According to the author of his biography in the Eleventh edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica: " Ambrose is interesting as typical of the new humanism which was growing up within the church.

* 1768 – The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica is published.

Few would dispute the verdict of James D. Forbes, an editor of the eighth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica: " His scientific glory is different in kind from that of Young and Fresnel ; but the discoverer of the law of polarization of biaxial crystals, of optical mineralogy, and of double refraction by compression, will always occupy a foremost rank in the intellectual history of the age.

The Encyclopædia Britannica ( Latin for " British Encyclopaedia "), published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia.

The Britannica is the oldest English-language encyclopaedia still being produced.

In 1933, the Britannica became the first encyclopaedia to adopt " continuous revision ", in which the encyclopaedia is continually reprinted and every article updated on a schedule.

The present owner of Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. is Jacqui Safra, a Swiss billionaire and actor.

The Britannica was primarily a Scottish enterprise ; it is one of the most enduring legacies of the Scottish Enlightenment.

The first English-born editor-in-chief was Thomas Spencer Baynes, who oversaw the production of the 9th edition ; dubbed the " Scholar's Edition ", the 9th is the most scholarly Britannica.

The official title of the 15th edition is the New Encyclopædia Britannica, although it has also been promoted as Britannica 3.

In a related advertisement, naturalist William Beebe was quoted as saying that the Britannica was " beyond comparison because there is no competitor.

The bulk of the Britannica is devoted to geography ( 26 % of the Macropædia ), biography ( 14 %), biology and medicine ( 11 %), literature ( 7 %), physics and astronomy ( 6 %), religion ( 5 %), art ( 4 %), Western philosophy ( 4 %), and law ( 3 %).

The Britannica does not cover topics in equivalent detail ; for example, the whole of Buddhism and most other religions is covered in a single Macropædia article, whereas 14 articles are devoted to Christianity, comprising nearly half of all religion articles.

Wendy Doniger, who is on the editorial board of Britannica, has been criticised for her negative portrayal of Hinduism.

It is expensive to produce a completely new edition of the Britannica, and its editors delay for as long as fiscally sensible ( usually about 25 years ).

It is still difficult to keep the Britannica current ; one recent critic writes, " it is not difficult to find articles that are out-of-date or in need of revision ", noting that the longer Macropædia articles are more likely to be outdated than the shorter Micropædia articles.

" In March 2006, the Britannica wrote, " we in no way mean to imply that Britannica is error-free ; we have never made such a claim.

The Outline is also intended to be a study guide, to put subjects in their proper perspective, and to suggest a series of Britannica articles for the student wishing to learn a topic in depth.

My First Britannica is aimed at children ages six to twelve, and the Britannica Discovery Library is for children aged three to six ( issued 1974 to 1991 ).

The Eleventh Edition, Encyclopædia Britannica, concluded that his history contained much valuable information and that the style, though far from perfect, is clear and occasionally elegant.

The term is occasionally used to refer pejoratively to any experiment using living animals ; for example, the Encyclopædia Britannica defines " vivisection " as: " Operation on a living animal for experimental rather than healing purposes ; more broadly, all experimentation on live animals ", although dictionaries point out that the broader definition is " used only by people who are opposed to such work ".

Another identified source is the 9th Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, whose description of " Irem, the City of Pillars " he copied into his commonplace book: " which yet, after the annihilation of its tenants, remains entire, so Arabs say, invisible to ordinary eyes, but occasionally, and at rare intervals, revealed to some heaven-favoured traveller.

Like Encarta, the Britannica has been criticised for being biased towards United States audiences ; the United Kingdom-related articles are updated less often, maps of the United States are more detailed than those of other countries, and it lacks a UK dictionary.

William Michael Rosetti was a major contributor to the 1911 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica ; his contributions on artistic subjects were criticised by many reviewers at the time and since, as showing little evidence of having absorbed the mounting body of work by academic art historians, mostly writing in German.

