1973–77) whose nomination to a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court by Republican Pres. Ronald Reagan in 1987 was rejected by a bipartisan majority of the U.S. Senate. The opposition to Bork’s nomination among...
means-ends analysis Means-ends analysis, heuristic, or trial-and-error, problem-solving strategy in which an end goal is identified and then fulfilled via the generation of subgoals and action plans that help overcome obstacles encountered along the way. Solving a problem with means-ends analysis typically begins by...
Creature from the Black Lagoon Creature from the Black Lagoon, American science-fiction film released in 1954 about the discovery of a prehistoric amphibious humanoid in the waters of the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest. Directed by Jack Arnold and shot in black-and-white 3-D, the film spawned two sequels, Revenge of the Creature...
history of ice hockey History of ice hockey, notable events and people in the development of ice hockey since its creation during the 19th century. Known simply as “hockey” throughout North America (despite the confusion this creates with the less-prominent field hockey), it is unique among popular team sports in that...
bycatch Bycatch, term for any fish, mammal, bird, or other animal or group of animals captured unintentionally by the commercial fishing industry. Bycatch is closely related to the term discard, which is the amount of haul that is discarded back into the ocean, alive or dead. Bycatch becomes discard when...
food insecurity Food insecurity, the limited or uncertain access to nutritious food, which also includes limitations on the ability to obtain nutritious food in ways that are socially acceptable. Approximately 2.4 billion people worldwide (some 29.6 percent of the human population) experience moderate or severe...
history of Djibouti History of Djibouti, a survey of notable events and people in the history of Djibouti, from the late 19th century to the present day. Djibouti is a small country on the northeast coast of the Horn of Africa. It is situated on the Bab el Mandeb Strait, which lies to the east and separates the Red...
history of Ethiopia History of Ethiopia, a survey of notable events and people in the history of Ethiopia, from the prehistoric era to the present day. Ethiopia is the largest and most populated country in the Horn of Africa. It is also one of the world’s oldest countries (sometimes referred to as Abyssinia in...
Fortune 500 Fortune 500, annual list published by Fortune magazine ranking 500 of the largest companies incorporated and operated in the United States. Using publicly available data, Fortune ranks public and private companies on the basis of their previous year’s annual revenue. This widely known ranking is...
Spongiforma squarepantsii Spongiforma squarepantsii, species of fungus found on the island of Borneo, in the extreme southwestern Pacific Ocean, and known in particular for its shape, which is similar to that of a sea sponge, and for its pale orange colour. Spongiforma squarepantsii was discovered in 2010 by mycologists...
Vredefort Dome Vredefort Dome, the largest known meteorite impact structure on Earth. The Vredefort Dome is an area of raised land near the town of Vredefort in the Free State province of South Africa. The dome is at the centre of a crater formed by the impact of a very large meteorite about 2.023 billion years...
Chris Van Allsburg Chris Van Allsburg, American author and illustrator who created several critically acclaimed children’s books. Van Allsburg made narrative and pictures work together to convincingly blur the line between fantasy and reality. He won the Caldecott Medal twice, for his books Jumanji (1981) and The...
1960s counterculture 1960s counterculture, a broad-ranging social movement in the United States, Canada, and western Europe that rejected conventional mores and traditional authorities and whose members variously advocated peace, love, social justice, and revolution. The 1960s counterculture movement, which generally...
Ayrton Senna Ayrton Senna, Brazilian race-car driver who gained fame for being a fierce competitor renowned for his ruthless and risky maneuvers on the Grand Prix circuit. He rose quickly through the ranks of professional racing, capturing 41 Grand Prix titles and three circuit world championships (1988, 1990,...
Mont Sainte-Victoire Mont Sainte-Victoire, oil painting created in 1902–04 by French artist Paul Cézanne, one of more than 80 works in which he portrayed the limestone mountain ridge. This rendering was one of his later and more analytical such studies. At the heart of Cézanne’s ambitions for painting was the desire to...
