public domain: …in the 2012 case of Golan v. Holder.

Golan Heights, hilly area overlooking the upper Jordan River valley on the west. The area was part of extreme southwestern Syria until 1967, when it came under Israeli military occupation, and in December 1981 Israel unilaterally annexed the part of the Golan it held. In 2019 the United States

Go, open-source programming language known for its simplicity and speed. Development of Go began in 2007 with the aim of minimizing programmer effort. It was largely successful in achieving this goal, being ranked in July 2024 as the seventh most popular programming language in the world by the

Ahmed al-Sharaa is the president (2025– ) of Syria’s interim government, having commanded the Syrian Civil War rebel forces that toppled Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024. He was previously notorious as the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which was first formed as an affiliate of al-Qaeda,

Friedrich von Logau was a German epigrammatist noted for his direct unostentatious style. Logau was of noble descent and became an orphan early. He spent his life in service to the petty courts of Brieg and Liegnitz. Logau resented the forced lowliness of his position, and he directed much of his

spectroscopy: Infrared instrumentation: A Golay detector employs the reflection of light from a thermally distortable reflecting film onto a photoelectric cell, while a bolometer exhibits a change in electrical resistance with a change in temperature. In both cases the device must respond to very small and very rapid changes.…

chromatography: Subsequent developments: …or Golay, columns, now called open-tubular columns and characterized by their open design and an internal diameter of less than one millimetre, had an explosive impact on chromatographic methodology. It is now possible to separate hundreds of components of a mixture in a single chromatographic experiment.

spectroscopy: Infrared instrumentation: A Golay detector employs the reflection of light from a thermally distortable reflecting film onto a photoelectric cell, while a bolometer exhibits a change in electrical resistance with a change in temperature. In both cases the device must respond to very small and very rapid changes.…

chromatography: Subsequent developments: …study of gas chromatographic columns, Marcel J.E. Golay, as a consultant for the Perkin-Elmer Corporation, concluded that a very long column (90 to 180 metres [300 to 600 feet]) of narrow-diameter tubing (internal diameter of 0.25 millimetres [0.0098 inch]) with its wall coated with a thin film of liquid would…

René Magritte: In Golconda (1953) bourgeois, bowler-hatted men fall like rain toward a street lined with houses.

Vance Palmer: Golconda (1948) describes the conflict between miners and management in the Mount Isa area of Queensland; it is the first volume of a political trilogy that includes Seedtime (1957) and The Big Fellow (1959). He also wrote several plays on political themes. His short stories…

Golconda, historic fortress and ruined city lying 5 miles (8 km) west of Hyderabad in western Telangana state, southern India. From 1518 to 1591 it was the capital of the Quṭb Shāhī kingdom (1518–1687), one of five Muslim sultanates of the Deccan. The territory of Golconda lay between the lower

İzmit earthquake of 1999, devastating earthquake that struck near the city of İzmit in northwestern Turkey on August 17, 1999. Thousands of people were killed, and large parts of a number of mid-sized towns and cities were destroyed. The earthquake, which occurred on the northernmost strand of the

Matthew McConaughey: …of Unionist principles, and in Gold (2016) as a brackish prospector who strikes it rich in the jungle in Indonesia. McConaughey also supplied the voice of a samurai beetle in Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) and a koala in Sing (2016) and Sing 2 (2021).

gold (Au), chemical element, a dense lustrous yellow precious metal of Group 11 (Ib), Period 6, of the periodic table of the elements. Gold has several qualities that have made it exceptionally valuable throughout history. It is attractive in colour and brightness, durable to the point of virtual

Gold Beach, the centre beach of the five designated landing areas of the Normandy Invasion of World War II. It was assaulted and taken from defending German troops on June 6, 1944 (D-Day of the invasion), by units of the British 50th Infantry Division. (Read Sir John Keegan’s Britannica entry on

mask: Funerary and commemorative uses: …tombs of about 1400 bce, beaten gold portrait masks were found. Gold masks also were placed on the faces of the dead kings of Cambodia and Siam (now Thailand).

