87-604: Encyclopedia Americana is a general encyclopedia written in American English . It was the first general encyclopedia of any magnitude to be published in North America. With Collier's Encyclopedia and Encyclopædia Britannica , Encyclopedia Americana became one of the three major and large English-language general encyclopedias; the three were sometimes collectively called "the ABCs of encyclopedias". Following
174-519: A 30-volume print set, the Encyclopedia Americana is now marketed as an online encyclopedia requiring a subscription. In March 2008, Scholastic said that print sales remained good but that the company was still deciding on the future of the print edition. The company's final print edition was released in 2006. The online version of the Encyclopedia Americana , first introduced in 1996, continues to be updated and sold. This work, like
261-428: A CD-ROM disc. The user would execute the encyclopedia's software program to see a menu that allowed them to start browsing the encyclopedia's articles, and most encyclopedias also supported a way to search the contents of the encyclopedia. The article text was usually hyperlinked and also included photographs , audio clips (for example in articles about historical speeches or musical instruments), and video clips . In
348-605: A Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts and Crafts'), better known as Encyclopédie ( French: [ɑ̃siklɔpedi] ), was a general encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1772, with later supplements, revised editions, and translations. It had many writers, known as the Encyclopédistes . It was edited by Denis Diderot and, until 1759, co-edited by Jean le Rond d'Alembert . The Encyclopédie
435-734: A compendium of articles (either wholly or partially taken) from a specific encyclopedia. Four major elements define an encyclopedia: its subject matter, its scope, its method of organization, and its method of production: Some works entitled "dictionaries" are similar to encyclopedias, especially those concerned with a particular field (such as the Dictionary of the Middle Ages , the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships , and Black's Law Dictionary ). The Macquarie Dictionary , Australia's national dictionary, became an encyclopedic dictionary after its first edition in recognition of
522-510: A first-ever ADA -compliant, text-only version for users with disabilities, was presented in 2002. The acquisition of Grolier by Scholastic for US$ 400 million, took place in 2000. The new owners projected a 30% increase in operating income, although historically Grolier had experienced earnings of 7% to 8% on income. Following the acquisition, Americana became part of a suite of educational resources, with those resources including The New Book of Knowledge, The New Book of Popular Science, America
609-440: A global or a limited range of knowledge), cultural perspective (authoritative, ideological, didactic, utilitarian), authorship (qualifications, style), readership (education level, background, interests, capabilities), and the technologies available for their production and distribution (hand-written manuscripts, small or large print runs, Internet). As a valued source of reliable information compiled by experts, printed versions found
696-698: A license compatible with Misplaced Pages, including Enciclopedia Libre (2002–2021) in Spanish and Conservapedia (2006–), Scholarpedia (2006–), and Citizendium (2007–) in English, the latter of which had become inactive by 2014. Scientific American Scientific American , informally abbreviated SciAm or sometimes SA , is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla , have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Prize -winners being featured since its inception. In print since 1845, it
783-509: A much-depleted workforce to carry out the duties of maintaining a large encyclopedia database. In 2004, Scholastic stated that Americana' s 2,500 online articles are being revised annually. Today, Americana lives on as an integral database within the Scholastic GO! product. Encyclopedia An encyclopedia ( American English ) or encyclopaedia ( British English ) (from Greek ἐγκύκλιος παιδεία meaning 'general education')
870-511: A new popular science magazine, to be called The Sciences , purchased the assets of the old Scientific American instead and put its name on the designs they had created for their new magazine. Thus the partners—publisher Gerard Piel , editor Dennis Flanagan, and general manager Donald H. Miller Jr. essentially created a new magazine. Miller retired in 1979, Flanagan and Piel in 1984, when Gerard Piel's son Jonathan became president and editor; circulation had grown fifteen-fold since 1948. In 1986, it
957-405: A prominent place in libraries , schools and other educational institutions. The appearance of digital and open-source versions in the 21st century, such as Misplaced Pages (combining with the wiki website format), has vastly expanded the accessibility, authorship, readership, and variety of encyclopedia entries. Indeed, the purpose of an encyclopedia is to collect knowledge disseminated around