Jill Tarter Jill Tarter, American astronomer known for her work in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Tarter traces her own fascination with outer space and the possibility of alien life back to time she spent with her father walking on the beaches of Florida and looking at the stars. Her...
Nude (1917) Nude (1917), oil painting created in 1917 by Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani, one of dozens of nudes that he painted between 1916 and 1919. These nudes are among the most important portraits of the 20th century. Modigliani was born in Livorno, Italy. He briefly attended art classes...
covariance Covariance, measure of the relationship between two random variables on the basis of their joint variability. Covariance primarily indicates the direction of a relationship and can be calculated by finding the expected value of the product of each variable’s deviations from its mean. Although its...
Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1, oil painting created in 1932 by pioneering American artist Georgia O’Keeffe. The painting, which hung for several years in the private dining room at the White House, set a record price for a work by a female artist in 2014 when it was purchased for $44.4 million by...
The Laughing Cavalier The Laughing Cavalier, oil painting created in 1624 by Dutch artist Frans Hals. This painting belongs to the artist’s middle period, when the joie de vivre that characterized his early work had begun to disappear, and it gained its title when it was exhibited in London in the 1870s. Hals was born...
list of Indian spices The cuisine of India is varied thanks to the country’s diverse cultures and history. The following are 10 Indian spices that are central to the flavours of the...
Nocturne in Black and Gold, the Falling Rocket Nocturne in Black and Gold, the Falling Rocket, oil painting created about 1875 by American-born artist James McNeill Whistler. This work is famous for having led to a lawsuit between Whistler, an instrumental figure within the English Aesthetic movement, and the art critic John Ruskin. In 1877,...
proxy war Proxy war, a military conflict in which one or more third parties directly or indirectly support one or more state or nonstate combatants in an effort to influence the conflict’s outcome and thereby to advance their own strategic interests or to undermine those of their opponents. Third parties in...
John Malkovich John Malkovich, American actor who is best known for his roles in a number of commercially and critically successful films, as well as for his work on stage and on television. He gained fame for his performances in the films Dangerous Liaisons (1988), In the Line of Fire (1993), and Being John...
Lynn Redgrave Lynn Redgrave, British-born stage and screen actress who is perhaps best known for her breakout performance in the motion picture Georgy Girl (1966), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. Although she never achieved the same fame as her elder sister, Vanessa Redgrave, and her elder...
casualties of World War II Casualties of World War II, World War II, the deadliest and most destructive war in human history, claimed between 40 and 50 million lives, displaced tens of millions of people, and cost more than $1 trillion to prosecute. The financial cost to the United States alone was more than $341 billion...
Chaka Khan Chaka Khan, American singer whose incredible vocal range and dynamic stage presence helped make her the “Queen of Funk.” She has sold some 70 million records, backed by such hits as “I Feel for You” and “Through the Fire” (both 1984). Yvette Stevens is the eldest of five children born to Sandra...
s S, nineteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. It corresponds to the Semitic sin “tooth.” The Greek treatment of the sibilants that occur in the Semitic alphabet is somewhat complicated. The Semitic samech appears in Greek as Ξ (xi) with the value in early times of /ss/, later and more...
gender symbol Gender symbol, visual signifier of an individual’s self-conception as male or female, as some combination thereof, or as someone outside those categories altogether. Gender symbols are frequently used to represent and distinguish individuals based on their gender identity or biological sex. The...
G. Gordon Liddy G. Gordon Liddy, American political operative and a mastermind of the break-ins that led to the Watergate scandal, which ultimately resulted in the resignation of U.S. Pres. Richard Nixon. Later, Liddy became a successful right-wing radio talk-show host. His bushy mustache and intense stare made...
Garrett Morgan Garrett Morgan, American entrepreneur, inventor, and activist known for his safety innovations in the early 20th century, especially a protective hood that was a forerunner of the modern gas mask and an early traffic signal. Morgan was also involved in African American social causes. Morgan was the...
