Kurt Schwitters was a German Dada artist and poet, best known for his collages and relief constructions. Soon after World War I Schwitters was attracted by the emerging Dada school, a nihilistic literary and artistic movement dedicated to the destruction of existing aesthetic values. Denied

Claude Cahun was a French writer, photographer, Surrealist, and performance artist who was largely written out of art history until the late 1980s, when her photographs were included in an exhibition of Surrealist photography in 1986. She is known for her self-portraits that portray her as

Swiss literature: …poems in the dialect of Schwyz. Almost every canton has its Mundartdichter, or local poet. There are vigorous novels in the Bernese dialect by the 20th-century writers Rudolf von Tavel and Simon Gfeller. Schaffhausen is represented in the novels of Albert Bächtold, and Joseph Reinhart wrote in the dialect of…

Schwyz, capital of Schwyz canton, central Switzerland, at the foot of the Grosser Mythen (6,230 feet [1,899 m]), just east of Lucerne and 3 miles (5 km) northeast of Brunnen, its port on Lake Lucerne. The traditional centre of the canton, its Bundesbriefarchiv (Federal Archives, 1936) houses the

Schwyz, canton, central Switzerland, traversed by the valleys of the Muota and the Sihl. More than three-quarters of the canton is reckoned as productive (forests covering about 92 square miles [238 square km]), and about 25 square miles (65 square km) are occupied by lakes, chiefly parts of Lakes

Swiss German language, collective name for the great variety of Alemannic (Upper German) dialects spoken in Switzerland north of the boundary between the Romance and Germanic languages, in Liechtenstein, in the Austrian province of Vorarlberg, and in parts of Baden-Württemberg in Germany and Alsace

science fiction, a form of fiction that deals principally with the impact of actual or imagined science upon society or individuals. The term science fiction was popularized, if not invented, in the 1920s by one of the genre’s principal advocates, the American publisher Hugo Gernsback. The Hugo

Sciacca, town, southern Sicily, Italy, northwest of Agrigento. On the site of the Roman Thermae Selinuntinae, it has been, from antiquity, a health resort with hot sulfur springs. The coastal town has a modern appearance, but notable older structures include the town walls (1336; rebuilt c. 1550),

conifer: Annotated classification: Family Sciadopityaceae Umbrella pine (Sciadopitys verticillata) usually included in the Cupressaceae, but recent work confirms its isolation from that family; seed cones superficially resemble those of the giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), but the equal-sized scales and bracts fused for only about two thirds of their length,…

umbrella pine, (Sciadopitys verticillata), coniferous evergreen tree endemic to Japan, the only member of the umbrella pine family (Sciadopityaceae). Historically, this genus was classified variously in Cupressaceae or the now-defunct Taxodiaceae, but subsequent studies confirmed its structural

drum, in biology, any of about 275 species of fishes of the family Sciaenidae (order Perciformes); drums are carnivorous, generally bottom-dwelling fishes. Most are marine, found along warm and tropical seashores. A number inhabit temperate or fresh waters. Most are noisemakers and can “vocalize”

drum: …as corbina, whiting, weakfish, and channel bass. Many members of the family are food or game fishes. Among the better-known species are the channel bass, or red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus), a large, reddish species of the western Atlantic Ocean; the white seabass (Atractoscion nobilis) of the eastern Pacific; the freshwater…

Bruce Springsteen: Springsteen’s political messaging: Tallent, guitarist Nils Lofgren, vocalist Patti Scialfa (Springsteen’s wife), and two former E Street Band band members, pianist David Sancious and drummer Vini Lopez—were selected in 2013 for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as members of the E Street Band.

