This is an accepted version of this page
132-592: Common Era ( CE ) and Before the Common Era ( BCE ) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar ), the world's most widely used calendar era . Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the original Anno Domini (AD) and Before Christ (BC) notations used for the same calendar era. The two notation systems are numerically equivalent: "2024 CE" and "AD 2024" each describe
264-633: A leap day being added to February in the leap years . The months and length of months in the Gregorian calendar are the same as for the Julian calendar. The only difference is that the Gregorian reform omitted a leap day in three centurial years every 400 years and left the leap day unchanged. A leap year normally occurs every four years: the leap day, historically, was inserted by doubling 24 February – there were indeed two days dated 24 February . However, for many years it has been customary to put
396-578: A slippery slope scenario in his style guide that, "if we do end by casting aside the AD/BC convention, almost certainly some will argue that we ought to cast aside as well the conventional numbering system [that is, the method of numbering years] itself, given its Christian basis." Some Christians are offended by the removal of the reference to Jesus, including the Southern Baptist Convention . The abbreviation BCE, just as with BC, always follows
528-603: A year 0 and instead uses the ordinal numbers 1, 2, ... both for years AD and BC. Thus the traditional time line is 2 BC, 1 BC, AD 1, and AD 2. ISO 8601 uses astronomical year numbering which includes a year 0 and negative numbers before it. Thus the ISO 8601 time line is −0001 , 0000, 0001, and 0002. The Gregorian calendar continued to employ the Julian months, which have Latinate names and irregular numbers of days : Encyclop%C3%A6dia Britannica The Encyclopædia Britannica ( Latin for 'British Encyclopaedia')
660-527: A year zero . In 1422, Portugal became the last Western European country to switch to the system begun by Dionysius. The term "Common Era" is traced back in English to its appearance as " Vulgar Era" to distinguish years of the Anno Domini era, which was in popular use, from dates of the regnal year (the year of the reign of a sovereign) typically used in national law. (The word 'vulgar' originally meant 'of
792-704: A "Britannica Checked" stamp, to distinguish it from the user-generated content. On 14 September 2010, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. announced a partnership with mobile phone development company Concentric Sky to launch a series of iPhone products aimed at the K–12 market. On 20 July 2011, Encyclopædia Britannica, Incorporated announced that Concentric Sky had ported the Britannica Kids product line to Intel's Intel Atom -based Netbooks and on 26 October 2011 that it had launched its encyclopaedia as an iPad app . In 2010, Britannica released Britannica ImageQuest,
924-407: A closely argued, 800-page volume. He would later defend his and Lilius's work against detractors. Clavius's opinion was that the correction should take place in one move, and it was this advice that prevailed with Gregory. The second component consisted of an approximation that would provide an accurate yet simple, rule-based calendar. Lilius's formula was a 10-day correction to revert the drift since
1056-605: A computation for the date of Easter that achieved the same result as Gregory's rules, without actually referring to him. Britain and the British Empire (including the eastern part of what is now the United States) adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752. Sweden followed in 1753. Prior to 1917, Turkey used the lunar Islamic calendar with the Hijri era for general purposes and the Julian calendar for fiscal purposes. The start of
1188-425: A database of images. In March 2012, it was announced that the company would cease printing the encyclopaedia set, and that it would focus on its online version. On 7 June 2018, Britannica released a Google Chrome extension , "Britannica Insights", which shows snippets of information from Britannica Online whenever the user performs a Google Search , in a box to the right of Google's results. Britannica Insights
1320-628: A guide to the Macropædia ; readers are advised to study the Propædia outline to understand a subject's context and to find more detailed articles. Over 70 years, the size of the Britannica has remained steady, with about 40 million words on half a million topics. Though published in the United States since 1901, the Britannica has for the most part maintained British English spelling . From 1985,
1452-548: A matter of convenience. There is so much interaction between people of different faiths and cultures – different civilizations, if you like – that some shared way of reckoning time is a necessity. And so the Christian Era has become the Common Era. Adena K. Berkowitz, in her application to argue before the United States Supreme Court , opted to use BCE and CE because, "Given the multicultural society that we live in,
SECTION 10
#17328376385831584-594: A partnership with YouTube in which verified Britannica content appeared on the site as an antidote to user-generated video content that could be false or misleading. Krishnan, an educator at New York University 's Stern School of Business , believes in the "transformative power of education" and set steering the company toward solidifying its place among leaders in educational technology and supplemental curriculum. Krishnan aimed at providing more useful and relevant solutions to customer needs, extending and renewing Britannica's historical emphasis on "utility", which had been
1716-682: A period of 138 years in which the traditional BC/AD dating notation was used. BCE/CE is used by the College Board in its history tests, and by the Norton Anthology of English Literature . Others have taken a different approach. The US-based History Channel uses BCE/CE notation in articles on non-Christian religious topics such as Jerusalem and Judaism . The 2006 style guide for the Episcopal Diocese Maryland Church News says that BCE and CE should be used. In June 2006, in
1848-621: A single article; however, 64 contributed to three articles, 23 contributed to four articles, 10 contributed to five articles, and 8 contributed to more than five articles. An exceptionally prolific contributor is Christine Sutton of the University of Oxford , who contributed 24 articles on particle physics . While Britannica 's authors have included writers such as Albert Einstein , Marie Curie , and Leon Trotsky , as well as notable independent encyclopaedists such as Isaac Asimov , some have been criticized for lack of expertise. In 1911,
1980-405: A study guide, as it puts subjects in their proper perspective and suggests a series of Britannica articles for the student wishing to learn a topic in depth. However, libraries have found that it is scarcely used for this purpose, and reviewers have recommended that it be dropped from the encyclopaedia. The Propædia contains color transparencies of human anatomy and several appendices listing
2112-425: Is 365 + 97 / 400 days = 365.2425 days, or 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes and 12 seconds. The Gregorian calendar was a reform of the Julian calendar. It was instituted by papal bull Inter gravissimas dated 24 February 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar is named. The motivation for the adjustment was to bring the date for the celebration of Easter to the time of year in which it