The Gold Bug, mystery story by Edgar Allan Poe, published in 1843 in the Philadelphia Dollar Magazine; it was later published in the collection Tales (1845). The central character, William Legrand, has sequestered himself on Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina, after a series of economic setbacks.

Sharon Olds: …further developed this theme in The Gold Cell (1987). The poet presents arguments against her parents’ marriage in “I Go Back to May 1937” and explores their relationship in other poems in the collection. The Matter of This World: New and Selected Poems (1987) and The Father (1992) continue her…

ruby glass: …glass deriving its colour from gold chloride. Originally known in the ancient world, its rediscovery was long sought by European alchemists and glassmakers, who believed it had curative properties. A Hamburg physician, Andreas Cassius, in 1676 reported his discovery of the red colouring properties of a solution of gold chloride,…

Gold Coast, section of the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, in Africa. It extends approximately from Axim, Ghana, or nearby Cape Three Points, in the west to the Volta River in the east and is so called because it was an important source of gold. An area of intense colonial rivalry from the 17th

James Alan McPherson: …with the short story “Gold Coast,” which won a contest in The Atlantic Monthly in 1968, and the following year he became a contributing editor of the magazine. “Gold Coast” examines the race, class, and age barriers between Robert, a black Harvard student who aspires to be a writer,…

Gold Coast, city, extreme southeastern Queensland, Australia, about 20 miles (30 km) south-southeast of Brisbane. It extends for some 25 miles (40 km) along the state’s southeastern coastline, from Paradise Point along the Pacific Highway to Coolangatta at the New South Wales border. Tweed Heads,

Gold Cup, premier annual motorboat-racing prize in the United States, instituted by the American Power Boat Association in 1904. The first race for the cup was held on the Hudson River and was won by C.C. Riotte’s Standard with the fastest heat of 23.6 miles (38 km) per hour. The winning boats

Busby Berkeley: The Warner Brothers period: …regarded as classics: 42nd Street, Gold Diggers of 1933, and Footlight Parade. Those three films were backstage stories, all concerned with the production of a Broadway show. The nonmusical parts of those films had the gritty urban atmosphere for which Warners was renowned, but for the musical numbers Berkeley created…

Harry Warren: … (for “Lullaby of Broadway” from Gold Diggers of 1935 [1935], “You’ll Never Know” from Hello Frisco, Hello [1943], and “On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe” from The Harvey Girls [1946]). Nevertheless, he amassed a fortune from his Depression-era contracts with major motion-picture studios and from royalty payments.

Roy Del Ruth: Early films: …Desert Song, as well as Gold Diggers of Broadway, which established the studio’s cottage industry of “Gold Diggers” pictures and also unveiled the pop standard “Tiptoe Through the Tulips.”

online gaming: Birth of virtual economies: …business, employing hundreds of “gold farmers,” who play games in an effort to hoard resources that can be sold to players in South Korea or the United States. Most MMOG companies sought to control this behaviour by banning the accounts of suspected gold farmers (e.g., Activision Blizzard has closed…

online gaming: Birth of virtual economies: …business, employing hundreds of “gold farmers,” who play games in an effort to hoard resources that can be sold to players in South Korea or the United States. Most MMOG companies sought to control this behaviour by banning the accounts of suspected gold farmers (e.g., Activision Blizzard has closed…

It was one of the most-significant events in U.S. history, and it all began with a water-powered sawmill. In 1848 Swiss immigrant John Sutter was building the structure along the American River in Coloma, California. On January 24, his carpenter, James W. Marshall, found something that made his

Cecil Rhodes: Early struggles and financial successes: …in 1885, and formed the Gold Fields of South Africa Company in 1887. Both Rhodes’s major companies had terms in their articles of association allowing them to finance schemes of northward expansion.