Walter Dean Myers Walter Dean Myers was a prolific American children’s author who is best known for his urban fiction inspired by his childhood and adolescence in the Harlem district of New York City. His body of work consists of more than a hundred books, including novels, picture books, and poetry. Walter Milton...
Matt LeBlanc Matt LeBlanc, American actor best known for playing the dim-witted but lovable ladies’ man Joey Tribbiani on the hit TV show Friends (1994–2004). LeBlanc was born in Newton, Massachusetts, near Boston, to Patricia (née Di Cillo) LeBlanc, an office manager, and Paul LeBlanc, a mechanic. The couple...
Donald Trump’s very busy calendar Campaigning for president of the United States is a full-time job. There are speeches to deliver, debates to prepare for, and babies to kiss. But imagine if you were trying to do that while defending yourself against four criminal cases. Donald Trump, the leading candidate to become the Republican...
lecanemab Lecanemab, human monoclonal antibody used for the treatment of Alzheimer disease. Lecanemab clears away and blocks the formation of a sticky protein in the brain known as amyloid beta. Abnormal deposits of amyloid, called amyloid plaques, are toxic to neurons and eventually cause neuronal death and...
history of the Philippines History of the Philippines, a survey of notable events and people in the history of the Philippines. The Philippines takes its name from Philip II, who was king of Spain during the Spanish colonization of the islands in the 16th century. Because it was under Spanish rule for 333 years and under...
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Native American artist whose drawings, paintings, sculptures, and prints build on Modernist vocabularies to explore Native American history, identity, and sociopolitical relationship with the United States. Art critic Jillian Steinhauer wrote in The New York Times in 2023,...
Mad Mad, American satirical magazine that started as a four-colour comic book in 1952 and transitioned into a black-and-white magazine in 1955. Mad quickly became one of the best-selling humour magazines in the United States and inspired numerous imitators. It is notable for its film and television...
history of Bulgaria History of Bulgaria, a survey of important events and people in the history of Bulgaria from ancient times to the present. Evidence of human habitation in the area of Bulgaria dates from sometime within the Middle Paleolithic Period (Old Stone Age; 100,000 to 40,000 bce). Agricultural communities,...
history of Finland History of Finland, a survey of important events and people in the history of Finland from the time of its settlement. One of the world’s most northern and geographically remote countries, Finland forms a symbolic northern border between western and eastern Europe: dense wilderness and Russia to...
matsutake mushroom Matsutake mushroom, (Tricholoma matsutake), prized edible and medicinal wood-dwelling fungus of the family Tricholomataceae (order Agaricales). Matsutake mushrooms are native to the pine forests of East Asia and northern Europe. Considered delicacies, these economically valuable mushrooms have...
Bellatrix Bellatrix, the 26th brightest star in the sky and the third brightest star in the constellation of Orion. Bellatrix is also one of the 57 stars of celestial navigation. Orion is bisected by the celestial equator and hence is visible from almost any part of the world. Bellatrix is situated at the...
decline of the Ottoman Empire Decline of the Ottoman Empire, period of Ottoman history that followed the empire’s zenith in the 16th century until its dissolution in the 20th century. The Ottoman Empire saw a remarkable expansion in the 14th and 15th centuries. It reached its peak after the momentous capture of Constantinople—a...
history of baseball History of baseball, overview of notable events and people in the history of baseball. Long known as “America’s Pastime,” the sport was not actually created in the United States and has been passed over in popularity by American football. Nevertheless, baseball remains, to many, inextricably tied...
history of South Korea History of South Korea, history of South Korea since the Korean War. For a discussion of the earlier history of the Korean peninsula, see Korea. The First Republic, established in August 1948, adopted a presidential system, and Syngman Rhee was subsequently elected its first president. South Korea...