2244-468: Is 365.2425463 days. As the average length of a Julian year is 365.25 days, the Julian year is almost 11 minutes longer than the mean tropical year. The discrepancy results in a drift of about three days every 400 years. Lilius's proposal resulted in an average year of 365.2425 days (see Accuracy ). At the time of Gregory's reform there had already been a drift of 10 days since the Council of Nicaea, resulting in
2376-516: Is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia . It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although 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,
2508-475: Is a direct reference to Jesus as Lord . Proponents of the Common Era notation assert that the use of BCE/CE shows sensitivity to those who use the same year numbering system as the one that originated with and is currently used by Christians , but who are not themselves Christian. Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has argued: [T]he Christian calendar no longer belongs exclusively to Christians. People of all faiths have taken to using it simply as
2640-658: Is a website with more than 120,000 articles and is updated regularly. It has daily features, updates and links to news reports from The New York Times and the BBC . As of 2009 , roughly 60% of Encyclopædia Britannica's revenue came from online operations, of which around 15% came from subscriptions to the consumer version of the websites. As of 2006 , subscriptions were available on a yearly, monthly or weekly basis. Special subscription plans are offered to schools, colleges and libraries; such institutional subscribers constitute an important part of Britannica's business. Beginning in early 2007,
2772-417: Is considered to have a more left-leaning orientation. The 15th edition (1974–2010) has a three-part structure: a 12-volume Micropædia of short articles (generally fewer than 750 words), a 17-volume Macropædia of long articles (two to 310 pages), and a single Propædia volume to give a hierarchical outline of knowledge. The Micropædia was meant for quick fact-checking and as
SECTION 20
#17328376385832904-490: Is continually reprinted, with every article updated on a schedule. In the 21st century, the Britannica suffered first from competition with 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
3036-462: Is for children aged three to six (issued 1974 to 1991). There have been, and are, several abridged Britannica encyclopaedias. The single-volume Britannica Concise Encyclopædia has 28,000 short articles condensing the larger 32-volume Britannica ; there are authorized translations in languages such as Chinese created by Encyclopedia of China Publishing House and Vietnamese . Compton's by Britannica , first published in 2007, incorporating
3168-479: Is in particularly common use in Nepal in order to disambiguate dates from the local calendar, Bikram or Vikram Sambat. Disambiguation is needed because the era of the local calendar is quite close to the Common Era. In 2002, an advisory panel for the religious education syllabus for England and Wales recommended introducing BCE/CE dates to schools, and by 2018 some local education authorities were using them. In 2018,
3300-487: Is on the subject of the United States, and it resulted from merging separate articles on the individual US states . A 2013 "Global Edition" of Britannica contained approximately 40,000 articles. Information can be found in the Britannica by following the cross-references in the Micropædia and Macropædia ; these are sparse, however, averaging one cross-reference per page. Readers are instead recommended to consult
3432-453: Is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull Inter gravissimas issued by Pope Gregory XIII , which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar . The principal change was to space leap years differently so as to make the average calendar year 365.2425 days long, more closely approximating
3564-415: Is the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various European countries between 1582 and the early 20th century. In England , Wales , Ireland , and Britain's American colonies , there were two calendar changes, both in 1752. The first adjusted the start of a new year from Lady Day (25 March) to 1 January (which Scotland had done from 1600), while the second discarded
3696-423: Is the year using astronomical year numbering , that is, use 1 − (year BC) for BC years. ⌊ x ⌋ {\displaystyle \left\lfloor {x}\right\rfloor } means that if the result of the division is not an integer it is rounded down to the nearest integer. The general rule, in years which are leap years in the Julian calendar but not the Gregorian, is: Up to 28 February in
3828-855: The Battle of Agincourt is universally considered to have been fought on 25 October 1415 which is Saint Crispin 's Day. Usually, the mapping of new dates onto old dates with a start of year adjustment works well with little confusion for events that happened before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar. But for the period between the first introduction of the Gregorian calendar on 15 October 1582 and its introduction in Britain on 14 September 1752, there can be considerable confusion between events in continental western Europe and in British domains in English language histories. Events in continental western Europe are usually reported in English language histories as happening under
3960-414: The Britannica 's Board of Directors. In 2003, former management consultant Jorge Aguilar-Cauz was appointed President of Encyclopædia Britannica, Incorporated. Cauz is the senior executive and reports directly to the Britannica 's Board of Directors. Cauz has been pursuing alliances with other companies and extending the Britannica brand to new educational and reference products, continuing
4092-507: The Britannica consisted of four parts: the Micropædia , the Macropædia , the Propædia , and a two-volume index. The Britannica 's articles are contained in the Micro- and Macropædia , which encompass 12 and 17 volumes, respectively, each volume having roughly one thousand pages. The 2007 Macropædia has 699 in-depth articles, ranging in length from two pages to 310 pages, with references and named contributors. In contrast,
Common Era - Misplaced Pages Continue
4224-590: The Britannica has been revised on a regular schedule, with at least 10% of the articles considered for revision each year. According to one Britannica website, 46% of the articles in the 2007 edition were revised over the preceding three years; however, according to another Britannica website, only 35% of the articles were revised over the same period. The alphabetization of articles in the Micropædia and Macropædia follows strict rules. Diacritical marks and non-English letters are ignored, while numerical entries such as " 1812, War of " are alphabetized as if
4356-425: The Britannica included five Senior Editors and nine Associate Editors, supervised by Dale Hoiberg and four others. The editorial staff helped to write the articles of the Micropædia and some sections of the Macropædia . As of 2012, Britannica had an editorial board of advisors, which included a number of distinguished figures, primarily scholars from a variety of disciplines. Past and present members of
