Louis Zukofsky: …author of the massive poem “A.”

ampere, unit of electric current in the International System of Units (SI), used by both scientists and technologists. In 2018 the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) agreed that on May 20, 2019, the ampere would henceforth be defined such that the elementary charge would be equal to

a, letter that has stood at the head of the alphabet during the whole of the period through which it can be traced historically. The name of the letter in the Phoenician period resembled the Hebrew name aleph meaning “ox”; the form is thought to derive from an earlier symbol resembling the head of

A, first note of the musical alphabet and the 6th degree of the scale of C. A is equal to 440 hertz (440 vibrations per second), this being the standard pitch. A is the note always given to orchestral players, usually by the oboe, for tuning

a, letter that has stood at the head of the alphabet during the whole of the period through which it can be traced historically. The name of the letter in the Phoenician period resembled the Hebrew name aleph meaning “ox”; the form is thought to derive from an earlier symbol resembling the head of

are, unit of area in the metric system, equal to 100 square metres and the equivalent of 0.0247 acre. Its multiple, the hectare (equal to 100 ares), is the principal unit of land measurement for most of the world. The are was the basic unit of area when the metric system was first decreed in France

muscle: Cross bridges: In the middle of the A band, where only thick filaments are present, is a region called the H zone; the H zone looks somewhat lighter than the overlap region of the A band. Also in the A band is a narrow, lightly stained region that contains bare thick filaments…

A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, oil painting created in 1882 by groundbreaking French artist Édouard Manet. The complex, disorienting composition is an iconic image of modern life. Manet painted this, his last great masterpiece, when he was terminally ill. In it, he returned to his favourite subject

A Bigger Splash, Pop art acrylic painting created in 1967 by British artist David Hockney. This large and striking work is one of several pictures of California swimming pools that Hockney painted. Hockney’s colleague R.B. Kitaj commented, “It is a rare event in modern art when a sense of place is

Jean-Luc Godard: Breathless and filmmaking style and themes: …À bout de souffle (1960; Breathless), which was produced by François Truffaut, his colleague on the journal Cahiers du cinéma, won the Jean Vigo Prize. It inaugurated a long series of features, all celebrated for the often drastic nonchalance of Godard’s improvisatory filmmaking procedures. Breathless was shot without a script;…

Money. People worry about it, think of ways to get more of it, and dream about how to spend it. But how much do we really know about money? Keep reading for a short history of currency. WTFacts, money, currency, coins, gold standard, Bitcoins, paper

It’s a television show famous for its cringe-inducing scenes: the main character retrieves his golf club from a coffin, splashes urine on a painting of Jesus, questions why his friend has a Black dermatologist—“even with the whole affirmative action thing?” Some viewers are so uncomfortable with

“Many a true word is spoken in jest.” Attributed to Geoffrey Chaucer near the end of the 14th century, that pretty much sums up the nature of political comedy: speaking the truth in a way that gets people to laugh, even when it may make them a little uncomfortable. Political comedy didn’t start in

Back in the day, before the advent of online search engines, people with questions commonly turned to the most reliable source they knew: their local library. All you had to do was ask, and a reference librarian would answer your question directly or point you toward a book containing the

On December 2, 1766, the Swedish parliament passed legislation that is now recognized as the world’s first law supporting the freedom of the press and freedom of information. Narrowly, the Freedom of the Press Act abolished the Swedish government’s role as a censor of printed matter, and it allowed

One of the iconic building types associated with the American South is the shotgun house. These homes, usually built in African American communities in the 19th and early 20th centuries, have often been overlooked as a part of America’s architectural history, but today they are appreciated for

The changes to the White House undertaken by Pres. Donald Trump during his second term may seem stunning to those who think that the White House of today is how it has always been. The reality is that in its more-than-200-year history, the People’s House has undergone changes necessitated by

The Cultural Revolution (in full, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution) took place from 1966 to 1976 in China. The benign-sounding moniker belies the destruction it unleashed upon the country’s population. It was launched under the direction of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Mao