list of prime ministers of Pakistan The office of prime minister was inaugurated alongside Pakistan’s independence in 1947. It was abolished for several years under the country’s second constitution, which instituted a presidential system of government. The office was restored in December 1971, at the tail end of the war between West...
space-based solar power Space-based solar power, the collection in space of solar energy, which is then transmitted as a microwave or laser beam to the ground and converted into electrical energy. The idea of space-based solar power predates the space age. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky proposed in 1923 that space-based mirrors...
list of EGOT winners It seems everyone is agog for the EGOT. The acronym refers to the four major performing-arts awards in North America: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. Winning all of the honours is one of the most coveted achievements in entertainment. However, that was not always the case. In fact, the feat was...
hurricane intensity scales Several scales of tropical cyclone intensity have been developed, one of the first being the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale, which was devised in the United States in the early 1970s. This scale—created by American engineer Herbert Saffir and American meteorologist Robert Simpson (director of...
Salt-N-Pepa Salt-N-Pepa, American rap group that became one of the first all-female ensembles not only to break into the male-dominated rap music scene but also to cross over into the pop world. Their songs conveyed an independent, feminist attitude and were hugely popular. Salt-N-Pepa was founded by Salt...
Fur Traders Descending the Missouri Fur Traders Descending the Missouri, luminist oil painting created in 1845 by American frontier artist George Caleb Bingham. Bingham was known for paintings that immortalize the vanished world of the North American frontier, and this is one of his best-known works. His solemn reverence for the...
Michael McDonald Michael McDonald, American singer-songwriter best known as the lead vocalist and keyboardist for the rock band the Doobie Brothers. McDonald became a fixture on rock radio with his rich and soulful vocals. He followed up his successful stint with the Doobie Brothers with a durable solo career,...
Why does AI art screw up hands and fingers? It’s breathtaking. It’s a digital masterpiece. Why do its hands look like that? In July 2022 OpenAI, an artificial intelligence (AI) company, introduced DALL-E 2, one of the first AI image generators widely available to the public. Users could type in a prompt—anything from “Beyoncé eating pizza”...
Glenn Greenwald Glenn Greenwald, American journalist, author, and lawyer who throughout 2013 published stories based on a trove of documents obtained by intelligence contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden. This reporting revealed large-scale covert information gathering by the U.S. National Security Agency...
Dennis Miller Dennis Miller, American comedian and actor known for his work on Saturday Night Live (SNL), his brief run as a commentator on Monday Night Football, and his conservative political views. He is also famous for peppering his speech with obscure historical references and drawing from his extensive...
osmotic pressure Osmotic pressure, the amount of force applied to a solution that prevents solvent from moving across a semipermeable membrane. Osmosis is the spontaneous flow of solvent from a solution with a lower concentration of solutes to a more concentrated solution, with flow occurring across a semipermeable...
The Horse Fair The Horse Fair, large oil painting created in 1852–55 by French realist artist Rosa Bonheur. Bonheur, who learned the fundamentals of art from her father, artist Raymond Bonheur, was famed for her paintings of animals, and The Horse Fair is widely regarded as her masterpiece. Bonheur’s style...
preposition Preposition, a word that indicates the relationship of a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase (a group of words that function collectively as a noun) to another word or phrase in a sentence. It is one of eight parts of speech in English grammar. Prepositions have a variety of functions and meanings, which...
pseudopodial locomotion Pseudopodial locomotion, movement that results when a cell extends a temporary projection of membrane and then flows its cellular contents to fill the extension. Pseudopodial locomotion is a type of cellular movement used by certain eukaryotes, particularly slime molds and certain types of...
Combahee River Collective Combahee River Collective, Black, feminist, lesbian, socialist group primarily based in Boston, Massachusetts. The group, created in response to racism within the feminist movement and sexism and homophobia within the civil rights movement, operated from 1974 to 1980. Barbara Smith, a founder of...