4488-479: The Britannica made articles freely available if they are hyperlinked from an external site. Non-subscribers are served pop-ups and advertising. On 20 February 2007, Encyclopædia Britannica, Incorporated announced that it was working with mobile phone search company AskMeNow to launch a mobile encyclopaedia. Users will be able to send a question via text message, and AskMeNow will search Britannica 's 28,000-article concise encyclopaedia to return an answer to
4620-483: The Britannica turned to focus more on its online edition. The Encyclopædia Britannica has been compared with other print encyclopaedias, both qualitatively and quantitatively. A well-known comparison is that of Kenneth Kister , who gave a qualitative and quantitative comparison of the 1993 Britannica with two comparable encyclopaedias, Collier's Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia Americana . For
4752-461: The Britannica was 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
4884-507: The Catholic countries of Europe and their overseas possessions. Over the next three centuries, the Protestant and Eastern Orthodox countries also gradually moved to what they called the " Improved calendar ", with Greece being the last European country to adopt the calendar (for civil use only) in 1923. However, many Orthodox churches continue to use the Julian calendar for religious rites and
5016-543: The Council of Trent authorised Pope Paul III to reform the calendar, requiring that the date of the vernal equinox be restored to that which it held at the time of the First Council of Nicaea in 325 and that an alteration to the calendar be designed to prevent future drift. This would allow for more consistent and accurate scheduling of the feast of Easter. In 1577, a Compendium was sent to expert mathematicians outside
5148-573: The First Council of Nicaea in AD 325, the excess leap days introduced by the Julian algorithm had caused the calendar to drift such that the March equinox was occurring well before its nominal 21 March date. This date was important to the Christian churches because it is fundamental to the calculation of the date of Easter . To reinstate the association, the reform advanced the date by 10 days: Thursday 4 October 1582
5280-540: The Gregorian calendar without the AD prefix. As early as 1825, the abbreviation VE (for Vulgar Era) was in use among Jews to denote years in the Western calendar. As of 2005, Common Era notation has also been in use for Hebrew lessons for more than a century. Jews have also used the term Current Era . Some academics in the fields of theology , education , archaeology and history have adopted CE and BCE notation despite some disagreement. A study conducted in 2014 found that
5412-554: The Incarnation of Jesus. Dionysius labeled the column of the table in which he introduced the new era as " Anni Domini Nostri Jesu Christi " (Of the year of our Lord Jesus Christ]. This way of numbering years became more widespread in Europe with its use by Bede in England in 731. Bede also introduced the practice of dating years before what he supposed was the year of birth of Jesus, without
Common Era - Misplaced Pages Continue
5544-700: The National Trust said it would continue to use BC/AD as its house style. English Heritage explains its era policy thus: "It might seem strange to use a Christian calendar system when referring to British prehistory, but the BC/AD labels are widely used and understood." Some parts of the BBC use BCE/CE, but some presenters have said they will not. As of October 2019, the BBC News style guide has entries for AD and BC, but not for CE or BCE. The style guide for The Guardian says, under
5676-524: The Roman Republic and the Roman Empire was the consular year, which began on the day when consuls first entered office—probably 1 May before 222 BC, 15 March from 222 BC and 1 January from 153 BC. The Julian calendar, which began in 45 BC, continued to use 1 January as the first day of the new year . Even though the year used for dates changed, the civil year always displayed its months in
5808-676: The Royal Society of Edinburgh , and cultural anthropologist Michael Wesch . The Propædia and its Outline of Knowledge were produced by dozens of editorial advisors under the direction of Mortimer J. Adler . Roughly half of these advisors have since died, including some of the Outline's chief architects – Rene Dubos (d. 1982), Loren Eiseley (d. 1977), Harold D. Lasswell (d. 1978), Mark Van Doren (d. 1972), Peter Ritchie Calder (d. 1982) and Mortimer J. Adler (d. 2001). The Propædia also lists just under 4,000 advisors who were consulted for
5940-543: The date of birth of Jesus . Since the year numbers are the same, BCE and CE dates should be equally offensive to other religions as BC and AD. Roman Catholic priest and writer on interfaith issues Raimon Panikkar argued that the BCE/CE usage is the less inclusive option since they are still using the Christian calendar numbers and forcing it on other nations. In 1993, the English-language expert Kenneth G. Wilson speculated
6072-500: The 2007 Micropædia has roughly 65,000 articles, the vast majority (about 97%) of which contain fewer than 750 words, no references, and no named contributors. The Micropædia articles are intended for quick fact-checking and to help in finding more thorough information in the Macropædia . The Macropædia articles are meant as authoritative, well-written commentaries on their subjects, as well as storehouses of information not covered elsewhere. The longest article (310 pages)
6204-473: The 20th century, successful competitors included Collier's Encyclopedia , the Encyclopedia Americana , and the World Book Encyclopedia . Nevertheless, from the 9th edition onwards, the Britannica was widely considered to have the greatest authority of any general English-language encyclopaedia, especially because of its broad coverage and eminent authors. The print version of the Britannica
6336-547: The 365.2422-day 'tropical' or 'solar' year that is determined by the Earth's revolution around the Sun. The rule for leap years is: Every year that is exactly divisible by four is a leap year, except for years that are exactly divisible by 100, but these centurial years are leap years if they are exactly divisible by 400. For example, the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 are not leap years, but the year 2000 is. There were two reasons to establish
6468-471: The 9th (1875–1889) and 11th editions (1911) are landmark encyclopaedias for scholarship and literary style. Starting with 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
6600-579: The BCE/CE notation is not growing at the expense of BC and AD notation in the scholarly literature, and that both notations are used in a relatively stable fashion. In 2011, media reports suggested that the BC/AD notation in Australian school textbooks would be replaced by BCE/CE notation. The change drew opposition from some politicians and church leaders. Weeks after the story broke, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority denied