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#17327754971791044-678: A television program on PBS called Scientific American Frontiers with hosts Woodie Flowers and Alan Alda . From 1983 to 1997, Scientific American has produced an encyclopedia set of volumes from their publishing division, the Scientific American Library . These books were not sold in retail stores, but as a Book of the Month Club selection priced from $ 24.95 to $ 32.95. Topics covered dozens of areas of scientific knowledge and included in-depth essays on: The Animal Mind ; Atmosphere, Climate, and Change; Beyond
1131-590: Is a German-language encyclopedia which until 2009 was published by the F. A. Brockhaus printing house. The first edition originated in the Conversations-Lexikon published by Renatus Gotthelf Löbel and Franke in Leipzig 1796–1808. Renamed Der Große Brockhaus in 1928 and Brockhaus Enzyklopädie from 1966, the current 21st thirty-volume edition contains about 300,000 entries on about 24,000 pages, with about 40,000 maps, graphics and tables. It
1218-487: Is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge , either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries that are arranged alphabetically by article name or by thematic categories, or else are hyperlinked and searchable. Encyclopedia entries are longer and more detailed than those in most dictionaries . Generally speaking, encyclopedia articles focus on factual information concerning
1305-416: Is a linguistic work that primarily focuses on an alphabetical listing of words and their definitions . Synonymous words and those related by the subject matter are to be found scattered around the dictionary, giving no obvious place for in-depth treatment. Thus, a dictionary typically provides limited information , analysis or background for the word defined. While it may offer a definition, it may leave
1392-619: Is also found in dictionaries, and vice versa. In particular, dictionary entries often contain factual information about the thing named by the word. The earliest encyclopedic work to have survived to modern times is the Naturalis Historia of Pliny the Elder , a Roman statesman living in the 1st century AD, a work indebted to Varro (1st century BCE). He compiled a work of 37 chapters covering natural history , architecture, medicine, geography , geology, and all aspects of
1479-455: Is also known for its strong coverage of biographies, as well as scientific and technical subjects. Written by 6,500 contributors, the Encyclopedia Americana includes over 9,000 bibliographies, 150,000 cross-references, 1,000+ tables, 1,200 maps, and almost 4,500 black-and-white line art and color images. It also has 680 fact boxes. Major articles are signed by their contributors, many being scholars pre-eminent in their field. Long available as
1566-598: Is most famous for representing the thought of the Enlightenment . According to Denis Diderot in the article "Encyclopédie", the Encyclopédies aim was "to change the way people think" and for people to be able to inform themselves and to know things. He and the other contributors advocated for the secularization of learning away from the Jesuits . Diderot wanted to incorporate all of the world's knowledge into
1653-496: Is necessary to know". Among the areas covered were: grammar , rhetoric , mathematics , geometry , music , astronomy , medicine , law , the Catholic Church and heretical sects, pagan philosophers , languages , cities , animals and birds , the physical world , geography , public buildings , roads , metals , rocks , agriculture , ships , clothes , food , and tools . Another Christian encyclopedia
1740-483: Is only included in the Spanish version of Scholastic GO!, though the existense of that in itself is unsure due to the same New York Public Library link saying that the language of Scholastic GO! is English. Scholastic GO! is not available to individual subscribers. There have been three separate works using the title Encyclopedia Americana . The first work began publication in 1829 by Francis Lieber , an influential 19th century German-American scholar. The 13 volumes of
1827-447: Is possible that La Nueva Enciclopedia Cumbre is only included in the Spanish version of Scholastic GO!, though the existense of that in itself is unsure due to the same New York Public Library link saying that the language of Scholastic GO! is English. Staff reductions as a means of controlling costs also followed soon thereafter, even while an effort was made to augment the sales force. Cuts occurred every year between 2000 and 2007, leaving
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#17327754971791914-501: Is the largest German-language printed encyclopedia in the 21st century. In the United States, the 1950s and 1960s saw the introduction of several large popular encyclopedias, often sold on installment plans. The best known of these were World Book and Funk and Wagnalls . As many as 90% were sold door to door . Jack Lynch says in his book You Could Look It Up that encyclopedia salespeople were so common that they became