I and the Village I and the Village, oil painting created in 1911 by Belorussian-born French artist Marc Chagall. Painted about a year after Chagall had moved to Paris, the work refers to his memories of his hometown of Vitebsk and has been described as a cubist narrative self-portrait. Chagall’s Jewish identity is...
ricotta Ricotta, whey cheese with a creamy texture and mild taste. Italian in origin and yellowish white in colour, ricotta is traditionally made with whey from fresh sheep’s milk, although the whey can also come from the milk of goats, Italian water buffaloes, or cows. In Italian, the word ricotta means...
Ann Curry Ann Curry, American journalist and television news reporter and anchor who was best known for her role as a correspondent on the Today show, a morning news program aired by the National Broadcasting Co. (NBC). Curry was noted especially for her reporting on humanitarian crises in war-torn countries...
John Boyne John Boyne, Irish author known for his novels, particularly The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2006), a story that takes place during the Holocaust and follows the friendship between a German boy and a Jewish boy who is a prisoner at the Auschwitz concentration camp. The novel was adapted into a movie...
Flag (1954–55) Flag (1954–55), encaustic, oil, and collage painting on wood panel that was created in 1954–55 by American artist Jasper Johns. It was the first of many renderings of the flag of the United States by Johns and is one of his best-known works. Along with his friend and fellow artist Robert...
The Holy Virgin Mary The Holy Virgin Mary, mixed-media painting on linen that was created in 1996 by British artist Chris Ofili. The painting, one of Ofili’s earliest artworks, created a sensation and brought the artist both fame and notoriety. Ofili, whose parents had immigrated to Britain from Nigeria, attended Roman...
temperate rainforest Temperate rainforest, in ecology, a biome dominated by a mix of broad-leaved or coniferous trees that occurs in the middle latitudes, mostly between approximately 40° and 60° in both Northern and Southern hemispheres, and characterized by abundant moisture present throughout the year. Like all...
the Wiggles The Wiggles, Australian quartet that is one of the most popular music acts in the English-speaking world, known for writing and performing music specifically aimed at preschool children. To many of their young listeners, the individual Wiggles are identified by the colour of their long-sleeved...
Wayne Wang Wayne Wang, Hong Kong-born film director, producer, and screenwriter who became one of the first major Asian directors in the United States. He directed both big-budget Hollywood studio motion pictures and low-budget independent films (without the backing of a major studio). His independent films...
Timothy Olyphant Timothy Olyphant, American actor who has appeared in a wide range of roles but is best known for portraying two lawmen on television: Sheriff Seth Bullock in Deadwood (2004–06) and Deadwood: The Movie (2019) and U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens in Justified (2010–15) and the miniseries Justified: City...
Will Eisner Will Eisner, American comics artist who was a pioneer of the American comic book industry. Eisner is best remembered for creating the series The Spirit, featuring the titular crime-fighting superhero, which was published from 1940 to 1952. Eisner’s book A Contract with God, and Other Tenement...
Osage murders Osage murders, series of murders of Osage tribal members in Oklahoma principally in the 1920s. Many of the killings were part of a conspiracy to obtain the oil wealth of Osage members. The murders were the first major criminal investigation conducted by the U.S. government agency that became the...
Elements Elements, treatise on geometry and mathematics written by the Greek mathematician Euclid (flourished 300 bce). The Elements is one of the most influential books ever written. It set a standard for deductive reasoning and geometric instruction that persisted, practically unchanged, for more than...
N.K. Jemisin N.K. Jemisin, American author of science-fiction and fantasy short stories and novels. She often explores issues such as racism, cultural conflict, and family relationships in her work. In 2016 Jemisin became the first Black writer to win a Hugo Award for best novel, for The Fifth Season (2015)....
DJ Kool Herc DJ Kool Herc, Jamaican American disc jockey (deejay or DJ) who is credited as the founder of hip-hop, a musical and cultural movement that revolves around four elements: rapping, graffiti painting, B-boying, and deejaying. In 1973 Herc introduced a number of innovations at a party he deejayed and...