6732-563: The Christian Era, it was sometimes qualified, e.g., "common era of the Incarnation", "common era of the Nativity", or "common era of the birth of Christ". An adapted translation of Common Era into Latin as Era Vulgaris was adopted in the 20th century by some followers of Aleister Crowley , and thus the abbreviation "e.v." or "EV" may sometimes be seen as a replacement for AD. Although Jews have their own Hebrew calendar , they often use
SECTION 50
#17328376385836864-460: The Council of Nicaea was corrected by a deletion of 10 days. The Julian calendar day Thursday, 4 October 1582 was followed by the first day of the Gregorian calendar, Friday, 15 October 1582 (the cycle of weekdays was not affected). A month after having decreed the reform, the pope (with a brief of 3 April 1582) granted to one Antoni Lilio the exclusive right to publish the calendar for a period of ten years. The Lunario Novo secondo la nuova riforma
6996-401: The Council of Nicaea, and the imposition of a leap day in only 97 years in 400 rather than in 1 year in 4. The proposed rule was that "years divisible by 100 would be leap years only if they were divisible by 400 as well". The 19-year cycle used for the lunar calendar required revision because the astronomical new moon was, at the time of the reform, four days before the calculated new moon. It
7128-572: The Google Chrome browser that served up edited, fact-checked Britannica information with queries on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Its purpose, the company said, was to "provide trusted, verified information" in conjunction with search results that were thought to be increasingly unreliable in the era of misinformation and "fake news." The product was quickly followed by Britannica School Insights, which provided similar content for subscribers to Britannica's online classroom solutions, and
7260-485: The Gregorian Calendar as BCE and CE without compromising their own beliefs about the divinity of Jesus of Nazareth." In History Today , Michael Ostling wrote: "BC/AD Dating: In the year of whose Lord? The continuing use of AD and BC is not only factually wrong but also offensive to many who are not Christians." Critics note the fact that there is no difference in the epoch of the two systems—chosen to be close to
7392-490: The Gregorian calendar, but Britain used the Julian calendar). This coincidence encouraged UNESCO to make 23 April the World Book and Copyright Day . Astronomers avoid this ambiguity by the use of the Julian day number . For dates before the year 1, unlike the proleptic Gregorian calendar used in the international standard ISO 8601 , the traditional proleptic Gregorian calendar (like the older Julian calendar) does not have
7524-409: The Gregorian calendar. D = ⌊ Y / 100 ⌋ − ⌊ Y / 400 ⌋ − 2 , {\displaystyle D=\left\lfloor {Y/100}\right\rfloor -\left\lfloor {Y/400}\right\rfloor -2,} where D {\displaystyle D} is the secular difference and Y {\displaystyle Y}
7656-412: The Gregorian calendar. First, the Julian calendar assumed incorrectly that the average solar year is exactly 365.25 days long, an overestimate of a little under one day per century, and thus has a leap year every four years without exception. The Gregorian reform shortened the average (calendar) year by 0.0075 days to stop the drift of the calendar with respect to the equinoxes . Second, in the years since
7788-545: The Gregorian calendar. For example, the Battle of Blenheim is always given as 13 August 1704. Confusion occurs when an event affects both. For example, William III of England set sail from the Netherlands on 11 November 1688 (Gregorian calendar) and arrived at Brixham in England on 5 November 1688 (Julian calendar). Shakespeare and Cervantes seemingly died on exactly the same date (23 April 1616), but Cervantes predeceased Shakespeare by ten days in real time (as Spain used
7920-515: The Julian calendar in favour of the Gregorian calendar, removing 11 days from the September 1752 calendar to do so. To accommodate the two calendar changes, writers used dual dating to identify a given day by giving its date according to both styles of dating. For countries such as Russia where no start of year adjustment took place, O.S. and N.S. simply indicate the Julian and Gregorian dating systems. Many Eastern Orthodox countries continue to use
8052-763: The Life and Works of the Bard (Wiley, 2006). The Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite 2012 DVD contains over 100,000 articles. This includes regular Britannica articles, as well as others drawn from the Britannica Student Encyclopædia , and the Britannica Elementary Encyclopædia. The package includes a range of supplementary content including maps, videos, sound clips, animations and web links. It also offers study tools and dictionary and thesaurus entries from Merriam-Webster . Britannica Online
SECTION 60
#17328376385838184-543: The United States, the Kentucky State School Board reversed its decision to use BCE and CE in the state's new Program of Studies, leaving education of students about these concepts a matter of local discretion. The use of CE in Jewish scholarship was historically motivated by the desire to avoid the implicit "Our Lord" in the abbreviation AD . Although other aspects of dating systems are based in Christian origins, AD
8316-427: The alphabetical index or the Propædia , which organizes the Britannica 's contents by topic. The core of the Propædia is its "Outline of Knowledge", which aims to provide a logical framework for all human knowledge. Accordingly, the Outline is consulted by the Britannica 's editors to decide which articles should be included in the Micro- and Macropædia . The Outline can also be used as
8448-478: The architect of the Gregorian calendar, noted that the tables agreed neither on the time when the Sun passed through the vernal equinox nor on the length of the mean tropical year. Tycho Brahe also noticed discrepancies. The Gregorian leap year rule (97 leap years in 400 years) was put forward by Petrus Pitatus of Verona in 1560. He noted that it is consistent with the tropical year of the Alfonsine tables and with
8580-518: The board have included: non-fiction author Nicholas Carr , religion scholar Wendy Doniger , political economist Benjamin M. Friedman , Council on Foreign Relations President Emeritus Leslie H. Gelb , computer scientist David Gelernter , Physics Nobel laureate Murray Gell-Mann , Carnegie Corporation of New York President Vartan Gregorian , philosopher Thomas Nagel , cognitive scientist Donald Norman , musicologist Don Michael Randel , Stewart Sutherland, Baron Sutherland of Houndwood , President of
8712-430: The calendar being converted from , add one day less or subtract one day more than the calculated value. Give February the appropriate number of days for the calendar being converted into . When subtracting days to calculate the Gregorian equivalent of 29 February (Julian), 29 February is discounted. Thus if the calculated value is −4 the Gregorian equivalent of this date is 24 February. The year used in dates during
8844-509: The change a few months later: 9 December was followed by 20 December. Many Protestant countries initially objected to adopting a Catholic innovation; some Protestants feared the new calendar was part of a plot to return them to the Catholic fold. For example, the British could not bring themselves to adopt the Catholic system explicitly: the Annexe to their Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 established