When we are concerned mainly with our own interests, inevitably we tend to neglect others’ interests. Because of this, preoccupation with our own interests—our own narrow desires, ambitions, and goals—undermines our ability to be compassionate. And since compassion is the source of happiness,

a cappella, (Italian: “in the church style”), performance of a polyphonic (multipart) musical work by unaccompanied voices. Originally referring to sacred choral music, the term now refers to secular music as well. The a cappella style arose about the time of the composer Josquin des Prez, in the

nervous system: Arthropods: …two acoustic sensory receptors, called A cells. From the central end of each A cell, an axon passes within the sensillum to the skeletal support and then in the tympanic nerve to the thoracic ganglia of the moth.

rhetoric: Basis of agreement and types of argumentation: …an even more evident one), a contrario (arguing from an accepted conclusion to the rejection of its contrary), and the argument of authority. The traditional figures of rhetoric are usually only abridged arguments, as, for instance, a metaphor is an abbreviated analogy.

Camilo Castelo Branco: …in Eusébio Macário (1879) and A corja (1880; “The Rabble”). Nevertheless, while continuing to express vehement opposition to naturalism, he more and more closely assimilated its descriptive objectivity and verisimilitude.

nervous system: Potassium channels: …delay after depolarization, is the A current. IA channels are opened by depolarization following hyperpolarization. By increasing the interval between action potentials, they help a neuron to fire repetitively at low frequencies.

ProCon’s 2025 Summer School is a perfect way for students and nonstudents alike to complete a rewarding summer project. Learn about diverse social and cultural issues while honing your critical thinking skills. Upon successfully finishing the program, you can receive a certificate of completion,

This free program is a perfect way for students and nonstudents alike to complete a rewarding program. Learn about diverse social and cultural issues while honing your critical thinking skills. Upon successfully finishing the program, you can receive a certificate of completion. To complete the

pain: Physiology of pain: The A delta fibres are the larger and the most rapidly conducting of the two types, because of their thin myelin covering, and, therefore, they are associated with the sharp, well-localized pain that first occurs. A delta fibres are activated by mechanical and thermal stimuli. Smaller,…

fallacy: Material fallacies: …case of the fallacy of secundum quid (more fully: a dicto simpliciter ad dictum secundum quid, which means “from a saying [taken too] simply to a saying according to what [it really is]”—i.e., according to its truth as holding only under special provisos). This fallacy is committed when a general…

Dolphins are like the Looney Tunes characters of the sea. Perfectly nice in the proper context, they are also klaxon signifiers of bad taste when rendered on t-shirts and human skin. There’s a reason, of course, that these fascinating mammals have such broad appeal. Graceful as gazelles and—due to

A Estrada, town, Pontevedra provincia (province), in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Galicia, northwestern Spain. It lies in a densely populated mountainous area about 15 miles (24 km) southeast of Santiago de Compostela. Its industries include lumbering and processing of dairy

Chinese architecture: The Qin (221–206 bce) and Han (206 bce–220 ce) dynasties: …of a vast palace, the Efang Gong or Ebang Gong, whose main hall was intended to accommodate 10,000 guests in its upper story. He also copied, probably at reduced scale, the palaces and pavilions of each of the feudal lords he had defeated; these buildings displayed an encyclopaedia of regional…

rhetoric: Basis of agreement and types of argumentation: …pari (arguing from similar propositions), a fortiori (arguing from an accepted conclusion to an even more evident one), a contrario (arguing from an accepted conclusion to the rejection of its contrary), and the argument of authority. The traditional figures of rhetoric are usually only abridged arguments, as, for instance, a…

Doccia porcelain: …distinguish this Doccia ware: the a galletto design, of Chinese origin, consisting of two fighting cocks; the a tulipano pattern, a central, stylized red tulip with surrounding flowers; and a range of polychrome or white-figured reliefs of mythological subjects often erroneously named Capodimonte and introduced during the highly successful directorship…

