Propædia

The ***Propædia*** is the first of three parts of the Encyclopædia Britannica, the other two being the 12-volume _Micropædia_ and the 17-volume _Macropædia_. The _Propædia_ is supposed to be a book that organizes the things in the Britannica, and a guideline to the index of the  other two parts. It was introduced in 1974 with the 15th edition of the encyclopaedia to replace the index, but when many people complained, Britannica put the index back in two books in 1985. The core of the _Propædia_ is its **Outline of Knowledge**, which is supposed to give people a classification of what we know, but the _Propædia_ also has some parts listing the staff members, advisors and contributors to all three parts of the _Britannica_.

The Propædia can be used by a student who wants to know what there is to know, before even finding out about it.  Once the student finds out what he needs to know, he will then find out about the thing itself.

The _Outline_ has ten Parts, each with an essay to introduce the part. Below is the table of the ten parts.

|Part|Title|Major subjects|# of Divisions|# of Sections|Total #|Lead author|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Matter and Energy|Physics, Chemistry, Astronomy|3|2,8,3|13|Nigel Calder||
|The Earth|Geology, Geography, Oceanography|4|4, 3, 2, 3|12|Peter John Wyllie||
|Life on Earth|Taxonomy, Molecular and cell biology, Physiology, Neuroscience, Ecology|5|3, 3, 9, 2, 5|22|René Dubos||
|Human Life|Human evolution, Medicine, Psychology|3|2, 4, 6|12|Loren Eiseley||
|Human Society|Sociology, Economics, Politics, Law, Education|6|4, 4, 6, 4, 3, 2|23|Harold D. Lasswell||
|Art|Classification; criticism; various arts|2|3, 9|12|Mark Van Doren||
|Technology|History and elements of technology; various technologies|3|2, 5, 8|15|Lord Peter Ritchie Calder||
|Religion|General observations; various religions|2|2, 9|11|Wilfred Cantwell Smith||
|The History of mankind|History organized by continent and epoch|7|2, 4, 7, 5, 2, 11, 8|39|Jacques Barzun||
|The Branches of Knowledge|Logic, Mathematics, Science, Humanities, Philosophy, Library science|6|2, 3, 7, 2, 3, 1|18|Mortimer J. Adler||