2001-434: Is the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States. Scientific American is owned by Springer Nature , which is a subsidiary of Holtzbrinck Publishing Group . Scientific American was founded by inventor and publisher Rufus Porter in 1845 as a four-page weekly newspaper. The first issue of the large-format New York City newspaper was released on August 28, 1845. Throughout its early years, much emphasis
2088-993: The American Peoples Encyclopedia , the Book of Popular Science , and Lands and Peoples were over $ 181 million, and the company held a 30 percent market share as the leading publisher of encyclopedias in the United States. Grolier's corporate headquarters were in a large building (variously named the Americana Building and the Grolier Building) in Midtown Manhattan , at 575 Lexington Avenue . Sales during this period were accomplished primarily through mail-order and door-to-door operations. Telemarketing and third-party distribution of Encyclopedia Americana through Grolier's Lexicon Publications subsidiary added to sales volumes in
2175-648: The Etymologiae ( c. 600–625 ), also known by classicists as the Origines (abbreviated Orig .). This encyclopedia—the first such Christian epitome —formed a huge compilation of 448 chapters in 20 books based on hundreds of classical sources, including the Naturalis Historia . Of the Etymologiae in its time it was said quaecunque fere sciri debentur , "practically everything that it
2262-649: The Four Great Books of Song , compiled by the 11th century during the early Song dynasty (960–1279), was a massive literary undertaking for the time. The last encyclopedia of the four, the Prime Tortoise of the Record Bureau , amounted to 9.4 million Chinese characters in 1,000 written volumes. The Yongle Encyclopedia (completed 1408) comprised 11,095 volumes. There were many great encyclopedists throughout Chinese history, including
2349-466: The 2020 presidential election , citing Donald Trump 's rejection of scientific evidence, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States . In the column reporting the endorsement, the magazine's editors said, " Scientific American has never endorsed a presidential candidate in its 175-year history. This year we are compelled to do so. We do not do this lightly." In September 2024 and for
2436-459: The Encyclopédie and hoped that the text could disseminate all this information to the public and future generations. Thus, it is an example of democratization of knowledge . The Encyclopædia Britannica ( Latin for 'British Encyclopaedia') is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia . It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although
2523-565: The GNUPedia , an online encyclopedia which, similar to the GNU operating system , would be a "generic" resource. The concept was very similar to Interpedia, but more in line with Stallman's GNU philosophy. It was not until Nupedia and later Misplaced Pages that a stable 💕 project was able to be established on the Internet. The English Misplaced Pages , which was started in 2001, became
2610-629: The Renaissance , the creation of printing allowed a wider diffusion of encyclopedias and every scholar could have his or her copy. The De expetendis et fugiendis rebus by Giorgio Valla was posthumously printed in 1501 by Aldo Manuzio in Venice . This work followed the traditional scheme of liberal arts. However, Valla added the translation of ancient Greek works on mathematics (firstly by Archimedes ), newly discovered and translated. The Margarita Philosophica by Gregor Reisch , printed in 1503,
2697-555: The 11th edition and following its acquisition by an American firm, the Britannica shortened and simplified articles to broaden its appeal to the North American market. In 1933, the Britannica became the first encyclopaedia to adopt "continuous revision", in which the encyclopaedia is continually reprinted, with every article updated on a schedule. In the 21st century, the Britannica suffered first from competition with
Encyclopedia Americana - Misplaced Pages Continue
2784-638: The 1970s. By the late 1970s, Grolier had moved its operations to Danbury, Connecticut . In 1988, Grolier was purchased by the French media company Hachette , which owned a well-known French-language encyclopedia, the Hachette Encyclopedia . Hachette was later absorbed by the French conglomerate the Lagardère Group . A CD-ROM version of the encyclopedia was published in 1995. Although the text and images were stored on separate disks, it
2871-627: The Beautiful, Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, Amazing Animals of the World, and Lands and People. All of those resources formed Grolier Online (now called Scholastic GO!). According to The New York Public Library, Scholastic GO! also includes the La Nueva Enciclopedia Cumbre, a Spanish-language general encyclopedia for students in middle through high school. However, the previously mentioned Scholastic blog does not show that. It