As you get into your 50s, 60s, and 70s, your priorities may shift. Maybe your children have grown and flown, or you’ve simply moved past the years of driving to practices and checking homework. You might be working less, easing into retirement, or just rethinking how you spend your time. Your home

Art movements break up tens of thousands of years of art history into time periods or categories that have common techniques, themes, or philosophies. Some movements have been demarcated retrospectively, some identified contemporaneously as part of a larger cultural trend, and others defined by the

Going through a divorce can be complicated and frustrating. After all, there’s a lot to untangle when you and your spouse’s lives—and finances—have been entwined for some time. Add kids, and there’s another layer of complexity (and emotion) to consider. As you move forward with your divorce and

When the United States intervened militarily in Venezuela in January 2026 to remove Pres. Nicolás Maduro from power, it did not mark a break from past practice but instead was the latest expression of a long-standing pattern. For more than two centuries, the United States has repeatedly involved

The president of the United States is elected every four years by way of the electoral college, a system devised by the creators of the Constitution that today requires a candidate to secure at least 270 electoral votes from the states to win. That means the history of presidential elections is one

soil: Soil horizons: …surface litter) is termed the A horizon. This is a weathered layer that contains an accumulation of humus (decomposed, dark-coloured, carbon-rich matter) and microbial biomass that is mixed with small-grained minerals to form aggregate structures.

Sue Grafton: …alphabetically titled series began with A Is for Alibi (1982).

The Phanerozoic Eon, also known as the eon of visible life, is divided into three major eras of time largely based on fossils of different groups of life-forms found within them: the Paleozoic (542 million to 251 million years ago), Mesozoic (251 million to 65.5 million years ago), and Cenozoic

There is a reason why we are told to eat more fruit. Study after study has shown that apples do keep the doctor away—as do oranges, melons, berries, kiwis, and virtually every other fruit. In fact, fruit—ideally, four to five servings a day—may be the best medicine money can buy. Fruit is generally

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, television series adapted from the Tales of Dunk and Egg, a novella series by writer George R.R. Martin. The show is a prequel to the TV sensation Game of Thrones (2011–19), which was based on his A Song of Ice and Fire novels. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

Tahar Ben Jelloun: …early 1980s—notably the poetry collection À l’insu du souvenir (1980; “Unknown to Memory”) and the semiautobiographical novel L’Écrivain public (1983; “The Public Writer”)—was admired for its ability to evoke reality through fantasy, lyric, and metaphor and for its author’s conviction that his art must express the struggle for human freedom.…

Baron de Charlus: …introduced in the second novel, Within a Budding Grove (1919).

Spanish literature: Women poets: …orilla de un pozo (1936; At the Edge of a Well), a collection of neo-Gongoristic sonnets, and in Versos prohibidos (1978; “Prohibited Verse”), a mixture of unrhymed pieces that resemble in their metre blank verse and alexandrines and in their form epistles, sonnets, and odes. Frequent themes are philosophical inspiration,…

intaglio: In the method known as à la poupée (French: “with the doll”), a doll-shaped bundle of fabric is used to apply different colours to different areas of a single plate, which is then printed in the usual way. In the other method separate plates, each carrying a different colour, are…

Pierre Schaeffer: …works in music, such as À la recherche d’une musique concrète (1952; “In Search of a Concrete Music”), Traité des objets musicaux (1966; “Treatise on Musical Objects”), and the two-volume Machines à communiquer (1970–72; “Machines for Communicating”).

André Maurois: …Recherche de Marcel Proust (1949; The Quest for Proust) is considered his finest biography.