baseball: Awards: The Gold Glove is awarded to the best defensive player at each of the nine positions (three outfielders are selected, but no consideration is given as to whether those players covered right, center, or left field) in both the American League and the National League. The…

gold leaf, extremely thin sheet of gold (about 0.1 micrometre, or 4 millionths of an inch, thick) used for gilding. Medieval illuminated manuscripts gleam with gold leaf, and it is still widely used for gilding ornamental designs, lettering and edgings on paper, wood, ceramics, glass, textiles, and

Olympic Games: The medal ceremonies: Solid gold medals were last given in 1912. The obverse side of the medal awarded in 2004 at Athens was altered for the first time since 1928 to better reflect the Greek origins of both the ancient and modern Games, depicting the goddess Nike flying above…

Frost Medal, annual poetry award presented by the Poetry Society of America in recognition of the lifetime achievements of an American poet. The medal was first awarded in 1930. The award was originally called the Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement, but the name was later changed to honour

Royal Astronomical Society: …Caroline Herschel was awarded a Gold Medal in 1828 and, with Mary Somerville, was elected an honorary member in 1835. Women were first admitted to fellowship in 1916.

Missy Elliott: …the umbrella of her own Gold Mind record label.

Colombia: Cultural institutions: The Gold Museum in Bogotá possesses the world’s finest and largest collection of worked gold, the product of extraordinarily skilled craftsmen, whereas the Bogotá Museum of Colonial Art has a rich collection of criollo (Creole) religious sculpture and painting. The National Museum displays treasures and relics…

money: The gold standard: …limits were known as the gold points.

gold processing, preparation of the ore for use in various products. For thousands of years the word gold has connoted something of beauty or value. These images are derived from two properties of gold, its colour and its chemical stability. The colour of gold is due to the electronic structure of

Monashee Mountains, southwesternmost range of the Columbia Mountain system, in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, extending for 200 miles (320 km) north from the Washington (U.S.) boundary between the Interior Plateau (west) and the Selkirk Trench (east), in which flows the Columbia River.

Thomas Baines: …people were published posthumously in The Gold Regions of South-Eastern Africa (1877).

gold reserve, a fund of gold bullion or coin held by a government or bank, as distinguished from a private hoard of gold held by an individual or nonfinancial institution. In the past, reserves were accumulated by rulers and governments primarily to meet the costs of waging war, and in most eras

gold rush, rapid influx of fortune seekers to the site of newly discovered gold deposits. Major gold rushes occurred in the United States, Australia, Canada, and South Africa in the 19th century. The first major gold strike in North America occurred near Dahlonega, Georgia, in the late 1820s. It

The Gold Rush, American silent film comedy, released in 1925, that starred Charlie Chaplin and was set amid the Alaskan gold rush of the late 1890s. The tale follows the adventures of Chaplin’s legendary Tramp character as he prospects for gold, fighting off wild animals and greedy competitors. As

gold standard, monetary system in which the standard unit of currency is a fixed quantity of gold or is kept at the value of a fixed quantity of gold. The currency is freely convertible at home or abroad into a fixed amount of gold per unit of currency. (Read Milton Friedman’s Britannica entry on

Since its founding in 1776 the United States has had a variety of monetary systems. These include bimetallic systems, where the dollar was backed by both gold and silver (1792–1862); a fiat monetary system (1862–79), in which paper money, which has no intrinsic or fixed value and is not backed by

Free Silver Movement: …majority in Congress enacted the Gold Standard Act, which made gold the sole standard for all currency.

palliative care: Developments in palliative care: …the Dying Patient and the Gold Standards Framework in the United Kingdom and by groups such as the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization in the United States, Palliative Care Australia, and the Indian Association of Palliative Care in India. The Liverpool Care Pathway is used by health care professionals…

Cindy Sheehan: …lost children in Iraq established Gold Star Families for Peace, an antiwar group for the families of fallen service men and women.