8976-444: The company announced that the 2010 edition would be the last printed version. This was part of a move by the company to adapt to the times and focus on its future using digital distribution. The peak year for the printed encyclopaedia was 1990, when 120,000 sets were sold, but sales had dropped to 40,000 per annum by 1996. There were 12,000 sets of the 2010 edition printed, of which 8,000 had been sold by March 2012. By late April 2012,
9108-420: The company would be accepting edits and additions to the online Britannica website from the public. The published edition of the encyclopaedia will not be affected by the changes. Individuals wishing to edit the Britannica website will have to register under their real name and address prior to editing or submitting their content. All edits submitted will be reviewed and checked and will have to be approved by
9240-478: The current year; "400 BCE" and "400 BC" are the same year. The expression can be traced back to 1615, when it first appears in a book by Johannes Kepler as the Latin : annus aerae nostrae vulgaris ( year of our common era ), and to 1635 in English as " Vulgar Era". The term "Common Era" can be found in English as early as 1708, and became more widely used in the mid-19th century by Jewish religious scholars. Since
9372-498: The dating of major feasts. To unambiguously specify a date during the transition period (in contemporary documents or in history texts), both notations were given , tagged as 'Old Style' or 'New Style' as appropriate. During the 20th century, most non- Western countries also adopted the calendar, at least for civil purposes . The Gregorian calendar, like the Julian calendar , is a solar calendar with 12 months of 28–31 days each. The year in both calendars consists of 365 days, with
9504-503: The early 20th century. The phrase "common era", in lower case , also appeared in the 19th century in a "generic" sense, not necessarily to refer to the Christian Era, but to any system of dates in common use throughout a civilization. Thus, "the common era of the Jews", "the common era of the Mahometans", "common era of the world", "the common era of the foundation of Rome". When it did refer to
9636-417: The encyclopaedia's professional staff. Contributions from non-academic users will sit in a separate section from the expert-generated Britannica content, as will content submitted by non- Britannica scholars. Articles written by users, if vetted and approved, will also only be available in a special section of the website, separate from the professional articles. Official Britannica material would carry
9768-459: The encyclopaedias had an article on sexual harassment in 1994. In the accuracy category, the Britannica received one "D" and seven "A"s, Encyclopedia Americana received eight "A"s, and Collier's received one "D" and seven "A"s; thus, Britannica received an average score of 92% for accuracy to Americana 's 95% and Collier's 92%. In the timeliness category, Britannica averaged an 86% to Americana' s 90% and Collier's 85%. In 2013,
9900-426: The entry for CE/BCE: "some people prefer CE (common era, current era, or Christian era) and BCE (before common era, etc.) to AD and BC, which, however, remain our style". In the United States, the use of the BCE/CE notation in textbooks was reported in 2005 to be growing. Some publications have transitioned to using it exclusively. For example, the 2007 World Almanac was the first edition to switch to BCE/CE, ending
10032-475: The extra day at the end of the month of February, adding a 29 February for the leap day. Before the 1969 revision of its General Roman Calendar , the Catholic Church delayed February feasts after the 23rd by one day in leap years; masses celebrated according to the previous calendar still reflect this delay. Gregorian years are identified by consecutive year numbers. A calendar date is fully specified by
10164-451: The first of which was but eight days", and also refers to the common era as a synonym for vulgar era with "the fact that our Lord was born on the 4th year before the vulgar era, called Anno Domini, thus making (for example) the 42d year from his birth to correspond with the 38th of the common era". The Catholic Encyclopedia (1909) in at least one article reports all three terms (Christian, Vulgar, Common Era) being commonly understood by
10296-419: The fiscal year was eventually fixed at 1 March and the year number was roughly equivalent to the Hijri year (see Rumi calendar ). As the solar year is longer than the lunar year this originally entailed the use of "escape years" every so often when the number of the fiscal year would jump. From 1 March 1917 the fiscal year became Gregorian, rather than Julian. On 1 January 1926, the use of the Gregorian calendar
10428-599: The former Compton's Encyclopedia , is aimed at 10- to 17-year-olds and consists of 26 volumes and 11,000 pages. Since 1938, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. has published annually a Book of the Year covering the past year's events. A given edition of the Book of the Year is named in terms of the year of its publication, though the edition actually covers the events of the previous year. The company also publishes several specialized reference works, such as Shakespeare: The Essential Guide to
10560-427: The historian George L. Burr wrote: With a temerity almost appalling, [the Britannica contributor, Mr. Philips] ranges over nearly the whole field of European history, political, social, ecclesiastical... The grievance is that [this work] lacks authority. This, too—this reliance on editorial energy instead of on ripe special learning—may, alas, be also counted an "Americanizing": for certainly nothing has so cheapened
10692-520: The increasing divergence between the canonical date of the equinox and observed reality. Easter is celebrated on the Sunday after the ecclesiastical full moon on or after 21 March, which was adopted as an approximation to the March equinox. European scholars had been well aware of the calendar drift since the early medieval period. Bede , writing in the 8th century, showed that the accumulated error in his time
10824-423: The late 20th century, BCE and CE have become popular in academic and scientific publications on the grounds that BCE and CE are religiously neutral terms. They have been promoted as more sensitive to non-Christians by not referring to Jesus , the central figure of Christianity , especially via the religious terms " Christ " and Dominus ("Lord") used by the other abbreviations. Nevertheless, its epoch remains
10956-455: The law of the Catholic Church in 1582, but it was not recognised by Protestant Churches , Eastern Orthodox Churches , Oriental Orthodox Churches , and a few others. Consequently, the days on which Easter and related holidays were celebrated by different Christian Churches again diverged. On 29 September 1582, Philip II of Spain decreed the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. This affected much of Roman Catholic Europe, as Philip
11088-518: The mean tropical year of Copernicus ( De revolutionibus ) and Erasmus Reinhold ( Prutenic tables ). The three mean tropical years in Babylonian sexagesimals as the excess over 365 days (the way they would have been extracted from the tables of mean longitude) were 0;14,33,9,57 (Alfonsine), 0;14,33,11,12 (Copernicus) and 0;14,33,9,24 (Reinhold). In decimal notation, these are equal to 0.24254606, 0.24255185, and 0.24254352, respectively. All values are