## Contributors to Propædia

|Name|Date of birth|Date of death|Part of Outline|Description|Index|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1902|2001|All Parts|Editor|1||
|1926||All Parts|Associate editor; Editorial Vice President of Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. (1973-1982)|2||
||1982|All Parts|Associate editor; Senior Fellow of the Institute for Philosophical Research|3||
|||Matter and Energy|Professor of Astronomy, Harvard University|4||
|1889|1972|Matter and Energy|Professor of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison|5||
|||Matter and Energy|Professor of Physics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (1975-1986)|6||
|||Matter and Energy|Emeritus Professor of Physics, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; Dean, School of Science (1967-1977)|7||
|1927|2002|The Earth|Professor of Geography, University of Cambridge; Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge|8||
|||The Earth|Senior Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (1968-1978)|9||
|||The Earth|Professor of Geology and Chairman, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology|10||
|||Life on Earth|Strathcone Professor of Zoology, McGill University (1946-1965)|11||
||1993|Life on Earth|Gilbert L. Woodside Professor of Zoology, University of Massachusetts at Amherst (1975-1993)|12||
|||Life on Earth|Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City|13||
|1915|2003|Life on Earth|Emeritus Professor of Human Ecology, University of California, Santa Barbara|14||
|1904|2005|Life on Earth|Alexander Agassiz Professor Emeritus of Zoology, Harvard University|15||
|||Life on Earth|Emeritus Professor of Biology, University of California, Riverside|16||
|||Life on Earth|Professor of Biology, Biophysics and Genetics; Distinguished Professor of Medicine, University of Colorado, Health Sciences Center; Director, Eleanor Roosevelt Institute for Cancer Research|17||
|||Life on Earth|Head, Vennesland Research Laboratory, Max Planck Society (1970-1981); Director, Max Planck Institute for Cell Physiology, Berlin (1968-1970)|18||
|||Life on Earth|Professor of Biology, Brown University|19||
|||Life on Earth|Emeritus Professor of Botany, Harvard University|20||
|||Life on Earth|D. Mead Johnson Professor of Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University|21||
|1895|1971|Human Life|Professor of Anatomy, University of Oxford|22||
||1985|Human Life|Chief Medical Examiner, State of Maryland; Professor of Forensic Pathology, University of Maryland Medical School, Baltimore|23||
|||Human Life|Professor of Anthropology, University of California,  Berkeley|24||
|||Human Life|Emeritus Professor of Psychology, Duke University|25||
|||Human Life|Associate Professor of Psychology, Purdue University|26||
|1899|1969|Human Life|Staff member, Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT (1952-1969)|27||
|||Human Life|Professor of Psychology, Yale University|28||
|1915|1987|Human Life|Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, 1960; Jodrell Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy, University College London (1951-1962); Director, National Institute, Mill Hill, London (1962-1971); Scientific staff member, Medical Research Council, England (1971-1984)|29||
|1922||Human Society|Professor of Economics, New York University; Emeritus Professor of Economics, Princeton University|30||
|1919||Human Society|Henry Ford II Professor Emeritus of Social Science, Harvard University|31||
|||Human Society|Former Professor of Linguistics, University of Turin|32||
|1910|1993|Human Society|Distinguished Professor of Economics, University of Colorado, Boulder|33||
|1913|2003|Human Society|Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sociology, SUNY, Stony Brook|34||
|||Human Society|Giddings Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Columbia University|35||
|1901|1984|Human Society|Eaton Professor of the Science of Government, Harvard University (1955-1971)|36||
|||Human Society|Professor of Sociology and Chairman, Department of Criminal Justice, Loyola University Chicago|37||
||1988|Human Society|Professor of Economics, Northwestern University|38||
|||Human Society|Emeritus Professor of Political Science, University of California, Santa Barbara and University of Chicago|39||
|1907|1995|Human Society|Professor of Anthropology, University of Chicago (1948-1976); Director, Center for the Study of Man, Smithsonian Institution|40||
|||Human Society|Emeritus Professor of Finance and Economics, University of Pennsylvania|41||
|1904||Art|Emeritus professor of Psychology of Art, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University|42||
||1994|Art|Keeper, Department of Ceramics, Victoria and Albert Museum (1963-1976)|43||
|1904|1999|Art|Member, Board of Editors, _Encyclopædia Britannica_|44||
|1904|1986|Art|Professor of Comparative Literature, Rutgers University (1953-1969); Professor of Comparative Literature, Princeton University (1973-1981)|45||
||1981|Art|Novelist and writer on architecture and industrial design|46||
