white seeds.
Cucumbers are crisp and have a mild
flavor. People eat cucumbers in salads
and on sandwiches. People also pickle
them, or preserve them with salt and
vinegar. Cucumbers do not provide a lot
of nutrition, but the green peel contains
vitamins A and C.
#More to explore
Melon • Pumpkin • Squash • Vegetable
Culture
Culture is a pattern of behavior shared
by a society, or group of people. Many
different things make up a society’s culture.
These things include food, language,
clothing, tools, music, arts,
customs, beliefs, and religion.
Differences and Similarities
Every human society has its own culture.
Each culture is unique. A group’s environment
often decides the type of culture
that develops. For example, a group
that lives in a cold, mountainous region
would develop a culture different from a
group that makes its home in a hot,
desert region.
Scientists who study human culture are
called anthropologists. Anthropologists
have found that certain parts of culture
are universal. This means that all people
all over the world share these behaviors.
All societies have ways of dealing with
relatives, telling good from bad, making
art, playing games, choosing leaders, and
raising children. However, each culture
does these things in different ways.
How Culture Changes
Older people pass culture down to
younger people. In this way a group can
keep the same traditions for many years.
However, culture also changes over time.
This may happen when the environment
changes. It also happens when
Weddings in the United States, Nigeria, and India show that different cultures celebrate
marriage in different ways.
230 Culture BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
different groups come into contact with
one another. Each group brings new
ideas that can cause changes in the other
group’s culture. Sometimes conflict happens
when different cultures come into
contact. Other times the contact is
peaceful, and the groups share their cultures
in positive ways.
Earliest Culture
Culture began to develop after early
humans began to make tools. Humans
eventually developed customs around
the creation and the use of tools. These
customs were early forms of culture.
#More to explore
Anthropology
Cumberland Gap
A natural mountain pass, the Cumberland
Gap is located near the point where
Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee meet.
It was cut through the Cumberland Plateau
in the eastern United States by
streams many years ago.
ThomasWalker discovered the pass in
1750. American frontiersman and hero
Daniel Boone helped build the Wilderness
Road, the first trail through the
pass, in the 1770s. The gap was named
for the duke of Cumberland, who was
the son of King George II. It became the
main route used by pioneers moving
west to settle the land beyond the Appalachian
Mountains.
In 1940, 32 square miles (83 square
kilometers) of the plateau, with the gap
as the central feature, were reserved as
the Cumberland Gap National Historical
Park.
#More to explore
Boone, Daniel
Curie Family
Four different members of the Curie
family played an important role in the
history of nuclear physics. The science
of nuclear physics deals with the
nucleus, or center, of atoms. All four
Curies earned Nobel prizes for their
Fog swirls around the Cumberland Gap. work.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Curie Family 231
Marie and Pierre
Marie Curie was born Maria
Sklodowska inWarsaw, Poland, on
November 7, 1867. Her family valued
education, but women were not allowed
to study at the University ofWarsaw.
Instead, Maria saved enough money to
study in Paris, France. In 1891 she
entered the Sorbonne, a university in
Paris. In France she began calling herself
Marie.
Marie completed degrees in physics and
in math within three years. She then
began doing research in the laboratory
of chemist Pierre Curie. Pierre was born
in Paris on May 15, 1859. He and
Marie married on July 25, 1895. They
had two daughters, Irene and Eve. Irene
became a scientist like her parents. She
was born in Paris on September 12,
1897.
TheirWork
Marie began studying the rays (beams of
energy) given off by the element uranium.
She named the unusual activity of
these rays radioactivity. Pierre soon
joined Marie in her research. In 1898
the Curies announced their discovery of
polonium and radium, two other elements
that were radioactive. In 1903
they won the Nobel prize in physics for
their work. The Nobel prize is the most
important award that a scientist can
receive. The Curies shared the prize with
Henri Becquerel, who first discovered
uranium rays.
Pierre died on April 19, 1906, after
being run over by a horse-drawn carriage.
Marie continued their research. In
1911 she received the Nobel prize in
chemistry for her many further discoveries.
Irene and Frederic Joliot
Irene Curie began to work at her mother’s
side. She earned an advanced degree
in physics in 1925. In 1926 Irene married
Frederic Joliot, another scientist
working in her mother’s laboratory.
Frederic was born in Paris on March 19,
1900. In 1934 the couple discovered
that radioactivity could be made artificially.
The following year they won the
Nobel prize in chemistry for their work.
