Britannica Student Encyclopedia - 2010

often drew up a bill of rights. England

produced a Bill of Rights in 1689, and

the French Declaration of the Rights of

Man (1789) stated the principles of the

French Revolution.

United States Bill of Rights

The U.S. Constitution of 1787 set up a

government that was subject to majority

rule. However, many people wanted to

protect individual rights and limit government

power. They put statements

such as the Virginia Declaration of

Rights (1776) into state constitutions.

Their demands led lawmakers to add 10

amendments to the Constitution in

1791. Among other things, those

amendments guarantee freedom of religion,

freedom of speech, and the right

to public assembly. The rights granted

The U.S. Bill of Rights became law in 1791. by the Bill of Rights are not absolute.

70 Big Tree BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

 

Decisions by judges have expanded

some rights and reduced others.

Other Documents

In 1948 the United Nations accepted

the Universal Declaration of Human

Rights as a standard for all countries.

Governments and international organizations

have used the declaration to

judge how well human rights are

observed around the world.

#More to explore

Amendment • French Revolution

• Human Rights • Magna Carta

• United Nations • United States

Constitution

Bin Laden,

Osama

Osama bin Laden is the leader of the

terrorist group al-Qaeda. A terrorist is a

person who tries to control people

through violence and fear. Bin Laden

and others founded al-Qaeda in the late

1980s. Their goal was to protect the

religion of Islam and Muslim people.

Early Life

Bin Laden was born in 1957 in Riyadh,

Saudi Arabia. He grew up in a large and

very rich family. He attended King

Abdul Aziz University and became an

engineer.

Organizing al-Qaeda

In 1979 troops from the Soviet Union

invaded Afghanistan, a Muslim country.

Bin Laden went to Afghanistan to help

fight the invaders. It was during this

period that he helped found al-Qaeda.

He returned to Saudi Arabia as a hero.

Soon after he returned the Persian Gulf

War broke out. The Saudi government

allowed troops from the United States to

establish a military base there. Bin

Laden was angry with his government

for letting the U.S. troops into the country.

He was also angry with the U.S.

government because he believed that it

was interfering in the Muslim world. He

moved to Sudan to set up training

camps in 1994. He later moved to

Afghanistan.

Attacks

Al-Qaeda carried out attacks worldwide

throughout the 1990s. On September

11, 2001, members of al-Qaeda hijacked

four airplanes. They crashed three of

them into the World Trade Center in

New York City and the Pentagon near

Washington, D.C. The fourth airplane

crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. About

Osama bin Laden 3,000 people died in these attacks.

Osama bin

Laden had

more than 50

brothers and

sisters.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Bin Laden, Osama 71

 

powered binoculars can make objects

look three times bigger. They are handy

for watching a sporting event or a play

or concert in a theater.

The size of the lenses is important, too.

Larger lenses allow more light to enter

the binoculars. This makes them work

better at night or in dim light. However,

larger lenses are also heavier. This makes

the binoculars harder to carry and

harder to hold steady. Smaller lenses

might not be best for night viewing, but

they are easy to hold and to carry.

#More to explore

Lens • Prism • Telescope

Biology

Biology is the study of living things. A

biologist is a scientist who studies biology.

Biologists try to understand the

natural world and the things that live in

it. These things include plants, animals,

fungi, protozoa, algae, bacteria, and

viruses.

The study of biology covers many areas.

It is usually divided into separate

branches, or fields. Some biologists

study anatomy, or the structure of living

things. Some study physiology, or how

the different parts of a body work

together. Still others study ecology, or

how organisms interact with their environment.

There are many other

branches as well.

In addition to these general fields, some

branches of biology study certain types

of living things. Some biologists study

large groups, such as all animals (zoology)

or all plants (botany). Others, however,

only study specific groups, such as

insects, birds, or mosses.

No one knows exactly when humans

first began to study the natural world.

Most biologists agree, however, that it

was thousands of years ago. Many of

today’s ideas about biology started from

the work of scientists who lived hundreds

of years ago.

#More to explore

Anatomy • Botany • Ecology • Zoology

Biome

A biome is a large region of Earth that

has a certain climate and certain types of

living things. Major biomes include

tundras, forests, grasslands, and deserts.

The plants and animals of each biome

have traits that help them to survive in

their particular biome. Plants and animals

that live within smaller areas of a

biome also depend on each other for

Biologists study an island gray fox on Santa

Catalina Island near California.

During the

1900s, some

of the biggest

discoveries in

biology had to

do with a

material called

DNA. DNA is

present in

every cell of