Gold Star Studios and the “Wall of Sound”: Phil Spector brought the role of producer to public attention for the first time with a string of hits by the Ronettes, the Crystals, and the Righteous Brothers featuring his signature wall of sound, all recorded from 1962 through 1965 for his Philles label at…

Phil Spector brought the role of producer to public attention for the first time with a string of hits by the Ronettes, the Crystals, and the Righteous Brothers featuring his signature wall of sound, all recorded from 1962 through 1965 for his Philles label at Gold Star. Opened in 1950 at 6252

Gold State Coach, ornate enclosed carriage that transports the British monarch to special events, especially coronations. An empty coach is also occasionally used during pageants. The Gold State Coach was built in 1762 by Samuel Butler, using a design by William Chambers. When not in use it is on

physical culture: Aerobics and health clubs: Setting the trend was Gold’s Gym, the most famous fitness franchise in the world. It was opened in 1965 by Joe Gold, an original member of Mae West’s troupe, in Venice, California. It attracted Schwarzenegger and other Weider stars and eventually spread to more than 500 facilities in more…

On the Beach: Ernest Gold’s score, which offered frequent nods to the Australian ballad “Waltzing Matilda,” earned an Academy Award nomination and is integral to the emotional impact of the film’s final scenes.

Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Rosenberg: …turned over this information to Harry Gold, a Swiss-born courier for the espionage ring, who then passed it to Anatoly A. Yakovlev, the Soviet Union’s vice-consul in New York City.

Horace L. Gold was a Canadian-born American science fiction editor and author who, as founder and editor of the magazine Galaxy Science Fiction, published many of the most prominent science fiction stories of the 1950s. Gold sold his first short story, “Inflexure,” to Astounding Stories in 1934

Horace L. Gold was a Canadian-born American science fiction editor and author who, as founder and editor of the magazine Galaxy Science Fiction, published many of the most prominent science fiction stories of the 1950s. Gold sold his first short story, “Inflexure,” to Astounding Stories in 1934

physical culture: Aerobics and health clubs: …was opened in 1965 by Joe Gold, an original member of Mae West’s troupe, in Venice, California. It attracted Schwarzenegger and other Weider stars and eventually spread to more than 500 facilities in more than 25 countries. In 1977, after selling his business, Gold established World Gym International in Santa…

American literature: Lyric fictionists: …Side before World War I: Michael Gold’s harsh Jews Without Money (1930) and Henry Roth’s Proustian Call It Sleep (1934), one of the greatest novels of the decade. They followed in the footsteps of Anzia Yezierska, a prolific writer of the 1920s whose passionate books about immigrant Jews, especially

Thomas Gold was an Austrian-born British astronomer who promulgated the steady-state theory of the universe, holding that, although the universe is expanding, a continuous creation of matter in intergalactic space is gradually forming new galaxies, so that the average number of galaxies in any part

pottery: Porcelain: …Sèvres superseding it in the gold-anchor period. Wares marked with either the raised or the red anchor are the most highly valued; the painting of these is excellent in quality. Some of the best wares were painted by an Irish miniaturist, Jeffrey Hamet O’Neal. The gold-anchor-marked wares are noted for…

jinbi shanshui, style of Chinese landscape painting during the Sui (581–618) and Tang (618–907) dynasties. In this style, a rich decorative effect was achieved by the application of two mineral colours, azurite blue and malachite green, together with gold, to a fine line drawing. Among the early

gold-exchange standard, monetary system under which a nation’s currency may be converted into bills of exchange drawn on a country whose currency is convertible into gold at a stable rate of exchange. A nation on the gold-exchange standard is thus able to keep its currency at parity with gold

international payment and exchange: The function of gold: …was known as the “gold-export point.” There was also a “gold-import point” determined on similar lines.

leafbird: The golden-fronted leafbird (C. aurifrons) is a popular cage bird.