11220-505: The most solemn of forms available to the Church, the bull had no authority beyond the Catholic Church (of which he was the supreme religious authority) and the Papal States (which he personally ruled). The changes that he was proposing were changes to the civil calendar, which required adoption by the civil authorities in each country to have legal effect. The bull Inter gravissimas became
11352-468: The new year was moved to 1 September. In common usage, 1 January was regarded as New Year's Day and celebrated as such, but from the 12th century until 1751 the legal year in England began on 25 March ( Lady Day ). So, for example, the Parliamentary record lists the execution of Charles I on 30 January as occurring in 1648 (as the year did not end until 24 March), although later histories adjust
11484-514: The norm, can be identified. In other countries, the customs varied, and the start of the year moved back and forth as fashion and influence from other countries dictated various customs. Neither the papal bull nor its attached canons explicitly fix such a date, though the latter states that the " Golden number " of 1752 ends in December and a new year (and new Golden number) begins in January 1753. During
11616-637: The number had been written out ("Eighteen-twelve, War of"). Articles with identical names are ordered first by persons, then by places, then by things. Rulers with identical names are organized first alphabetically by country and then by chronology; thus, Charles III of France precedes Charles I of England , listed in Britannica as the ruler of Great Britain and Ireland. (That is, they are alphabetized as if their titles were "Charles, France, 3" and "Charles, Great Britain and Ireland, 1".) Similarly, places that share names are organized alphabetically by country, then by ever-smaller political divisions. In March 2012,
11748-466: The number of leap years in four centuries from 100 to 97, by making three out of four centurial years common instead of leap years. He also produced an original and practical scheme for adjusting the epacts of the Moon when calculating the annual date of Easter, solving a long-standing obstacle to calendar reform. Ancient tables provided the Sun's mean longitude. The German mathematician Christopher Clavius ,
11880-451: The older Julian calendar for religious purposes. Extending the Gregorian calendar backwards to dates preceding its official introduction produces a proleptic calendar , which should be used with some caution. For ordinary purposes, the dates of events occurring prior to 15 October 1582 are generally shown as they appeared in the Julian calendar, with the year starting on 1 January, and no conversion to their Gregorian equivalents. For example,
12012-557: The open PubMed Central library of the National Library of Medicine . The Internet tends to provide more current coverage than print media, due to the ease with which material on the Internet can be updated. In rapidly changing fields such as science, technology, politics, culture and modern history, the Britannica has struggled to stay up to date, a problem first analysed systematically by its former editor Walter Yust. Eventually,
12144-599: The order January to December from the Roman Republican period until the present. During the Middle Ages, under the influence of the Catholic Church, many Western European countries moved the start of the year to one of several important Christian festivals—25 December ( Christmas ), 25 March ( Annunciation ), or Easter, while the Byzantine Empire began its year on 1 September and Russia did so on 1 March until 1492 when
12276-533: The ordinary people', with no derogatory associations.) The first use of the Latin term anno aerae nostrae vulgaris may be that in a 1615 book by Johannes Kepler . Kepler uses it again, as ab Anno vulgaris aerae , in a 1616 table of ephemerides , and again, as ab anno vulgaris aerae , in 1617. A 1635 English edition of that book has the title page in English that may be the earliest-found use of Vulgar Era in English. A 1701 book edited by John Le Clerc includes
12408-454: The period between 1582, when the first countries adopted the Gregorian calendar, and 1923, when the last European country adopted it, it was often necessary to indicate the date of some event in both the Julian calendar and in the Gregorian calendar, for example, "10/21 February 1750/51", where the dual year accounts for some countries already beginning their numbered year on 1 January while others were still using some other date. Even before 1582,
12540-488: The phrase "Before Christ according to the Vulgar Æra, 6". The Merriam Webster Dictionary gives 1716 as the date of first use of the term "vulgar era" (which it defines as Christian era). The first published use of "Christian Era" may be the Latin phrase annus aerae christianae on the title page of a 1584 theology book, De Eucharistica controuersia . In 1649, the Latin phrase annus æræ Christianæ appeared in
12672-536: The phrase "before the common era" may be that in a 1770 work that also uses common era and vulgar era as synonyms, in a translation of a book originally written in German. The 1797 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica uses the terms vulgar era and common era synonymously. In 1835, in his book Living Oracles , Alexander Campbell , wrote: "The vulgar Era, or Anno Domini; the fourth year of Jesus Christ,
12804-449: The precision of observations towards the end of the 15th century made the question more pressing. Numerous publications over the following decades called for a calendar reform, among them two papers sent to the Vatican by the University of Salamanca in 1515 and 1578, but the project was not taken up again until the 1540s, and implemented only under Pope Gregory XIII (r. 1572–1585). In 1545,
12936-451: The quantitative analysis, ten articles were selected at random— circumcision , Charles Drew , Galileo , Philip Glass , heart disease , IQ , panda bear , sexual harassment , Shroud of Turin and Uzbekistan —and letter grades of A–D or F were awarded in four categories: coverage, accuracy, clarity, and recency. In all four categories and for all three encyclopaedias, the four average grades fell between B− and B+ , chiefly because none of
13068-586: The query. Daily topical features sent directly to users' mobile phones were also planned. On 3 June 2008, an initiative to facilitate collaboration between online expert and amateur scholarly contributors for Britannica's online content (in the spirit of a wiki ), with editorial oversight from Britannica staff, was announced. Approved contributions would be credited, though contributing automatically grants Encyclopædia Britannica, Incorporated perpetual, irrevocable license to those contributions. On 22 January 2009, Britannica's president, Jorge Cauz , announced that
13200-480: The reform commission for comments. Some of these experts, including Giambattista Benedetti and Giuseppe Moleto , believed Easter should be computed from the true motions of the Sun and Moon, rather than using a tabular method, but these recommendations were not adopted. The reform adopted was a modification of a proposal made by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius (or Lilio). Lilius's proposal included reducing
