Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Neher, Edwin

(Encyclopedia)Neher, Edwin, 1944–, German biophysicist, Ph.D. Technical Univ. of Munich, 1970. He has been a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany, since 1972. Nehe...

Levine, Jack

(Encyclopedia)Levine, Jack ləvīnˈ [key], 1915–2010, American painter, b. Boston. Levine began his career with the Federal Arts Project. His savagely realistic paintings, executed with diffused, prismatic textu...

podiatry

(Encyclopedia)podiatry pōdīˈətrē, pə– [key], science concerned with disorders, diseases, and deformities of the feet, also called chiropody. Podiatrists treat such common conditions as bunions, corns and ca...

Supervielle, Jules

(Encyclopedia)Supervielle, Jules zhül süpĕrvyĕlˈ [key], 1884–1960, French author, b. Uruguay. His life was divided between Montevideo, where he was born, and Paris, where he was educated. The freshness and o...

wart

(Encyclopedia)wart, circumscribed outgrowth of the skin caused by a filterable virus that is readily transmitted. Warts may appear anywhere on the skin but are most common on the hands. Sexually transmitted disease...

Sábato, Ernesto

(Encyclopedia)Sábato, Ernesto ārnāsˈtō säˈbätō [key], 1911–2011, Argentinean novelist and literary critic, b. Rojas. He received his doctorate in physics (1937) and taught until removed for anti-Peronist...

Traven, B.

(Encyclopedia)Traven, B., 1890–1969, German language novelist. During his life Traven refused to divulge any information concerning himself. His birth name is still uncertain, as is his birthplace. As Ret Marut h...

bloodletting

(Encyclopedia)bloodletting, also called bleeding, practice of drawing blood from the body in the treatment of disease. General bloodletting consists of the abstraction of blood by incision into an artery (arterioto...

quinidine

(Encyclopedia)quinidine kwĭnˈĭdēnˌ [key], heart muscle relaxant used to maintain regular heart rhythm patterns. It is an alkaloid chemically similar to quinine and, like quinine, occurs naturally in some speci...

Sharp, William

(Encyclopedia)Sharp, William, pseud. Fiona Macleod fēˈnə məkloudˈ, fēōˈnə [key], 1855–1905, Scottish poet and man of letters. Under his own name he wrote literary biographies; poems, including the volume...