Lily Collins Lily Collins, British-American actress and model known for her performance as the lead in Netflix’s popular romantic-comedy series Emily in Paris (2020– ). She also starred in movies such as The Blind Side (2009) and Love, Rosie (2014). Collins was born to American Jill Tavelman and English...
Pete Townshend Pete Townshend, British guitarist and singer-songwriter best known as the lead guitarist and principal songwriter for the British rock band the Who. Townshend’s evocative songwriting has earned him a reputation as an inventive and intellectual rock music composer. Townshend was the first child of...
history of Rwanda History of Rwanda, a survey of the notable events and people in the history of Rwanda. The landlocked country lies south of the Equator in east-central Africa. Known for its breathtaking scenery, Rwanda is often referred to as le pays des mille collines (French: “land of a thousand hills”)....
Experience Historically Black Colleges and Universities When Cheyney University of Pennsylvania was founded in 1837 as the African Institute, the idea that Black students should be empowered to become teachers, tradesmen, and physicians was revolutionary. During the 19th century, such schools struggled until the Morrill Act of 1890, an amendment to the...
deepfake Deepfake, synthetic media, including images, videos, and audio, generated by artificial intelligence (AI) technology that portray something that does not exist in reality or events that have never occurred. The term deepfake combines deep, taken from AI deep-learning technology (a type of machine...
Saadiyat Island Saadiyat Island, island located in the Persian Gulf and part of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. In the 21st century it was developed as a tourism and cultural hub for the city. The government of the Abu Dhabi emirate conceived of the idea to develop Saadiyat Island in 2004 as part of a larger plan...
assisted suicide Assisted suicide, a procedure in which people take medications to end their own lives with the help of others, usually medical professionals. This practice differs from euthanasia, also called mercy killing, in which a medical professional painlessly ends a person’s terminal suffering by...
Wendy Williams Wendy Williams, American talk-show host, producer, and author who began her career in radio and later used the popularity she garnered from her radio show, The Wendy Williams Experience, to segue into daytime television in 2008 with The Wendy Williams Show. She is known in particular for...
Dua Lipa Dua Lipa, British-Albanian singer, model, and entrepreneur. The Grammy Award-winning artist rose to prominence with her distinctively husky voice and songs that mix 1970s disco, ’80s pop, and ’90s club music. Dua Lipa was born in London to parents Anesa and Dukagjin Lipa, who had fled Kosovo in...
Lee Daniels Lee Daniels, American director and producer whose films and television shows often tackle difficult subjects and focus on African American experiences. Daniels first made a name for himself as the producer of Monster’s Ball (2001), and he later produced and directed such movies as Precious: Based...
history of Nicaragua History of Nicaragua, a survey of the important events and people in the history of Nicaragua from the time of European settlement. The largest of the Central American republics, Nicaragua has a unique history in that it was the only country in Latin America to be colonized by both the Spanish and...
history of Thailand History of Thailand, a survey of notable events and people in the history of Thailand. Located in the centre of mainland Southeast Asia, Thailand consists of two broad geographic areas: a larger, main section in the north and a smaller, peninsular extension in the south. Siam, as Thailand was...
“Weird Al” Yankovic “Weird Al” Yankovic, American musician and songwriter best known for his parodies of songs and music videos by other musicians. He gained national fame in 1984 with the song and music video for “Eat It,” a parody of Michael Jackson’s hit song “Beat It.” Whereas most novelty song artists have...
aviation in World War I Aviation in World War I, use and development of military aircraft in World War I (1914–18). At the start of World War I the German armed forces had 10 zeppelins and three smaller airships, but this impressive offensive capability was largely offset by the highly explosive nature of the hydrogen gas...
Historically Black Colleges & Universities photo gallery The history of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) is rich and varied. Since their modest beginnings in the mid-19th century, they have educated students who have gone on to be leaders in literature, politics, sports, science, activism, the performing arts, and so much more. Most...