2958-408: The Beautiful, Lands and Peoples, Amazing Animals of the World, and The New Book of Popular Science. According to The New York Public Library, Scholastic GO! also includes the La Nueva Enciclopedia Cumbre, a Spanish-language general encyclopedia for students in middle through high school. However, the previously mentioned Scholastic blog does not show that. It is possible that La Nueva Enciclopedia Cumbre
3045-496: The CD-ROM age, the video clips had usually a low resolution, often 160x120 or 320x240 pixels. Such encyclopedias which made use of photos, audio and video were also called multimedia encyclopedias . Microsoft 's Encarta , launched in 1993, was a landmark example as it had no printed equivalent. Articles were supplemented with video and audio files as well as numerous high-quality images. After sixteen years, Microsoft discontinued
3132-583: The December issue of the magazine, as well as on the magazine's web site. In March 1996, Scientific American launched its own website that included articles from current and past issues, online-only features, daily news, special reports, and trivia, among other things. The website introduced a paywall in April 2019, with readers able to view a few articles for free each month. Notable features have included: From 1990 to 2005 Scientific American produced
3219-709: The Encarta line of products in 2009. Other examples of CD-ROM encyclopedia are Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia and Britannica . Digital encyclopedias enable "Encyclopedia Services" (such as Wikimedia Enterprise ) to facilitate programmatic access to the content. The concept of a 💕 began with the Interpedia proposal on Usenet in 1993, which outlined an Internet-based online encyclopedia to which anyone could submit content that would be freely accessible. Early projects in this vein included Everything2 and Open Site . In 1999, Richard Stallman proposed
3306-719: The Greek alphabet. From India, the Siribhoovalaya (Kannada: ಸಿರಿಭೂವಲಯ), dated between 800 A.D. to 15th century, is a work of Kannada literature written by Kumudendu Muni , a Jain monk. It is unique because rather than employing alphabets, it is composed entirely in Kannada numerals . Many philosophies which existed in the Jain classics are eloquently and skillfully interpreted in the work. The enormous encyclopedic work in China of
3393-501: The Munn family, Charles Allen Munn and his nephew, Orson Desaix Munn II . Until 1948, it remained owned by the families under Munn & Company . Under Orson Munn's grandson, Orson Desaix Munn III, it had evolved into something of a "workbench" publication, similar to the 20th-century incarnation of Popular Science . In the years after World War II, the magazine fell into decline. In 1948, three partners who were planning on starting
3480-526: The Origin of Species , as well as the Wright Brothers when they were working on their flying machines. The magazine also covered the U.S. through its Sputnik moment with the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite, which symbolically started the " Space Age ". In 2013, Danielle N. Lee , a female scientist who blogged at Scientific American , was called a "whore" in an email by an editor at
3567-459: The Roman authors Quintillian and Pliny described an ancient genre. The modern encyclopedia evolved from the dictionary in the 18th century; this lineage can be seen in the alphabetical order of print encyclopedias. Historically, both encyclopedias and dictionaries have been compiled by well-educated, well-informed content experts , but they are significantly different in structure. A dictionary
Encyclopedia Americana - Misplaced Pages Continue
3654-572: The Terms of Art, but the Arts Themselves – to give its full title. Organized alphabetically, its content does indeed contain an explanation not merely of the terms used in the arts and sciences, but of the arts and sciences themselves. Sir Isaac Newton contributed his only published work on chemistry to the second volume of 1710. Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers ( French for 'Encyclopedia, or
3741-908: The Third Dimension; Cosmic Clouds; Cycles of Life • Civilization and the Biosphere; The Discovery of Subatomic Particles; Diversity and the Tropical Rain Forest; Earthquakes and Geological Discovery; Exploring Planetary Worlds; Gravity's Fatal Attraction; Fire; Fossils and the History of Life; From Quarks to the Cosmos; A Guided Tour of the Living Cell; Human Diversity; Perception; The Solar System; Sun and Earth; The Science of Words (Linguistics); The Science of Musical Sound; The Second Law (of Thermodynamics); Stars; Supercomputing and
3828-470: The Transformation of Science. Scientific American launched a publishing imprint in 2010 in partnership with Farrar, Straus and Giroux . In April 1950, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission ordered Scientific American to cease publication of an issue containing an article by Hans Bethe that appeared to reveal classified information about the thermonuclear hydrogen bomb . Subsequent review of