Vasco Pratolini: The second, Lo scialo (1960; “The Waste”), depicts the lassitude of the lower classes between 1902 and the mid-1920s preparatory to the Fascist takeover. The final volume, Allegoria e derisione (1966; “Allegory and Derision”), deals with the triumph and fall of Fascism, focusing on the moral and…

Leonardo Sciascia was an Italian writer noted for his metaphysical examinations of political corruption and arbitrary power. Sciascia studied at the Magistrale Institute in Caltanissetta. He held either clerical or teaching positions for much of his career, retiring to write full-time in 1968. His

sciatic nerve, largest and thickest nerve of the human body that is the principal continuation of all the roots of the sacral plexus. It emerges from the spinal cord in the lumbar portion of the spine and runs down through the buttocks and the back of the thigh; above the back of the knee it

sciatica, pain along the sciatic nerve, which runs from the lower back down the legs. Sciatica often develops following an unusual movement or exertion that places a strain on the lumbar portion of the spine, where the nerve has its roots, either immediately or after an interval of several hours to

Scicli, town, southeastern Sicily, Italy. It lies south of Ragusa city. Scicli flourished under the Saracens and Normans but later declined and was heavily damaged by the earthquake of 1693. It was rebuilt on a regular pattern, and its principal buildings are in the Baroque style. Agriculture and

Sophia Loren is an Italian film actress who rose above her poverty-stricken origins in postwar Naples to become universally recognized as one of Italy’s most beautiful women and its most famous movie star. Before working in the cinema, Sofia Scicolone changed her last name to Lazzaro for work in

Sophia Loren is an Italian film actress who rose above her poverty-stricken origins in postwar Naples to become universally recognized as one of Italy’s most beautiful women and its most famous movie star. Before working in the cinema, Sofia Scicolone changed her last name to Lazzaro for work in

human disease: Immune deficiencies: Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), a condition that arises from several different genetic defects, disrupts the functioning of both the humoral and cell-mediated immune responses.

Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore was an American travel writer and photographer whose books and magazine articles often featured her perspective on travel and culture in Asia. She is perhaps best known as the person responsible for the planting of Japanese cherry trees in Washington, D.C. Scidmore attended

science, any system of knowledge that is concerned with the physical world and its phenomena and that entails unbiased observations and systematic experimentation. In general, a science involves a pursuit of knowledge covering general truths or the operations of fundamental laws. Science can be

Big Science: …in a 1961 article in Science magazine, titled “Impact of Large-Scale Science on the United States,” by physicist and Oak Ridge National Laboratory director Alvin Weinberg. The article described Big Science as part of the new political economy of science produced by World War II, during which the U.S. government…

Pablo Picasso: Early years: …in that year his painting Science and Charity, for which his father modeled for the doctor, was awarded an honourable mention in Madrid at the Fine Arts Exhibition.

Joseph Needham: …and edited the landmark history Science and Civilisation in China, a comprehensive study of Chinese scientific development.

Anil Kumar Agarwal: …founder and director of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), the leading environmental nongovernmental organization (NGO) in India. He also was an outspoken advocate for improving the environmental and social conditions that affected India’s impoverished citizens.

Mary Baker Eddy: The process of discovery: …publication of her major work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, which she regarded as spiritually inspired. And it was in this major work that Eddy eventually included the basic tenets of the church:

Mary Baker Eddy: The process of discovery: …publication of her major work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, which she regarded as spiritually inspired. And it was in this major work that Eddy eventually included the basic tenets of the church:

Jacob Bronowski: … (1951) and the highly praised Science and Human Values (1956; rev. ed. 1965). In these books Bronowski examined aspects of science in nontechnical language and made a case for his view that science needs an ethos in order to function. In The Identity of Man (1965) he sought to present…

Museum of Science and Industry, science museum opened in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., in 1933 by the philanthropist-founder Julius Rosenwald, chairman of Sears, Roebuck, and Company. He had seen the Deutsches Museum in Munich and wished to locate a similarly interactive museum in the United States. He

Holmes Rolston III: In his book Science and Religion (1987), he wrote that “science is here to stay, and the religion that is divorced from science today will leave no offspring tomorrow.” His other major works included Environmental Ethics (1988), Philosophy Gone Wild (1989), and Genes, Genesis and God (1999); the…

Horace Bushnell: An essay on “Science and Religion” (1868) shows his resistance to Darwinian evolutionary theory. His moderate and cautious views on social issues are recorded in A Discourse on the Slavery Question (1839); The Census and Slavery (1860); and Women’s Suffrage: The Reform Against Nature (1869).

