Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

toy

(Encyclopedia)toy, article designed to be played with, chiefly for children. Archaeological research has revealed numerous playthings from prehistoric civilizations. Early Egyptian, Greek, and Roman dolls, tops, ba...

Euler-Chelpin, Hans Karl August Simon von

(Encyclopedia)Euler-Chelpin, Hans Karl August Simon von, 1873–1964, Swedish biochemist, b. Germany, Ph.D. Univ. of Berlin, 1895. He spent his entire career at Stockholm Univ., first as professor and later as dire...

Bellingshausen Sea

(Encyclopedia)Bellingshausen Sea, part of the S Pacific Ocean, W Antarctica, SW of Cape Horn between the Antarctic Peninsula and Amundsen Sea. The sea is named after Russian explorer Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshau...

Kneller, Sir Godfrey

(Encyclopedia)Kneller, Sir Godfrey gôtˈfrēt fən knĭlˈər [key], 1646–1723, English portrait painter, b. Germany. After study in Amsterdam, Rome, and Venice, he settled in England in 1675, achieving success ...

Tieck, Ludwig

(Encyclopedia)Tieck, Ludwig lo͝otˈvĭtkh tēk [key], 1773–1853, German writer. In his youth he led the transition from Sturm und Drang to romanticism, writing with W. H. Wackenroder Phantasien über die Kunst (...

dialectic

(Encyclopedia)dialectic dīəlĕkˈtĭk [key] [Gr.,= art of conversation], in philosophy, term originally applied to the method of philosophizing by means of question and answer employed by certain ancient philosop...

Nelson, Leonard

(Encyclopedia)Nelson, Leonard, 1882–1927, German philosopher. On the faculty of the Univ. of Göttingen from 1909, he was interested in the use of critical method to establish a scientific foundation for philosop...

Selten, Reinhard

(Encyclopedia)Selten, Reinhard (Reinhard Justus Reginald Selten), 1930–2016, German mathematician and economist, b. Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland), Ph.D. Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-Univ., Frankfurt, 1961. He...

Cornelius, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Cornelius, Peter pāˈtər kôrnāˈlēo͝os [key], 1824–74, German composer and poet; follower of Liszt and Wagner. He wrote music criticism, songs, and poetry but is best known for his operas Der ...

Guthrie, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Guthrie, Samuel, 1782–1848, American physician, b. Brimfield, Mass. In Sackets Harbor, N.Y., where he settled after serving as surgeon in the War of 1812, he invented a percussion powder and a punch...