In Search of Lost Time, novel in seven parts by French author Marcel Proust, published in French as À la recherche du temps perdu from 1913 to 1927. The novel is the story of Proust’s own life, told as an allegorical search for truth. It is the major work of French fiction of the early 20th

Manuel Bretón de los Herreros: A la vejez, viruelas (“In Old Age, Chickenpox”), his first play, was produced in 1824 and brought him immediate success. Of the almost 180 plays he produced during his lifetime, including translations from French and German playwrights and adaptations of such earlier Spanish dramatists as…

A Letter Concerning Toleration, in the history of political philosophy, an important essay by the English philosopher John Locke, originally written in Latin (Epistola de Tolerantia) in 1685 while Locke was in exile in Holland and first published anonymously in both Latin and English (in a

a lo divino, in Spanish literature, the recasting of a secular work as a religious work, or, more generally, a treatment of a secular theme in religious terms through the use of allegory, symbolism, and metaphor. Adaptations a lo divino were popular during the Golden Age of Spanish literature

Hong Kong spent more than 130 years as a crown colony of the British Empire before the small Kowloon Peninsula and its neighboring islands were returned to China in 1997. Won in parts during the Opium Wars (1839–60), Hong Kong was valued by the British for its strategic location near the mouth of

Medicare is a health insurance plan administered by the U.S. federal government for those age 65 or older. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the program into law on July 30, 1965. Medicare is distinct from Medicaid, a joint federal and state program that provides health coverage to U.S. residents

Sometimes it’s hard to get a handle on the vastness of the universe. How far is an astronomical unit, anyhow? In this list we’ve brought the universe down to a more manageable scale. list, encyclopedia, britannica, encyclopedia britannica, list, lists, scale, model, universe, cosmos, solar system,

About once a week the three-toed sloth of Central and South America (Bradypus variegatus) descends from the trees, where it lives among the branches. For this slow-moving mammal, the journey is a dangerous and laborious undertaking, but it is one of great importance to members of the community

ProCon Debate: Should the Federal Minimum Wage Be Increased? ProCon Issue in the News: Current U.S. federal law allows employees with disabilities to be paid less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, “the FLSA [Fair Labor Standards Act]

René Clair: Transition to sound films: …de Paris, Le Million, and À nous la liberté! constituted homage to the art of silent film and a manifesto for a new cinema. Clair rigorously constructed comical situations using either images or sounds independently, and his skillful use of music to further the narrative—rather than for production numbers in…

rhetoric: Basis of agreement and types of argumentation: …by analogy, by the consequences, a pari (arguing from similar propositions), a fortiori (arguing from an accepted conclusion to an even more evident one), a contrario (arguing from an accepted conclusion to the rejection of its contrary), and the argument of authority. The traditional figures of rhetoric are usually only…

On October 16, 1859, staunch abolitionist John Brown led a raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now in West Virginia), in an attempt to incite a major insurrection of enslaved people. The raid, conducted by Brown and 21 recruits (his 2 sons, 14 white men, and 5 Black men), was to

probability theory: An alternative interpretation of probability: …the experiment, is called the a posteriori distribution.

a posteriori knowledge, knowledge derived from experience, as opposed to a priori knowledge

probability theory: An alternative interpretation of probability: This distribution is called an a priori distribution because it is specified prior to the experiment of drawing balls from the urn. The binomial distribution is now a conditional probability, given the value of r. Finally, one can use Bayes’s theorem to find the conditional probability that the unknown number…

a priori knowledge, in Western philosophy since the time of Immanuel Kant, knowledge that is acquired independently of any particular experience, as opposed to a posteriori knowledge, which is derived from experience. The Latin phrases a priori (“from what is before”) and a posteriori (“from what

history of logic: Categorical forms: of the following forms:

Against the Grain, novel by Joris-Karl Huysmans, published in French as À rebours in 1884. It was also translated into English as Against Nature. In both its style and its subject, the work epitomizes the decadence of late 19th-century French elite culture. The protagonist, Des Esseintes, exhibits

Climate change is a broad topic that includes periodic alterations in Earth’s climate caused by natural forces (moving continents, changes in the wobble of Earth’s axis, and other biological, chemical, and geologic factors) in combination with the effects of various human activities (such as the

