Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Beust, Friedrich Ferdinand

(Encyclopedia)Beust, Friedrich Ferdinand frēˈdrĭkh fĕrˈdĭnänt boist [key], 1809–86, Saxon and Austrian politician. He held various portfolios in the Saxon ministry and served as premier (1853–66), but hi...

Blumenbach, Johann Friedrich

(Encyclopedia)Blumenbach, Johann Friedrich yōhänˈ frēˈdrĭkh blo͞oˈmənbäkh [key], 1752–1840, German naturalist and anthropologist. He introduced and developed the science of comparative anatomy in German...

Bessel, Friedrich Wilhelm

(Encyclopedia)Bessel, Friedrich Wilhelm frēdˈrĭkh vĭlˈhĕlm bĕsˈəl [key], 1784–1846, German astronomer and mathematician. He became (1810) director of the new observatory at Königsberg and professor of a...

Struensee, Johann Friedrich

(Encyclopedia)Struensee, Johann Friedrich yōˈhän frēˈdrĭkh shtro͞oˈənzā, stro͞oˈ– [key], 1737–72, Danish politician, b. Germany. As physician to Christian VII he gained complete mastery over the ins...

Schinkel, Karl Friedrich

(Encyclopedia)Schinkel, Karl Friedrich kärl frēˈdrĭkh shĭngˈkəl [key], 1781–1841, German architect and painter. A member of the Berlin Academy, he became a professor in 1820. He also worked in lithography,...

Schönbein, Christian Friedrich

(Encyclopedia)Schönbein, Christian Friedrich krĭsˈtyän frēˈdrĭkh shönˈbīn [key], 1799–1868, German chemist. From 1828 he taught at the Univ. of Basel (as professor from 1835). He discovered ozone (1840)...

Schröder, Friedrich Ludwig

(Encyclopedia)Schröder, Friedrich Ludwig frēˈdrĭkh lo͞otˈvĭkh shröˈdər [key], 1744–1816, German actor, manager, and dramatist. He introduced Shakespeare in Germany. The son of actors, Schröder had a di...

Raiffeisen, Friedrich Wilhelm

(Encyclopedia)Raiffeisen, Friedrich Wilhelm frēˈdrĭkh vĭlˈhĕlm rīfˈīˌzən [key], 1818–88, German leader in the cooperative movement. Between 1845 and 1865 he was mayor of several German towns. After the...

Vischer, Friedrich Theodor

(Encyclopedia)Vischer, Friedrich Theodor frēˈdrĭkh tāˈōdôr fĭshˈər [key], 1807–87, German aesthetic philosopher. He taught at Tübingen, and later at Zürich and Stuttgart. Vischer was not only one of t...

world soul

(Encyclopedia)world soul, Lat. anima mundi, in philosophy, term denoting a universal spirit or soul that functions as an organizing principle. While many early Greek philosophers saw the world as of one principle, ...