Arthur Peacocke: He also founded the Science and Religion Forum (1972) and the Society of Ordained Scientists (1985).

Barry Commoner: …such works as his classic Science and Survival (1966) made him one of the foremost environmentalist spokesmen of his time. He was a third-party candidate for U.S. president in 1980.

museum: Science and technology museums: Museums of science and technology are concerned with the development and application of scientific ideas and instrumentation. Like museums of natural science and natural history, science museums have their origins in the Enlightenment. Some of them developed from the collections of…

Science and Technology Satellite (STSAT), any of a series of South Korean satellites, of which STSAT-2C was the first launched into orbit by South Korea. The first satellite in the series, STSAT-1, was launched by a Kosmos rocket from Plestek, Russia, on September 25, 2003. The second satellite in

Central Intelligence Agency: Organization and responsibilities: The Directorate of Science and Technology is responsible for keeping the agency abreast of scientific and technological advances, for carrying out technical operations (e.g., coordinating intelligence from reconnaissance satellites), and for supervising the monitoring of foreign media. During the Cold War, material gathered from aerial reconnaissance…

Alfred North Whitehead: Career in the United States of Alfred North Whitehead: …earliest writing about God) as Science and the Modern World. In it he dramatically described what had long engaged his meditation; namely, the rise, triumph, and impact of “scientific materialism”—i.e., the view that nature consists of nothing else but matter in motion, or a flux of purely physical energy. He…

Arthur Eddington: Early life: In Science and the Unseen World (1929) he declared that the world’s meaning could not be discovered from science but must be sought through apprehension of spiritual reality. He expressed this belief in other philosophical books: The Nature of the Physical World (1928), New Pathways of…

museum: Science and technology museums: Performing a similar function are science centres where science is demonstrated but where there is not normally a responsibility for collecting and conserving historical apparatus. A pioneer in this field is the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto.

science fiction, a form of fiction that deals principally with the impact of actual or imagined science upon society or individuals. The term science fiction was popularized, if not invented, in the 1920s by one of the genre’s principal advocates, the American publisher Hugo Gernsback. The Hugo

Nebula Award: …annual awards presented by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). Although the SFWA is open to writers, editors, illustrators, agents, and others, only “active members” (published writers) are eligible to vote for the awards, which are currently given for best novel, novella, novelette, short story, and script.…

Nebula Award: …annual awards presented by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). Although the SFWA is open to writers, editors, illustrators, agents, and others, only “active members” (published writers) are eligible to vote for the awards, which are currently given for best novel, novella, novelette, short story, and script.…

Science Museum, museum that is the headquarters of Britain’s Science Museum Group and is considered one of the greatest museums of science and technology in the world. It is located in South Kensington, London, near the Natural History Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Science Museum

museum: Science and technology museums: Museums of science and technology are concerned with the development and application of scientific ideas and instrumentation. Like museums of natural science and natural history, science museums have their origins in the Enlightenment. Some of them developed from the collections of…

Science Museum: …NMSI became known as the Science Museum Group (SMG). In 2017 Locomotion, the railway museum at Shildon, joined SMG.

museum: Other national and regional museums: …Victoria in 1861 and the Science Museum of Victoria in 1870. In Cairo the Egyptian Museum was established in 1858. These all followed the European model, and even in South America art collections tended to be predominately of European origin, to the neglect of indigenous works of art.