3915-405: The acquisition of Grolier in 2000, the encyclopedia has been produced by Scholastic . The encyclopedia has more than 45,000 articles, most of them more than 500 words and many running to considerable length (the "United States" article is over 300,000 words). Americana is international in scope and is known for its detailed coverage of American and Canadian geography and history. Americana
4002-449: The butt of jokes. He describes their sales pitch saying, "They were selling not books but a lifestyle, a future, a promise of social mobility." A 1961 World Book ad said, "You are holding your family's future in your hands right now," while showing a feminine hand holding an order form. As of the 1990s, two of the most prominent encyclopedias published in the United States were Collier's Encyclopedia and Encyclopedia Americana . By
4089-400: The company has changed ownership seven times. The encyclopaedia is maintained by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 contributors. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, which spans 32 volumes and 32,640 pages, was the last printed edition. Since 2016, it has been published exclusively as an online encyclopaedia . Printed for 244 years, the Britannica was
4176-478: The digital multimedia encyclopaedia Microsoft Encarta , and later with the online peer-produced encyclopaedia Misplaced Pages . In March 2012, it announced it would no longer publish printed editions and would focus instead on the online version. Britannica has been assessed as being more politically centrist compared to Misplaced Pages, which is considered to have a more left-leaning orientation. The Brockhaus Enzyklopädie ( German for Brockhaus Encyclopedia )
4263-566: The encyclopedia. A yearbook, which appeared under a variety of titles, was also published each year beginning in 1923 and continuing until 2008. In 1936, the Americana Corporation was purchased by The Grolier Society, later renamed Grolier Incorporated . The Americana Corporation's president, J. Cooper Graham, became a vice president of Grolier. By the late1960s, Grolier's annual sales of Encyclopedia Americana and its sister publications under Grolier — The Book of Knowledge ,
4350-402: The ensuing days. The magazine's blog editor, Bora Zivkovic, was the subject of allegations of sexual harassment by another blogger, Monica Byrne. Although the alleged incident had occurred about a year earlier, editor Mariette DiChristina informed readers that the incident had been investigated and resolved to Byrne's satisfaction. However, the incident involving Lee had prompted Byrne to reveal
4437-534: The first edition were completed in 1833, and other editions and printings followed in 1835, 1836, 1847–1848, 1849 and 1858. According to one contemporary source, the original price in 1832, at which time several volumes had been issued, was to be $ 2.50 per volume for 12 volumes, or $ 30 in total. At first, Lieber planned only an English-language translation of the 7th edition of the popular German encyclopedia Konversations-Lexikon, familiarly known as Brockhaus after its publisher Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus. However, as work on
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#17327754971794524-544: The future years to come. Diderot The word encyclopedia ( encyclo | pedia ) comes from the Koine Greek ἐγκύκλιος παιδεία , transliterated enkyklios paideia , meaning 'general education' from enkyklios ( ἐγκύκλιος ), meaning 'circular, recurrent, required regularly, general' and paideia ( παιδεία ), meaning 'education, rearing of a child'; together, the phrase literally translates as 'complete instruction' or 'complete knowledge'. However,
4611-402: The globe; to set forth its general system to the men with whom we live, and transmit it to those who will come after us, so that the work of preceding centuries will not become useless to the centuries to come; and so that our offspring, becoming better instructed, will at the same time become more virtuous and happy, and that we should not die without having rendered a service to the human race in
4698-571: The history of science and technology. It started as a weekly publication in August 1845 before turning into a monthly in November 1921. Porter sold the publication to Alfred Ely Beach , son of media magnate Moses Yale Beach , and Orson Desaix Munn , a mere ten months after founding it. Editors and co-owners from the Yale family included Frederick C. Beach and his son, Stanley Yale Beach , and from
4785-478: The identity of Zivkovic, following the latter's support of Lee. Zivkovic admitted the incident with Byrne had taken place. He apologized to Byrne, and referred to the incident as "singular", stating that his behavior was not "engaged in before or since". Zivkovic resigned from the board of Science Online , the popular science blogging conference that he co-founded with Anton Zuiker. Following Zivkovic's admission, several female bloggers, including other bloggers for
