Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

122 results found

logical positivism

(Encyclopedia)logical positivism, also known as logical or scientific empiricism, modern school of philosophy that attempted to introduce the methodology and precision of mathematics and the natural sciences into t...

Chladni, Ernst Florens Friedrich

(Encyclopedia)Chladni, Ernst Florens Friedrich ĕrnst flōˈrĕns frēˈdrĭkh klädˈnē [key], 1756–1827, German physicist. An authority on acoustics, he made studies of the transmission of sound in various gas...

Hoffmann, Ernst Theodor Amadeus

(Encyclopedia)Hoffmann, Ernst Theodor Amadeus ĕrnst tāˈōdōr ämädāˈo͝os hôfˈmän [key], 1776–1822, German romantic novelist and composer, a lawyer. At one time an opera composer and musical director at...

Mansfeld, Peter Ernst von

(Encyclopedia)Mansfeld, Peter Ernst von pāˈtər ĕrnst fən mänsˈfĕlt [key], 1580?–1626, military commander in the Thirty Years War. Illegitimate son of a governor for the Hapsburgs in Luxembourg, he rendere...

Biron, Ernst Johann von

(Encyclopedia)Biron or Biren, Ernst Johann von ĕrnst yōhänˈ fən bēˈrôn, bēˈrən [key], 1690–1772, duke of Courland (1737–43, 1763–69), favorite of Czarina Anna of Russia. A Baltic nobleman, he rose ...

Bernstorff, Johann Hartwig Ernst

(Encyclopedia)Bernstorff, Johann Hartwig Ernst bĕrnsˈtôrf [key], 1712–72, Danish politician, of German (Hanoverian) origin. As minister of foreign affairs (1751–70) under Frederick V and Christian VII, he s...

Starhemberg, Ernst Rüdiger von

(Encyclopedia)Starhemberg, Ernst Rüdiger von, 1899–1956, Austrian politician, a descendant of the 17th-century general of the same name. He took part in Hitler's “beer-hall putsch” of 1923 (see Hitler, Adolf...

Schleiermacher, Friedrich Daniel Ernst

(Encyclopedia)Schleiermacher, Friedrich Daniel Ernst frēˈdrĭkh däˈnyĕl ĕrnst shlīˈərmäkhˌər [key], 1768–1834, German Protestant theologian, b. Breslau. He broke away from the Moravian Church and stud...

Siemens, Ernst Werner von

(Encyclopedia)Siemens, Ernst Werner von ĕrnst vĕrˈnər fən zēˈməns [key], 1816–92, German electrical engineer and inventor. He was a founder and director of Siemens and Halske, a firm that made electrical ...

Browse by Subject