prosody: The 18th century: …poet Sidney Lanier in his Science of English Verse, 1880.) Steele’s method is highly personal, depending on an idiosyncratic assigning of such musical qualities as pitch and duration to syllabic values; but he recognized that a prosodic theory must take into account not merely metre but “all properties or accidents…

Sir Leslie Stephen: …contribution to the rationalist tradition, Science of Ethics (1882), attempted to wed evolutionary theory to ethics, and An Agnostic’s Apology appeared in 1893. Stephen’s most enduring legacy, however, is the Dictionary of National Biography, which he edited from 1882 to 1891; he edited the first 26 volumes and contributed 378…

Judaism: Developments in scholarship: …of scholars dedicated to the Wissenschaft des Judentums (“science of Judaism”).

Gaetano Filangieri: …La scienza della legislazione (The Science of Legislation) is considered one of the most important works of the Enlightenment. His ideas were a precursor of modern constitutionalism, and he may have influenced Benjamin Franklin and the writing of the Constitution of the United States.

H.G. Wells: Middle and late works: …of History (1920; revised 1931), The Science of Life (1931), cowritten with Julian Huxley and G.P. Wells (his elder son by his second wife), and The Work, Wealth, and Happiness of Mankind (1932). At the same time he continued to publish works of fiction, in which his gifts of narrative…

history of logic: Other 18th-century logicians: …refers early in his massive Science of Logic (1812–16) to the centuries of work in logic since Aristotle as a mere preoccupation with “technical manipulations.” He took issue with the claim that one could separate the “logical form” of a judgment from its substance—and thus with the very possibility of…

Religious Science: …United Church publishes the magazine Science of Mind.

Religious Science: In 1926 Holmes’s major work, The Science of Mind, was published. In 1927 he established the Institute of Religious Science and Philosophy in Los Angeles to teach his principles. Some of the graduates established churches based on Holmes’s teachings, and in 1949 he reluctantly agreed to the establishment of a…

Edith Stein: …Joannes a Cruce: Kreuzeswissenschaft (1950; The Science of the Cross), a phenomenological study of St. John of the Cross.

Museum of Science, major American museum of science and technology, founded in 1830 in Boston, Massachusetts, as the Boston Society of Natural History. The society moved to permanent quarters in 1864, when it became known as the New England Museum of Natural History. Having outgrown its original

Australian External Territories: The commonwealth Department of Science is responsible for the administration of Australia’s Antarctic interests as well as Heard Island and McDonald Islands and oversees the annual relief operations of Australia’s scientific bases in Antarctica.

history of science, the development of science over time. On the simplest level, science is knowledge of the world of nature. There are many regularities in nature that humankind has had to recognize for survival since the emergence of Homo sapiens as a species. The Sun and the Moon periodically

Museum of Science, major American museum of science and technology, founded in 1830 in Boston, Massachusetts, as the Boston Society of Natural History. The society moved to permanent quarters in 1864, when it became known as the New England Museum of Natural History. Having outgrown its original

philosophy of science, the study, from a philosophical perspective, of the elements of scientific inquiry. This article discusses metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical issues related to the practice and goals of modern science. For treatment of philosophical issues raised by the problems and

STEM, field and curriculum centred on education in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The STEM acronym was introduced in 2001 by scientific administrators at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). The organization previously used the acronym SMET when

Jacques Barzun: A related work is Science: The Glorious Entertainment (1964), in which he criticizes what he considers to be an overestimation of scientific thought.