4872-452: The late 20th century, encyclopedias were being published on CD-ROMs for use with personal computers . This was the usual way computer users accessed encyclopedic knowledge from the 1980s and 1990s. Later, DVD discs replaced CD-ROMs, and by the mid-2000s, internet encyclopedias were dominant and replaced disc-based software encyclopedias. CD-ROM encyclopedias were usually a macOS or Microsoft Windows (3.0, 3.1 or 95/98) application on
4959-570: The longest-running in-print encyclopaedia in the English language. It was first published between 1768 and 1771 in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh , in three volumes. The encyclopaedia grew in size; the second edition was 10 volumes, and by its fourth edition (1801–1810), it had expanded to 20 volumes. Its rising stature as a scholarly work helped recruit eminent contributors, and the 9th (1875–1889) and 11th editions (1911) are landmark encyclopaedias for scholarship and literary style. Starting with
5046-589: The magazine, wrote their own accounts, alleging additional incidents of sexual harassment, although none of these accounts were independently investigated. A day after these new revelations, Zivkovic resigned from his position at Scientific American . The Scientific American 50 award was started in 2002 to recognize contributions to science and technology during the magazine's previous year. The magazine's 50 awards cover many categories including agriculture, communications, defence, environment, and medical diagnostics. The complete list of each year's winners appear in
5133-538: The material determined that the AEC had overreacted. The incident was important for the "new" Scientific American ' s history, as the AEC's decision to burn 3,000 copies of an early press-run of the magazine containing the offending material appeared to be " book burning in a free society" when publisher Gerard Piel leaked the incident to the press. In the October 2020 issue of the magazine, it endorsed Joe Biden for
5220-476: The new encyclopedia progressed, Lieber sought and added original articles by leading U.S. writers and intellectuals of the day. United States Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, for instance, contributed more than 120 pages of legal material to the 1st edition. Hence, when the Americana began appearing some 165 years ago, it represented a hybrid of 2 cultures, German and American. A second Encyclopedia Americana
5307-560: The print set from which it is derived, is designed for high school and first-year college students along with public library users. It is available to libraries as one of the databases in the Scholastic GO! reference service (previously known as Grolier Online), which also includes the Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia , an encyclopedia for middle and high school students, The New Book of Knowledge , an encyclopedia for ages 7-14 and particularly grades 3-6, America
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#17327754971795394-481: The publication of the Encyclopedia Americana , which during some of that period was known as The Americana . Some famous individuals who penned articles in the magazine included Albert Einstein , Thomas Edison , Jonas Salk , Marie Curie , Stephen Hawking , Franklin D. Roosevelt , Stephen Jay Gould , Bill Gates , Nikola Tesla , and more. Charles Darwin was featured when he published On
5481-426: The reader lacking in understanding the meaning, significance or limitations of a term , and how the term relates to a broader field of knowledge. To address those needs, an encyclopedia article is typically not limited to simple definitions, and is not limited to defining an individual word, but provides a more extensive meaning for a subject or discipline . In addition to defining and listing synonymous terms for
5568-411: The resources by themselves, so multiple publishers would come together with their resources to create better encyclopedias. Later, rivalry grew, causing copyright to occur due to weak underdeveloped laws. John Harris is often credited with introducing the now-familiar alphabetic format in 1704 with his English Lexicon Technicum: Or, A Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences: Explaining not only
5655-625: The role of editor-in-chief . The magazine is the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States. In 2009, the publisher notified collegiate libraries that yearly subscription prices for the magazine would increase by nearly 500% for print and 50% for online access to $ 1,500 yearly. Offices of the Scientific American have included 37 Park Row in Manhattan and the Woolworth Building in 1915 when it
5742-425: The science website Biology Online after refusing to write professional content without compensation. When Lee, outraged about the email, wrote a rebuttal on her Scientific American blog, the editor-in-chief of Scientific American , Mariette DiChristina, removed the post. DiChristina cited legal reasons for removing the blog. The editor at Biology Online was fired after the incident. The controversy widened in