This wider definition of Anatolia has gained widespread currency outside of Turkey and has, for instance, been adopted by Encyclopedia Britannica and other encyclopedic and general reference publications.

The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition, thought the term was derived from the Spanish barrueco, a large, irregularly-shaped pearl, and it was for a time confined to the craft of the jeweller.

There was a general reduction in the number of cavalry regiments in the British, French, Italian and other Western armies but it was still argued with conviction ( for example in the 1922 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica ) that mounted troops had a major role to play in future warfare.

Encyclopædia Britannica appeared in various editions throughout the century, and the growth of popular education and the Mechanics Institutes, spearheaded by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge led to the production of the Penny Cyclopaedia, as its title suggests issued in weekly numbers at a penny each like a newspaper.

1913 advertisement for Encyclopædia Britannica, the oldest and one of the largest contemporary English encyclopedias.

Recent advances in information technology and the rise of electronic encyclopaedias such as Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite, Encarta and Wikipedia have reduced the demand for print encyclopaedias.

When Hooper fell into financial difficulties, the Britannica was managed by Sears Roebuck for 18 years ( 1920 – 23, 1928 – 43 ).

Under Mortimer J. Adler ( member of the Board of Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica since its inception in 1949, and its chair from 1974 ; director of editorial planning for the 15th edition of Britannica from 1965 ), the Britannica sought not only to be a good reference work and educational tool but to systematise all human knowledge.

Since the 3rd edition, the Britannica has enjoyed a popular and critical reputation for general excellence.

The Britannica has a reputation for summarising knowledge.

Writer George Bernard Shaw claimed to have read the complete 9th edition — except for the science articles — and Richard Evelyn Byrd took the Britannica as reading material for his five-month stay at the South Pole in 1934, while Philip Beaver read it during a sailing expedition.

The online Britannica won the 2005 Codie award for " Best Online Consumer Information Service "; the Codie awards are granted yearly by the Software and Information Industry Association to recognise the best products among categories of software.

However, the Britannica has been lauded as the least biased of general Encyclopaedias marketed to Western readers and praised for its biographies of important women of all eras.

The Britannica generally prefers British spelling over American ; for example, it uses colour ( not color ), centre ( not center ), and encyclopaedia ( not encyclopedia ).

Since 1936, the articles of the Britannica have been revised on a regular schedule, with at least 10 % of them considered for revision each year.

In the early 20th century, the Encyclopædia Britannica reached its eleventh edition, and inexpensive encyclopedias such as Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia and Everyman's Encyclopaedia were common.

Beginning with the 11th edition, the Britannica shortened and simplified articles to broaden its appeal in the North American market.

In March 2012, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. announced it would no longer continue to publish its printed editions, instead focusing on its online version, Encyclopædia Britannica Online.

To remain competitive, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. has stressed the reputation of the Britannica, reduced its price and production costs, and developed electronic versions on CD-ROM, DVD, and the World Wide Web.

In the first era ( 1st – 6th editions, 1768 – 1826 ), the Britannica was managed and published by its founders, Colin Macfarquhar and Andrew Bell, by Archibald Constable, and by others.

In 1968, near the end of this era, the Britannica celebrated its bicentennial.

In the fourth era ( 1974 – 94 ), the Britannica introduced its 15th edition, which was re-organised into three parts: the Micropædia, the Macropædia, and the Propædia.

In 1996, the Britannica was bought by Jacqui Safra at well below its estimated value, owing to the company's financial difficulties.

The Britannica was dedicated to the reigning British monarch from 1788 to 1901 and then, upon its sale to an American partnership, to the British monarch and the President of the United States.

When American physicist Harvey Einbinder detailed its failings in his 1964 book, The Myth of the Britannica, the encyclopaedia was provoked to produce the 15th edition, which required 10 years of work.

According to one Britannica website, 46 % of its articles were revised over the past three years ; however, according to another Britannica web-site, only 35 % of the articles were revised.