Academy of Sciences, highest scientific society and principal coordinating body for research in natural and social sciences, technology, and production in Russia. The organization was established in St. Petersburg, Russia, on February 8 (January 28, Old Style), 1724. Membership in the academy is by

Academy of Sciences, highest scientific society and principal coordinating body for research in natural and social sciences, technology, and production in Russia. The organization was established in St. Petersburg, Russia, on February 8 (January 28, Old Style), 1724. Membership in the academy is by

Berlin: Education and science: The Academy of Sciences, founded as the Electoral Prince of Brandenburg Society in 1700, was the primary research organization of the GDR. The academy was phased out in 1991, and its research institutes were either integrated into existing research organizations and universities or dissolved; only its…

Academy of Sciences, institution established in Paris in 1666 under the patronage of Louis XIV to advise the French government on scientific matters. This advisory role has been largely taken over by other bodies, but the academy is still an important representative of French science on the

Academy of Sciences, highest scientific society and principal coordinating body for research in natural and social sciences, technology, and production in Russia. The organization was established in St. Petersburg, Russia, on February 8 (January 28, Old Style), 1724. Membership in the academy is by

Italy: Culture and society: …fostered scientific exchange by establishing scientific academies—the Roman Accademia dei Lincei (founded in 1603), the Florentine Accademia del Cimento (1657), and the Neapolitan Accademia degli Investiganti (1665). In fields such as drama (both tragedy and comedy), music (both religious and secular), art history, rhetoric, and political theory, Italians of the…

Scientific American, American monthly magazine interpreting scientific developments to lay readers, the most highly regarded of its genre. It was founded in New York City in 1845 by Rufus Porter, a New England inventor, as a weekly newspaper describing new inventions. He sold it in 1846 to another

Pretoria: …Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the country’s largest research organization.

Lewis Henry Morgan: …and a principal founder of scientific anthropology, known especially for establishing the study of kinship systems and for his comprehensive theory of social evolution.

apophenia: Forms of apophenia: …of the phenomenon known as scientific apophenia occurs when researchers draw incorrect conclusions from random data; this is particularly important in fields such as epidemiology, big data analytics, and financial modeling, where large datasets can easily produce spurious correlations.

Aldo Rossi: Rossi’s A Scientific Autobiography was published in 1981 (reissued 2010). In the 1980s and ’90s Rossi continued his search for a timeless architectural language in commissions such as the Hotel il Palazzo (1987–94) in Fukuoka, Japan, and the Bonnefanten Museum (1995) in Maastricht, Netherlands. Over time,…

James J. Corbett: …what came to be called scientific boxing.

Antarctica: Post-IGY research: …in September 1957 organized the Special Committee on Antarctic Research, or SCAR. (In 1961 the word Scientific was substituted for Special.) The foundations for the committee were laid at its first meeting, in The Hague in 1958. SCAR, a politically independent body, coordinates not only research activities in Antarctica itself…

creationism, the belief that the universe and the various forms of life were created by God out of nothing (ex nihilo). Although the idea of God as creator is as old as religion itself, modern creationism is largely a response to evolutionary theory, which can explain the diversity of life without

logical positivism, a philosophical movement that arose in Vienna in the 1920s and was characterized by the view that scientific knowledge is the only kind of factual knowledge and that all traditional metaphysical doctrines are to be rejected as meaningless. A brief treatment of logical positivism

collective behavior: Fads: First, the scientific fad begins with a new idea or a rediscovered idea—though not just any new idea will set off a fad. The new idea must be a “key invention,” one that opens up the possibility for a wide range of minor innovations. Discovery of a…

Karl Gotthard Lamprecht: …over the meaning of “scientific history.” While he put special emphasis on economic groups and mass movements in social history, his principal thesis was that history achieves scientific status not through exactitude of detail in particular instances but rather through the achievement of a general and philosophical synthesis arising…

scientific hypothesis, an idea that proposes a tentative explanation about a phenomenon or a narrow set of phenomena observed in the natural world. The two primary features of a scientific hypothesis are falsifiability and testability, which are reflected in an “If…then” statement summarizing the

drawing: Applied drawings: …to artistic standing are most illustrations serving scientific purposes, the aim of which is to record as objectively as possible the characteristic and typical features of a given phenomenon. The systematic drawings, used especially in the natural sciences to explain a system or a function, resemble plans; descriptive and naturalistic…

Let Science Be Our Guidepost: … in our children and elevating scientific proficiency among our citizens. I believe we must grow knowledgeable voters, those who will continue to implement good science policy.