13332-450: The remaining copies of the 2010 edition had sold out at Britannica's online store. As of 2016 , a replica of Britannica's 1768 first edition is available via the online store. Britannica Junior was first published in 1934 as 12 volumes. It was expanded to 15 volumes in 1947, and renamed Britannica Junior Encyclopædia in 1963. It was taken off the market after the 1984 printing. A British Children's Britannica edited by John Armitage
13464-574: The rumours and stated that the BC/AD notation would remain, with CE and BCE as an optional suggested learning activity. In 2013, the Canadian Museum of Civilization (now the Canadian Museum of History) in Gatineau (opposite Ottawa ), which had previously switched to BCE/CE, decided to change back to BC/AD in material intended for the public while retaining BCE/CE in academic content. The notation
13596-473: The same as that used for the Anno Domini era. The idea of numbering years beginning from the date that he believed to be the date of birth of Jesus , was conceived around the year 525 by the Christian monk Dionysius Exiguus . He did this to replace the then dominant Era of Martyrs system, because he did not wish to continue the memory of a tyrant who persecuted Christians. He numbered years from an initial reference date (" epoch "), an event he referred to as
13728-410: The same basis, for years before 1582), and the difference between Gregorian and Julian calendar dates increases by three days every four centuries (all date ranges are inclusive). The following equation gives the number of days that the Gregorian calendar is ahead of the Julian calendar, called the "secular difference" between the two calendars. A negative difference means the Julian calendar is ahead of
13860-456: The same day, it took almost five centuries before virtually all Christians achieved that objective by adopting the rules of the Church of Alexandria (see Easter for the issues which arose). Because the date of Easter is a function – the computus – of the date of the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere, the Catholic Church considered unacceptable
13992-516: The same to two sexagesimal places (0;14,33, equal to decimal 0.2425) and this is also the mean length of the Gregorian year. Thus Pitatus's solution would have commended itself to the astronomers. Lilius's proposals had two components. First, he proposed a correction to the length of the year. The mean tropical year is 365.24219 days long. A commonly used value in Lilius's time, from the Alfonsine tables,
14124-636: The scholarship of our American encyclopaedias. As of 2007 in the 15th edition of Britannica , Dale Hoiberg , a sinologist , was listed as Britannica 's Senior Vice President and editor-in-chief. Among his predecessors as editors-in-chief were Hugh Chisholm (1902–1924), James Louis Garvin (1926–1932), Franklin Henry Hooper (1932–1938), Walter Yust (1938–1960), Harry Ashmore (1960–1963), Warren E. Preece (1964–1968, 1969–1975), Sir William Haley (1968–1969), Philip W. Goetz (1979–1991), and Robert McHenry (1992–1997). As of 2007 Anita Wolff
14256-726: The staff members, advisors, and contributors to all three parts of the Britannica . Taken together, the Micropædia and Macropædia comprise roughly 40 million words and 24,000 images. The two-volume index has 2,350 pages, listing the 228,274 topics covered in the Britannica , together with 474,675 subentries under those topics. The Britannica generally prefers British spelling over American ; for example, it uses colour (not color ), centre (not center ), and encyclopaedia (not encyclopedia ). There are some exceptions to this rule, such as defense rather than defence . Common alternative spellings are provided with cross-references such as "Color: see Colour." Since 1936,
14388-497: The start of the year to 1 January and record the execution as occurring in 1649. Most Western European countries changed the start of the year to 1 January before they adopted the Gregorian calendar. For example, Scotland changed the start of the Scottish New Year to 1 January in 1600 (this means that 1599 was a short year). England, Ireland and the British colonies changed the start of the year to 1 January in 1752 (so 1751
14520-553: The strategy pioneered by former CEO Elkan Harrison Powell in the mid-1930s. In the fall of 2017, Karthik Krishnan was appointed global chief executive officer of the Encyclopædia Britannica Group. Krishnan brought a varied perspective to the role based on several high-level positions in digital media, including RELX (formerly known as Reed Elsevier, and one of the constituents of the FTSE 100 Index) and Rodale, in which he
14652-412: The title of an English almanac. A 1652 ephemeris may be the first instance found so far of the English use of "Christian Era". The English phrase "Common Era" appears at least as early as 1708, and in a 1715 book on astronomy it is used interchangeably with "Christian Era" and "Vulgar Era". A 1759 history book uses common æra in a generic sense, to refer to "the common era of the Jews". The first use of
14784-485: The traditional Jewish designations – B.C.E. and C.E. – cast a wider net of inclusion." In the World History Encyclopedia , Joshua J. Mark wrote "Non-Christian scholars, especially, embraced [CE and BCE] because they could now communicate more easily with the Christian community. Jewish, Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist scholars could retain their [own] calendar but refer to events using
14916-459: The unsigned Micropædia articles. In January 1996, the Britannica was purchased from the Benton Foundation by billionaire Swiss financier Jacqui Safra , who serves as its current chair of the board. In 1997, Don Yannias, a long-time associate and investment advisor of Safra, became CEO of Encyclopædia Britannica, Incorporated. In 1999, a new company, Britannica.com Incorporated ,
15048-427: The vernal equinox falling on 10 or 11 March instead of the ecclesiastically fixed date of 21 March, and if unreformed it would have drifted further. Lilius proposed that the 10-day drift should be corrected by deleting the Julian leap day on each of its ten occurrences over a period of forty years, thereby providing for a gradual return of the equinox to 21 March. Lilius's work was expanded upon by Christopher Clavius in
15180-612: The watchword of its first edition in 1768. As the Britannica is a general encyclopaedia, it does not seek to compete with specialized encyclopaedias such as the Encyclopaedia of Mathematics or the Dictionary of the Middle Ages , which can devote much more space to their chosen topics. In its first years, the Britannica 's main competitor was the general encyclopaedia of Ephraim Chambers and, soon thereafter, Rees's Cyclopædia and Coleridge's Encyclopædia Metropolitana . In
15312-612: The year (numbered according to a calendar era , in this case Anno Domini or Common Era ), the month (identified by name or number), and the day of the month (numbered sequentially starting from 1). Although the calendar year currently runs from 1 January to 31 December, at previous times year numbers were based on a different starting point within the calendar (see the "beginning of the year" section below). Calendar cycles repeat completely every 400 years, which equals 146,097 days. Of these 400 years, 303 are regular years of 365 days and 97 are leap years of 366 days. A mean calendar year
