Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

243 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...

Schadow, Johann Gottfried

(Encyclopedia)Schadow, Johann Gottfried yōˈhän gôtˈfrēt shäˈdôf [key], 1764–1850, German sculptor of the neoclassical school. He studied in Rome. In 1788 he returned to Berlin, where he became court scul...

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...

Schomberg, Frederick Herman, 1st duke of

(Encyclopedia)Schomberg, Frederick Herman, 1st duke of schŏmˈbərg [key], Ger. Friedrich Hermann von Schönberg, 1615–90, German soldier of fortune. After serving on the Protestant side in the Thirty Years War,...

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...

hermeneutics

(Encyclopedia)hermeneutics, the theory and practice of interpretation. During the Reformation hermeneutics came into being as a special discipline concerned with biblical criticism. The Protestant theologian Friedr...

Reuter, Fritz

(Encyclopedia)Reuter, Fritz (Heinrich Ludwig Christian Friedrich Reuter) , hīnˈrĭkh lo͞otˈvĭkh krĭsˈtyän frēˈdrĭkh [key], 1810–74, German writer. His tales of Mecklenburg life are among the best of Ge...

Chern, Shiing-Shen

(Encyclopedia)Chern, Shiing-Shen, 1911–2004, Chinese-American mathematician, b. Kashing (now Jiaxing), China, D.Sc. Hamburg, 1936. While undertaking graduate studies in China (1932–34), Chern developed what bec...

epinephrine

(Encyclopedia)epinephrine ĕpˌənĕfˈrīn [key], hormone important to the body's metabolism, also known as adrenaline. Epinephrine, a catecholamine, together with norepinephrine, is secreted principally by the me...

Mendelssohn, Moses

(Encyclopedia)Mendelssohn, Moses mĕnˈdəlsən, Ger. mōˈzĕs mĕnˈdəls-zōnˌ [key], 1729–86, German-Jewish philosopher; grandfather of Felix Mendelssohn. He was a leader in the movement for cultural assimil...

Browse by Subject