5829-608: The scientist and statesman Shen Kuo (1031–1095) with his Dream Pool Essays of 1088; the statesman, inventor, and agronomist Wang Zhen (active 1290–1333) with his Nong Shu of 1313; and Song Yingxing (1587–1666) with his Tiangong Kaiwu . Song Yingxing was termed the " Diderot of China" by British historian Joseph Needham . Before the advent of the printing press, encyclopedic works were all hand-copied and thus rarely available, beyond wealthy patrons or monastic men of learning: they were expensive, and usually written for those extending knowledge rather than those using it. During
5916-452: The subject named in the article's title; this is unlike dictionary entries, which focus on linguistic information about words , such as their etymology , meaning, pronunciation , use, and grammatical forms. Encyclopedias have existed for around 2,000 years and have evolved considerably during that time as regards language (written in a major international or a vernacular language), size (few or many volumes), intent (presentation of
6003-535: The things for which those words stand. Thus, while dictionary entries are inextricably fixed to the word described, encyclopedia articles can be given a different entry name. As such, dictionary entries are not fully translatable into other languages, but encyclopedia articles can be. In practice, however, the distinction is not concrete, as there is no clear-cut difference between factual, "encyclopedic" information and linguistic information such as appear in dictionaries. Thus encyclopedias may contain material that
6090-473: The topic, the article can treat the topic's more extensive meaning in more depth and convey the most relevant accumulated knowledge on that subject. An encyclopedia article also often includes many maps and illustrations , as well as bibliography and statistics . An encyclopedia is, theoretically, not written to convince, although one of its goals is indeed to convince its reader of its veracity. In addition, sometimes books or reading lists are compiled from
6177-520: The two separate words were reduced to a single word due to a scribal error by copyists of a Latin manuscript edition of Quintillian in 1470. The copyists took this phrase to be a single Greek word, enkyklopaedia , with the same meaning, and this spurious Greek word became the Neo-Latin word encyclopaedia , which in turn came into English. Because of this compounded word, fifteenth-century readers since have often, and incorrectly, thought that
6264-464: The use of proper nouns in common communication, and the words derived from such proper nouns. There are some broad differences between encyclopedias and dictionaries. Most noticeably, encyclopedia articles are longer, fuller and more thorough than entries in most general-purpose dictionaries. There are differences in content as well. Generally speaking, dictionaries provide linguistic information about words themselves, while encyclopedias focus more on
6351-526: The world around him. This work became very popular in Antiquity , was one of the first classical manuscripts to be printed in 1470, and has remained popular ever since as a source of information on the Roman world, and especially Roman art , Roman technology and Roman engineering . The Spanish scholar Isidore of Seville was the first Christian writer to try to compile a summa of universal knowledge,
6438-837: The world's largest encyclopedia in 2004 at the 300,000 article stage. By late 2005, Misplaced Pages had produced over two million articles in more than 80 languages with content licensed under the copyleft GNU Free Documentation License . As of August 2009, Misplaced Pages had over 3 million articles in English and well over 10 million combined articles in over 250 languages. Today, Misplaced Pages has 6,916,922 articles in English, over 60 million combined articles in over 300 languages, and over 250 million combined pages including project and discussion pages. Since 2002, other 💕s appeared, including Hudong (2005–) and Baidu Baike (2006–) in Chinese, and Google's Knol (2008–2012) in English. Some MediaWiki-based encyclopedias have appeared, usually under
6525-413: The worsening of economic conditions. Today, Scientific American publishes 17 foreign-language editions around the globe: Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Simplified Chinese , Traditional Chinese , Czech , Dutch, French, German, Greek , Hebrew , Italian, Japanese, Korean , Lithuanian (discontinued after 15 issues), Polish , Romanian , and Russian. From 1902 to 1911, Scientific American supervised
6612-422: Was a complete encyclopedia explaining the seven liberal arts . Financial, commercial, legal, and intellectual factors changed the size of encyclopedias. Middle classes had more time to read and encyclopedias helped them to learn more. Publishers wanted to increase their output so some countries like Germany started selling books missing alphabetical sections, to publish faster. Also, publishers could not afford all