Western painting: Pagan Roman paintings: …are the portraits done on gold-glass medallions, which in the exquisite refinement of their treatment may be compared to 16th-century European miniatures. A medallion in the Museum of Christian Antiquities, Brescia, dating from the 3rd century and carrying a portrait group, is a veritable masterpiece.

mineral: Metals: … are members of the same group (column) in the periodic table of elements and therefore have similar chemical properties. In the uncombined state, their atoms are joined by the fairly weak metallic bond. These minerals share a common structure type, and their atoms are positioned in a simple cubic closest-packed…

international payment and exchange: The function of gold: …There was also a “gold-import point” determined on similar lines.

cultured pearl: …Pteria penguin in Japan and Pinctada maxima in Australia) are reserved in barrels until maturation (2 to 3 years) and, when the shells reach certain size, are implanted with a tiny polished sphere of mother-of-pearl. The implanted oysters are suspended in wire nets from floating rafts or contained in some…

For thousands of years, gold has been both a currency and a store of value. Although investing in gold has its pros and cons, it’s easier than ever to add to your portfolio. In addition to owning physical gold coins and bars, you can buy gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mining stocks, and futures

cat snake: …most spectacular species is the black-and-yellow mangrove snake, or gold-ringed cat snake (B. dendrophila), a shiny black snake with a yellow crossbar pattern on its body. It ranges from the Malay Peninsula to the Philippines and can reach 2.5 metres (about 8 feet) in length.

amorphous solid: Melt quenching: …for a binary (two-component) system, gold-silicon. Here x specifies the fraction of atoms that are silicon atoms, and Au1 - xSix denotes a particular material in this family of materials. (Au is the chemical symbol for gold, Si is the symbol for silicon, and, for example, Au0.8Si0.2 denotes a material…

history of Europe: The term and concept before the 18th century: The political theorist and historian Melchior Goldast appears to have coined the variation medium aevum (“a middle age”) in 1604; shortly after, in a Latin work of 1610, the English jurist and legal historian John Selden repeated medium aevum, Anglicizing the term in 1614 to middle times and in 1618…

Goldbach conjecture, in number theory, assertion (here stated in modern terms) that every even counting number greater than 2 is equal to the sum of two prime numbers. The Russian mathematician Christian Goldbach first proposed this conjecture in a letter to the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler

Christian Goldbach was a Russian mathematician whose contributions to number theory include Goldbach’s conjecture. In 1725 Goldbach became professor of mathematics and historian of the Imperial Academy at St. Petersburg. Three years later he went to Moscow as tutor to Tsar Peter II, and from 1742

lily: Physical description: philadelphicum) and goldband lily (L. auratum). The flowers of some species are quite fragrant, and they occur in a wide variety of colours. Plants of most species range in height from 30 to 120 cm (1 to 4 feet); plants of certain species, however, exceed 2.5 metres…

Albert Goldbarth is an American poet whose erudition and wit found expression in compulsively wordy but dazzling compositions. Educated at the University of Illinois at Chicago (B.A., 1969), the University of Iowa (M.F.A., 1971), and the University of Utah (graduate study, 1973–74), Goldbarth

mask: Funerary and commemorative uses: …tombs of about 1400 bce, beaten gold portrait masks were found. Gold masks also were placed on the faces of the dead kings of Cambodia and Siam (now Thailand).

Glenn Gould: Bach’s Goldberg Variations (released 1956) enjoyed an unusual popular success.

Glenn Gould: Bach’s Goldberg Variations (released 1956) enjoyed an unusual popular success.

Nancy Huston: …novel, Les Variations Goldberg (1981; The Goldberg Variations), was short-listed for the Prix Femina. The ease with which Huston moved between French and English characterized much of her career, and in 1993 she was awarded the Governor General’s Award for best French-language novel for Cantique des plaines (1993). However, her…

computer: The graphical user interface: …at PARC, Alan Kay and Adele Goldberg, published a paper in the early 1970s describing a vision of a powerful and portable computer they dubbed the Dynabook. The prototypes of this machine were expensive and resembled sewing machines, but the vision of the two researchers greatly influenced the evolution of…

Arthur J. Goldberg was a labor lawyer who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1962–65) and U.S. representative to the United Nations (1965–68). The son of Russian immigrants, Goldberg passed the Illinois bar examination at the age of 20, practiced law in Chicago from 1929 to

