Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

American Museum of Natural History

(Encyclopedia)American Museum of Natural History, incorporated in New York City in 1869 to promote the study of natural science and related subjects. Buildings on its present site facing Central Park were opened in...

Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, Baron von

(Encyclopedia)Leibniz or Leibnitz, Gottfried Wilhelm, Baron von both: gôtˈfrēt vĭlˈhĕlm bärônˈ fan līpˈnĭts [key], 1646–1716, German philosopher and mathematician, b. Leipzig. Although known primarily...

Hamites

(Encyclopedia)Hamites, African people of caucasoid descent who occupy the Horn of Africa (chiefly Somalia and Ethiopia), the western Sahara, and parts of Algeria and Tunisia. They are believed to be the original se...

yeoman

(Encyclopedia)yeoman yōˈmən [key], class in English society. The term has always been ill-defined, but generally it means a freeholder of a lower status than gentleman who cultivates his own land. With the break...

Aztec

(Encyclopedia)Aztec ăzˈtĕkˌ [key], Indian people dominating central Mexico at the time of the Spanish conquest. Their language belonged to the Nahuatlan subfamily of Uto-Aztecan languages. They arrived in the V...

Wittgenstein, Ludwig Josef Johann

(Encyclopedia)Wittgenstein, Ludwig Josef Johann loŏtˈvĭkh yōˈzĕf yōˈhän vĭtˈgənshtīn [key], 1889–1951, Austrian philosopher, b. Vienna. The second phase of Wittgenstein's philosophy commenced with ...

symbol

(Encyclopedia)symbol, sign representing something that has an independent existence. The most important use of symbols is in language. To say so, however, does not solve the perennial philosophical questions as to ...

epiphyte

(Encyclopedia)epiphyte ĕpˈəfītˌ [key] or air plant, any plant that does not normally root in the soil but grows upon another living plant while remaining independent of it except for support (thus differing fr...

kinkajou

(Encyclopedia)kinkajou kĭngˈkəjo͞oˌ [key], nocturnal, arboreal mammal, Potos flavus, found from Mexico to Brazil and related to the raccoon. It has a long, slender body with soft, short, woolly hair of any of ...

rose of Jericho

(Encyclopedia)rose of Jericho, common name for two plants belonging to different families in the plant kingdom. One, an annual desert plant (Anastatica hierochuntica) of the family Cruciferae (or Brassicaceae; must...