Saturn: The ring system: The A ring extends from 2.02 to 2.27 Saturn radii and has optical depths of 0.4 to 1.0. Interior to the B ring lies the third major ring, the C ring (sometimes known as the crepe ring), at 1.23 to 1.52 Saturn radii, with optical depths…

Giacomo Leopardi: …of his greatest lyrics, “A Silvia.” The last lines of this poem express the anguish he felt all his life: “O nature, nature, / Why dost thou not fulfill / Thy first fair promise? / Why dost thou deceive / Thy children so?”

metabolism: Synthesis of proteins: …the aminoacyl–tRNA moves from the aminoacyl-acceptor (A) site on the ribosome to another site, called a peptidyl-donor (P) site.

In February 2017 separate studies examining Earth’s geological and geophysical characteristics revealed evidence of ancient sunken continents in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. In the first study, a multinational team made up of South African, German, and Norwegian geologists and geophysicists

Ed Sheeran: First studio albums: The song “The A Team,” which would go on to become one of Sheeran’s breakthrough singles, was first released during this period, on the self-released EP Loose Change. Sheeran released the EP No. 5 Collaborations Project in 2011, and, remarkably for a self-released album, it reached number…

June 19, 1956, fell on a Tuesday. It was 90 years to the day from the first celebration of Juneteenth, commemorating the day when enslaved Africans in Texas became the last in the nation to receive word of their freedom, more than a year after the Emancipation Proclamation and two months after the

A Theory of Justice, the major work of the American political and ethical philosopher John Rawls (1921–2002), is a landmark defense of political liberalism. Following the book’s publication in 1971, the viability of liberalism became a major theme of political philosophy in English-speaking

A Thousand Splendid Suns, novel by Khaled Hosseini, published in 2007. Through its depiction of the relationship between two women, Mariam and Laila, the novel describes the shifting political and social climate of Afghanistan from the Soviet invasion of 1979 and subsequent war through the

Nearly all of the major milestones in U.S. and global environmental legislation have been enacted since the 1960s. Key policies and international agreements have been established for air and water quality, for plant and animal life, to heal the ozone layer, and to combat anthropogenic climate

These maps highlight notable milestones in human history from 3200 BCE to 1500 CE, a period that stretches from the development of stone tools in Australia to the building of the palace complex at Machu Picchu in South America. list, maps, timeline, visualization, world history, human history,

Robert Guy Choquette: His first collection of poetry, À travers les vents (1925; “Through the Winds”), won him a reputation based on his disregard of syntax and his freedom of expression. For this volume, Choquette received the Prix David in 1926; his collection of poetry Metropolitan Museum (1930) won it for him again…

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, coming-of-age novel by Betty Smith that was published in 1943 and is considered to be a classic of children’s literature and American literature. Centering on Francie Nolan, a working-class girl growing up in Brooklyn, New York, the novel offers a deeply moving view of

Antarctica, Earth’s coldest continent, is known for its remoteness, its unique fauna, and its frigid surface of ice. Around Antarctica’s periphery, dozens of ice shelves (that is, masses of glacier-fed floating ice that are attached to land) project outward into the Southern Ocean. The two largest

There are many ways to describe inflation, but people generally think of it as an overall rise in prices. Inflation is when goods and services, across the board, are getting expensive. It can show up in many ways and have different causes. Most of the time, inflation rises gradually. Less often, it

Doccia porcelain: …of two fighting cocks; the a tulipano pattern, a central, stylized red tulip with surrounding flowers; and a range of polychrome or white-figured reliefs of mythological subjects often erroneously named Capodimonte and introduced during the highly successful directorship of Lorenzo Ginori (1757–91). Doccia figures (some of which are very large)…

A Void is a postmodern novel written by French author Georges Perec that was originally published in French as La Disparition (“The Vanishing”) in 1969. It was masterfully translated into English as A Void by Scottish novelist Gilbert Adair in 1994. Perec’s extended lipogram—a literary exercise

The human body is a complex structure made up of several systems that work together to enable it to function. Each system is made up of one or more organs, along with cells and tissues. These systems complement one another, each performing a critical function and, ultimately, sustaining a person’s

Aying was a Chinese critic and historian of modern Chinese literature. A member of the Communist Party and of the standing committee of the League of Left-Wing Writers, he began c. 1930 to gather and study materials on the literature of modern times and of the Ming and Qing dynasties. His published

the Sex Pistols: …1977; their next contract, with A&M Records, was severed after only a few days in March.

Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, Inc. (A&P), former German-owned food distribution company that operated supermarket chains in the United States and Canada. The company’s history traces to 1859, when George F. Gilman and George Huntington Hartford founded the Great American Tea Co. in New York

Atsina, North American Indian tribe related to the Algonquian-speaking Arapaho, from which they may have separated as early as 1700. The variant name Gros Ventres (French: “Big Bellies”) was a misinterpretation by French trappers of Plains Indian sign language. The Blackfoot called the Atsina the

lava: …the Hawaiian names pahoehoe and aa (or a’a). Pahoehoe lava flows are characterized by smooth, gently undulating, or broadly hummocky surfaces. The liquid lava flowing beneath a thin, still-plastic crust drags and wrinkles it into tapestry-like folds and rolls resembling twisted rope. Pahoehoe lava flows are fed almost wholly internally…

Oceanic art and architecture: The Austral (Tubuai) Islands: …an image of the god A’a in the act of creating men and other gods. The primary figure, in Society Islands style, has 30 small stylized figures arranged symmetrically on its torso, limbs, and face, 10 being placed as the facial features. The figure has a hollow back and when…

Arkatag Mountains, one of the complex mountain chains that form the Kunlun Mountains in western China. The Arkatag range is in the east-central portion of the Kunluns. Mount Muztag (Muztagh), at its western end, reaches an elevation of 25,338 feet (7,723 metres) and is the tallest peak in both the

Altun Mountains, mountain range in the southern part of the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang, northwestern China. Branching off from the Kunlun Mountains, the range runs for more than 400 miles (650 km) from southwest to northeast to form the boundary between the Tarim Basin to the north and the

Oakland Athletics, American League baseball team that was based in Oakland, California, for 57 seasons. The Athletics—who are often simply referred to as the “A’s”—have won nine World Series championships and 15 AL pennants. They played their last game in Oakland in September 2024. Founded in 1901

World War II: The central Pacific: …a new defense plan, “Operation A,” relying on their remaining 1,055 land-based aircraft in the Marianas, in the Carolines, and in western New Guinea and on timely and decisive intervention by a sea force, which should include nine aircraft carriers with 450 aircraft. But in the spring of 1944…

Polaris missile: …nuclear-powered submarines armed with 16 Polaris missiles each. Each missile was 31 feet (9.4 m) long and 4.5 feet (1.4 m) in diameter and was powered by two solid-fueled stages. Three models were developed: the A-1, with a range of 1,400 miles (2,200 km) and a one-megaton nuclear warhead; the…

attack aircraft: …B-26 Invader and the Douglas A-1 Skyraider. All these types were piston-engined, propeller-driven aircraft.

attack aircraft: The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II (better known as the “Warthog”), a twin-engine aircraft first flown in 1972, became in the mid-1970s the principal close-support attack aircraft of the U.S. Air Force. Its primary armament is a nose-mounted, seven-barreled, 30-mm cannon that is an extremely effective tank killer.…

Polaris missile: …a one-megaton nuclear warhead; the A-2, with a 1,700-mile (2,700-kilometre) range and a one-megaton warhead; and the A-3, capable of delivering three 200-kiloton warheads a distance of 2,800 miles (4,500 km).

attack aircraft: Douglas A-20 Havoc, which were armed with 20-mm cannon and .30- or .50-inch machine guns. Two other American attack aircraft of the 1940s and ’50s were the Douglas B-26 Invader and the Douglas A-1 Skyraider. All these types were piston-engined, propeller-driven aircraft.