15444-691: The year number. Unlike AD, which still often precedes the year number, CE always follows the year number (if context requires that it be written at all). Thus, the current year is written as 2024 in both notations (or, if further clarity is needed, as 2024 CE, or as AD 2024), and the year that Socrates died is represented as 399 BCE (the same year that is represented by 399 BC in the BC/AD notation). The abbreviations are sometimes written with small capital letters, or with periods (e.g., " B.C.E. " or "C.E."). The US-based Society of Biblical Literature style guide for academic texts on religion prefers BCE/CE to BC/AD. Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar
15576-432: The year sometimes had to be double-dated because of the different beginnings of the year in various countries. Woolley, writing in his biography of John Dee (1527–1608/9), notes that immediately after 1582 English letter writers "customarily" used "two dates" on their letters, one OS and one NS. "Old Style" (O.S.) and "New Style" (N.S.) indicate dating systems before and after a calendar change, respectively. Usually, this
15708-473: Was created to develop digital versions of the Britannica ; Yannias assumed the role of CEO in the new company, while his former position at the parent company remained vacant for two years. Yannias' tenure at Britannica.com Incorporated was marked by missteps, considerable lay-offs, and financial losses. In 2001, Yannias was replaced by Ilan Yeshua , who reunited the leadership of the two companies. Yannias later returned to investment management, but remains on
15840-474: Was a short year with only 282 days). Later in 1752 in September the Gregorian calendar was introduced throughout Britain and the British colonies (see the section Adoption ). These two reforms were implemented by the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 . In some countries, an official decree or law specified that the start of the year should be 1 January. For such countries, a specific date when a "1 January year" became
15972-500: Was also available as a Firefox extension but this was taken down due to a code review issue. The print version of the Britannica has 4,411 contributors, many eminent in their fields, such as Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman , astronomer Carl Sagan , and surgeon Michael DeBakey . Roughly a quarter of the contributors are deceased, some as long ago as 1947 ( Alfred North Whitehead ), while another quarter are retired or emeritus . Most (approximately 98%) contribute to only
16104-636: Was at the time ruler over Spain and Portugal as well as much of Italy . In these territories, as well as in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and in the Papal States, the new calendar was implemented on the date specified by the bull, with Julian Thursday, 4 October 1582, being followed by Gregorian Friday, 15 October. The Spanish and Portuguese colonies followed somewhat later de facto because of delay in communication. The other major Catholic power of Western Europe, France, adopted
16236-457: Was celebrated when it was introduced by the early Church. The error in the Julian calendar (its assumption that there are exactly 365.25 days in a year) had led to the date of the equinox according to the calendar drifting from the observed reality, and thus an error had been introduced into the calculation of the date of Easter . Although a recommendation of the First Council of Nicaea in 325 specified that all Christians should celebrate Easter on
16368-404: Was extended to include use for general purposes and the number of the year became the same as in most other countries. This section always places the intercalary day on 29 February even though it was always obtained by doubling 24 February (the bissextum (twice sixth) or bissextile day) until the late Middle Ages . The Gregorian calendar is proleptic before 1582 (calculated backwards on
16500-415: Was followed by Friday 15 October 1582. In addition, the reform also altered the lunar cycle used by the Church to calculate the date for Easter, because astronomical new moons were occurring four days before the calculated dates. Whilst the reform introduced minor changes, the calendar continued to be fundamentally based on the same geocentric theory as its predecessor. The reform was adopted initially by
16632-646: Was issued in London in 1960. Its contents were determined largely by the eleven-plus standardized tests given in Britain. Britannica introduced the Children's Britannica to the US market in 1988, aimed at ages seven to 14. In 1961, a 16-volume Young Children's Encyclopaedia was issued for children just learning to read. My First Britannica is aimed at children ages six to 12, and the Britannica Discovery Library
16764-511: Was listed as the Deputy Editor and Theodore Pappas as Executive Editor. Prior Executive Editors include John V. Dodge (1950–1964) and Philip W. Goetz. Paul T. Armstrong remains the longest working employee of Encyclopædia Britannica. He began his career there in 1934, eventually earning the positions of treasurer, vice president, and chief financial officer in his 58 years with the company, before retiring in 1992. The 2007 editorial staff of
16896-529: Was more than three days. Roger Bacon in c. 1200 estimated the error at seven or eight days. Dante , writing c. 1300 , was aware of the need for calendar reform. An attempt to go forward with such a reform was undertaken by Pope Sixtus IV , who in 1475 invited Regiomontanus to the Vatican for this purpose. However, the project was interrupted by the death of Regiomontanus shortly after his arrival in Rome. The increase of astronomical knowledge and
17028-404: Was printed by Vincenzo Accolti, one of the first calendars printed in Rome after the reform, notes at the bottom that it was signed with papal authorization and by Lilio ( Con licentia delli Superiori... et permissu Ant(onii) Lilij ). The papal brief was revoked on 20 September 1582, because Antonio Lilio proved unable to keep up with the demand for copies. Although Gregory's reform was enacted in
17160-400: Was responsible for "driving business and cultural transformation and accelerating growth". Taking the reins of the company as it was preparing to mark its 250th anniversary and define the next phase of its digital strategy for consumers and K–12 schools, Krishnan launched a series of new initiatives in his first year. First was Britannica Insights, a free, downloadable software extension to
17292-466: Was significantly more expensive than its competitors. Since the early 1990s, the Britannica has faced new challenges from digital information sources. The Internet, facilitated by the development of search engines , has grown into a common source of information for many people, and provides easy access to reliable original sources and expert opinions, thanks in part to initiatives such as Google Books , MIT 's release of its educational materials and
17424-412: Was to be corrected by one day every 300 or 400 years (8 times in 2500 years) along with corrections for the years that are no longer leap years (i.e. 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, etc.) In fact, a new method for computing the date of Easter was introduced. The method proposed by Lilius was revised somewhat in the final reform. When the new calendar was put in use, the error accumulated in the 13 centuries since
#582417