Arthur J. Goldberg was a labor lawyer who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1962–65) and U.S. representative to the United Nations (1965–68). The son of Russian immigrants, Goldberg passed the Illinois bar examination at the age of 20, practiced law in Chicago from 1929 to

Marina City: …1968, it was designed by Bertrand Goldberg as an urban experiment to draw middle-class Chicagoans back to the city after more than a decade of suburban migration, and its success spawned a renewed interest nationwide in urban residential development. The twin corncoblike residential towers, each with 64 floors, are icons…

Nora Bayes was an American singer in vogue in the early 1900s in musical revues, notably the Ziegfeld Follies. Bayes began her career in Chicago in 1899 and made her Broadway debut in 1901. She was identified with the songs “Down Where the Wurzburger Flows” (1902) and “Shine on, Harvest Moon”

Frank Gehry is a Canadian American architect and designer whose original, sculptural, often audacious work won him worldwide renown. In 1947 Gehry and his family immigrated to Los Angeles, where he soon began taking night classes at Los Angeles City College. He then studied architecture at the

Seth Rogen: Early life and first roles: …Rogen, along with childhood friend Evan Goldberg, landed jobs writing for the Sacha Baron Cohen showcase Da Ali G Show. Rogen also surfaced in an episode of the teen-centered drama Dawson’s Creek.

Tillie Olsen: Early life and influences: …was the second child of Ida Goldberg and Sam Lerner, who had been members of the Bund, a largely Jewish and socialist self-defense league founded in 1897 that sought to end injustice and the brutal pogroms of tsarist Russia. Both lived in what is today Minsk voblasts (province), Belarus, and…

Janet Evanovich: …which was largely written with Lee Goldberg, centres on a female FBI agent and a dashing con artist; it began with The Heist (2013), and later installments included The Chase (2014), The Pursuit (2016), and The Bounty (2021). Evanovich also wrote Curious Minds (2016; with Phoef Sutton) and Dangerous Minds…

Rube Goldberg was an American cartoonist who satirized the American preoccupation with technology. His name became synonymous with any simple process made outlandishly complicated. Rube Goldberg was born the son of a San Francisco police and fire commissioner, who guided him into engineering at the

Rube Goldberg was an American cartoonist who satirized the American preoccupation with technology. His name became synonymous with any simple process made outlandishly complicated. Rube Goldberg was born the son of a San Francisco police and fire commissioner, who guided him into engineering at the

Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, and producer who was an accomplished performer with a repertoire that ranged from dramatic leading roles to controversial comedic performances. She also garnered attention as a cohost of the TV talk show The View. Goldberg was the first Black woman

Television in the United States: Sitcoms: …The Aldrich Family (NBC, 1949–53), The Goldbergs (CBS/NBC/DuMont, 1949–56), Amos ’n’ Andy (CBS, 1951–53), and The Life of Riley (NBC, 1949–50 and 1953–58). (It is noteworthy that these last three shows featured—if not always respectfully—Jewish, African American, and lower-income characters, respectively. These groups would see little representation in the sitcom…

Okwui Enwezor: …work of South African photographer David Goldblatt in 2000. A frequent lecturer and member of many art juries, Enwezor also coedited, along with Olu Oguibe, Reading the Contemporary: African Art from Theory to the Marketplace (1999).

Geena Davis: Early life and roles: Chase, and Transylvania 6-5000, with Jeff Goldblum (both 1985), before her breakthrough role opposite Goldblum in David Cronenberg’s horror film The Fly (1986).

Michael Todd was an American showman with a flair for the flamboyant who is remembered as Elizabeth Taylor’s third husband and as a film producer for Around the World in Eighty Days (1956). In his book The Nine Lives of Michael Todd (1958), Todd’s friend Art Cohn recounts a conversation in which

goldcrest, European species of kinglet

Golden Retriever dog, breed of sporting dog developed in Scotland in the 19th century as a gundog and water retriever to assist hunters in recovering game birds. It is a strong and hardy all-around dog and an excellent swimmer. Its thick coat is long on the neck, thighs, tail, and back of the legs