Frederick W. Taylor: …known as the father of scientific management. His system of industrial management, known as Taylorism, greatly influenced the development of industrial engineering and production management throughout the world.

scientific method, mathematical and experimental technique employed in the sciences. More specifically, it is the technique used in the construction and testing of a scientific hypothesis. The process of observing, asking questions, and seeking answers through tests and experiments is not unique to

scientific modeling, the generation of a physical, conceptual, or mathematical representation of a real phenomenon that is difficult to observe directly. Scientific models are used to explain and predict the behaviour of real objects or systems and are used in a variety of scientific disciplines,

scientific notation, method of writing large or small numbers in a shorter form. For example, 4,800,000,000,000 is written in scientific notation as 4.8 ⨉ 1012. Similarly, 0.0000000000048 is written as 4.8 ⨉ 10-12. These numbers are referred to as “4.8 times 10 to the power of 12” and “4.8 times 10

Rudolf Carnap: Career in Vienna and Prague: …of operational definitions, and “observation sentences,” whose truth can be checked by direct observation. Carnap stressed that usually such tests cannot provide strict proof or disproof but only more or less strong “confirmation” for an empirical statement.

scientific racism, set of falsified scientific or pseudoscientific hypotheses that seeks to explain and justify European colonial dominance, particularly in the 17th through early 20th century. Proponents of scientific racism believe that races—variable, socially constructed groupings of people

realism: Scientific realism and instrumentalism: The dispute between scientific realists and antirealists, though often associated with conflicting ontological attitudes toward the unobserved (and perhaps unobservable) entities ostensibly postulated by some scientific theories, primarily concerns the status of the theories themselves and what scientists should be seen…

Let Science Be Our Guidepost: …and meticulous path that sound scientific research must follow. Few people realize how many thousands of assays must be performed, how many years of animal studies and clinical trials must be successfully completed, and how many objective reviews must be passed before a new drug can be responsibly introduced to…

nuclear weapon: Producing a controlled chain reaction: …1941 President Roosevelt established the Office of Scientific Research and Development under the direction of the scientist Vannevar Bush, subsuming the National Defense Research Committee that had directed the nation’s mobilization effort to utilize science for weapon development the previous year.

Spain: Academies and institutes: …institution for research is the Council for Scientific Research (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; CSIC), an autonomous public research organization based in Madrid and affiliated with the government Ministry of Education and Science. It was created in 1940 by the Franco regime to promote and manage research. Today there are…

Scientific Revolution, drastic change in scientific thought that took place during the 16th and 17th centuries. A new view of nature emerged during the Scientific Revolution, replacing the Greek view that had dominated science for almost 2,000 years. Science became an autonomous discipline,

spaceflight: Kinds of spacecraft: A scientific satellite or probe carries instruments to obtain data on magnetic fields, space radiation, Earth and its atmosphere, the Sun or other stars, planets and their moons, and other astronomical objects and phenomena. Applications spacecraft have utilitarian tasks, such as telecommunications, Earth observation, military reconnaissance,…

communism: Communism after Marx: …Marxism, which he called “scientific socialism,” made Marxist theory more rigid and deterministic than Marx had intended. Thus, Marx’s historical materialism became a variant of philosophical materialism—i.e., the doctrine that only physical matter and its motions are real. According to Engels’s science of “dialectics,” everything—nature, history, even human thought—is…

Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan: …was the foundation of the Scientific Society, which published translations of many educational texts and issued a bilingual journal—in Urdu and English.

Edward U. Condon: …saucers, from which grew the Condon report, The Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects (1969).

scientific theory, systematic ideational structure of broad scope, conceived by the human imagination, that encompasses a family of empirical (experiential) laws regarding regularities existing in objects and events, both observed and posited. A scientific theory is a structure suggested by these