6699-450: Was editor-in-chief, assisted by hundreds of eminent scholars and authorities as consulting editors and article authors. Beach also expanded the encyclopedia's coverage, especially in the area of the physical and life sciences. George Edwin Rines was appointed managing editor in 1903. Between 1903 and 1906 the publisher was R.S. Peale & Co. From 1906 through 1936, Encyclopedia Americana
6786-416: Was in keeping with the standards current at the time. More importantly, the work had been digitized, allowing for the release of an online version in 1997. Over the next few years, the product was augmented with additional features, functions, supplementary references, Internet links, and a current events journal. A redesigned interface and partly re-engineered product, featuring enhanced search capabilities and
6873-537: Was just finished two years earlier in 1913. The Woolworth Building was at the time one of the first skyscrapers in the city and the tallest one in the world. Scientific American published its first foreign edition in 1890, the Spanish-language La America Cientifica . Publication was suspended in 1905, and another 63 years would pass before another foreign-language edition appeared: In 1968, an Italian edition, Le Scienze ,
6960-637: Was launched in the Soviet Union in 1983, and continues in the present-day Russian Federation . Kexue (科学, "Science" in Chinese), a simplified Chinese edition launched in 1979, was the first Western magazine published in the People's Republic of China . Founded in Chongqing , the simplified Chinese magazine was transferred to Beijing in 2001. Later in 2005, a newer edition, Global Science (环球科学),
7047-603: Was launched, and a Japanese edition, Nikkei Science [ ja ] , followed three years later. A new Spanish edition, Investigación y Ciencia was launched in Spain in 1976, followed by a French edition, Pour la Science [ fr ] , in France in 1977, and a German edition, Spektrum der Wissenschaft [ de ] , in Germany in 1978. A Russian edition V Mire Nauki ( Russian : «В мире науки» )
7134-533: Was placed on reports of what was going on at the U.S. Patent Office . It also reported on a broad range of inventions including perpetual motion machines, an 1860 device for buoying vessels by Abraham Lincoln , and the universal joint which now can be found in nearly every automobile manufactured. Current issues include a "this date in history" section, featuring excerpts from articles originally published 50, 100, and 150 years earlier. Topics include humorous incidents, wrong-headed theories, and noteworthy advances in
7221-575: Was published by J.M. Stoddart between 1883 and 1889, as a supplement to American reprintings of the 9th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica . It was four quarto volumes meant to "extend and complete the articles in Britannica ". Stoddart's work, however, is not connected to the earlier work by Lieber. In 1902, a new, 16-volume Encyclopedia Americana was published under the editorial supervision of Scientific American magazine. The magazine's editor, Frederick Converse Beach ,
7308-420: Was published by the Americana Corporation, with the editorial support of Scientific American . The relationship with Scientific American was terminated in 1911. From 1907 to 1912, the encyclopedia was published as The Americana . In 1918–20, the Americana Corporation published a new, International, 30-volume edition, with George Edwin Rines continuing as editor-in-chief. It was the last entirely new edition of
7395-493: Was published instead of Kexue , which shut down due to financial problems. A traditional Chinese edition, known as Scientist [ zh ] , was introduced to Taiwan in 2002. The Hungarian edition Tudomány existed between 1984 and 1992. In 1986, an Arabic edition, Oloom Magazine [ ar ] , was published. In 2002, a Portuguese edition was launched in Brazil . The Spanish edition ended in 2023 due to
7482-829: Was sold to the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group of Germany, which has owned it until the Springer-Nature merger. In the fall of 2008, Scientific American was put under the control of Holtzbrinck's Nature Publishing Group division. Donald Miller died in December 1998, Gerard Piel in September 2004 and Dennis Flanagan in January 2005. Mariette DiChristina became editor-in-chief after John Rennie stepped down in June 2009, and stepped down herself in September 2019. In April 2020, Laura Helmuth assumed
7569-586: Was the Institutiones divinarum et saecularium litterarum of Cassiodorus (543–560) dedicated to the Christian divinity and the seven liberal arts. The encyclopedia of Suda , a massive 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia, had 30,000 entries, many drawings from ancient sources that have since been lost, and often derived from medieval Christian compilers. The text was arranged alphabetically with some slight deviations from common vowel order and placed in
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