||1969|Art|Curator, Museum of Modern Art Film Library (1951-1965); Lecturer on Motion Pictures, Wesleyan University (1967-1969)|47||
|1918||Art|Professor of English, University of Birmingham (1962-1973); Warden, Goldsmiths' College, University of London (1976-1984)|48||
||1973|Art|Officier d'Académie, Paris; Writer and broadcaster on music.|49||
||1984|Art|Author, critic, and art historian|50||
|1918||Art|Benjamin Franklin Professor of Music and Humanities, University of Pennsylvania|51||
||1994|Art|Music editor, _Encyclopædia Britannica_; Director, _Musica Reservata_, London|52||
|1908|1993|Art|Director, Eastman Kodak House (1958-1971); Visiting Professor of Art, University of New Mexico (1971-1984)|53||
|1893|1968|Art|Watson Gordon Professor of Fine Art, University of Edinburgh (1931-1933); editor, _The Burlington Magazine_ (1933-1939); Charles Eliot Norton professor of Poetry, Harvard University (1953-1954)|54||
||1989|Art|Program Director, London (1959-1963) and New York (1963-1987) Film Festivals; Movie critic, _The Guardian_ (1963-1969)|55||
||1982|Art|Art consultant; author of _Porcelain Through the Ages_, _Pottery Through the Ages_, and other works|56||
||1974|Art|Professor of Fine Arts, Oberlin College (1940-1963)|57||
||1981|Art|William Rainey Harper Professor of Humanities and Professor of Art, University of Chicago (1963-1974); Director, National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution|58||
||1978|Art|Professor of Fine Arts, Columbia University (1951-1970)|59||
|||Art|Chief Curator, Cluny Museum (1945-1965); Chief Curator, National Museum of Sèvres Porcelain (1945-1965); Chief Curator of Art Objects from the Middle Ages to the Modern Period, Louvre Museum (1945-1965)|60||
|1903|1995|Art|Sterling Professor of Comparative Literature, Yale University (1952-1972)|61||
|||Art|Emeritus Professor of Drama, University of Bristol; Dean, Faculty of Arts (1970-1972)|62||
||1988|Art|Professor of Drama, University of Cambridge (1974-1983); Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge (1961-1988)|63||
||1974|Art|Professor of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University|64||
|1918|2000|Art|Professor of Architectural History, University of Rome (1963-1979)|65||
||1975|Technology|Chairman, Doxiadis Associates International; Chairman, Board of Directors, Doxiadis Associates, Inc.; Washington D.C. Chairman, Board of Directors, Athens Technological Organization; President, Athens Center of Ekistics|66||
|1916|2004|Technology|Emeritus Professor of History, University of Delaware; Curator of Technology, Hagley Museum, Greenville Delaware|67||
|1917|1995|Technology|Callaway Professor of the History of Technology, Georgia Institute of Technology (1972-1988)|68||
|||Technology|Vice President, Western Electric Company, New York City (1965-1969); President (1969-1971); Chairman of the Board (1971-1972)|69||
||1983|Technology|Professor of the History of Technology, MIT|70||
|1914|1986|Religion|Professor of Asian Civilizations, Australian National University|71||
|||Religion|Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame; Provost (1970-1977)|72||
||1978|Religion|Professor of Apologetics, Seabury-Western Theological Seminary|73||
||1974|Religion|Professor of the History of Religions, Seijo University and Kokugakuin University|74||
|||Religion|Sterling Professor of History, Yale University; President, American Academy of Arts and Sciences|75||
||1991|Religion|Sol and Arlene Bronstein Professor of Judeo-Christian Studies, Hebrew Union College, Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati (1981-1991)|76||
|1907||The History of Mankind|University Professor Emeritus, Columbia University; Dean of Faculties and Provost (1958-1967)|77||
|||The Branches of Knowledge|Emeritus Professor of Arts and Letters, University of Notre Dame|78||
|1901|1994|The Branches of Knowledge|Professor of Chinese Philosophy and Culture, Dartmouth College (1942-1966); Anna R. D. Gillespie Professor of Philosophy, Chatham College (1966-1982)|79||
|||The Branches of Knowledge|Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and of History, University of Ottawa|80||
||1967|The Branches of Knowledge|Professor of Philosophy, Yale University (1963-1967)|81||
|1910|1996|The Branches of Knowledge|Charles L. Stillé Professor of History, Yale University (1967-1978); Distinguished Historian in residence, Washington University (1978-1986)|82||
|||The Branches of Knowledge|Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame|83||
|1902|1985|The Branches of Knowledge|Professor of Mathematics, Illinois Institute of Technology (1946-1971)|84||
||1969|The Branches of Knowledge|Fellow, Balliol College, University of Oxford; Professor of Philosophy, Manchester University (1959-1966)|85||
|1928||The Branches of Knowledge|University Professor of Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh; editor, _American Philosophical Quarterly_|86||
|||The Branches of Knowledge|Professor of Mathematics, Carleton College|87||

## Related pages

- Encyclopædia Britannica
- Micropædia, Macropædia