Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

360 results found

hertz

(Encyclopedia)hertz hûrts [key] [for Heinrich R. Hertz], abbr. Hz, unit of frequency, equal to 1 cycle per second. The term is combined with metric prefixes to denote multiple units such as the kilohertz (1,000 Hz...

Rose, Gustav

(Encyclopedia)Rose, Gustav go͝osˈtäf rōˈzə [key], 1798–1873, German mineralogist. He served as professor at the Univ. of Berlin from 1839. Noted especially as a crystallographer, he advanced the scientific ...

Ramayana

(Encyclopedia)Ramayana rämäˈyənə [key] [story of Rama], classical Sanskrit epic of India, probably composed in the 3d cent. b.c. Based on numerous legends, it is traditionally the work of Valmiki, one of the m...

Grossbeeren

(Encyclopedia)Grossbeeren grōsbārˈən [key], village, Brandenburg, E Germany. There, in 1813, Friedrich Wilhelm von Bülow, using the Prussian militia for the first time, defeated the French under Oudinot, thus ...

Madang

(Encyclopedia)Madang mäˈdäng [key], town (1990 pop. 27,181), Papua New Guinea, on NE New Guinea island. A seaport on Astrolabe Bay, Madang exports copra and gold. It was an important Japanese air base during Wor...

Lorelei

(Encyclopedia)Lorelei lôrˈəlī, Ger. lōˈrəlī [key], cliff, 433 ft (132 m) high, on the right bank of the Rhine River, near St. Goarshausen, W Germany, about midway between Koblenz and Bingen. There the Rhine...

Neruda, Jan

(Encyclopedia)Neruda, Jan yän nĕˈro͝odä [key], 1834–91, Czech essayist and poet, b. Prague. His popular Stories from Malá Strana (1878), tales drawn from his childhood in Prague and satiric portraits of mem...

Tiryns

(Encyclopedia)Tiryns tīˈrĭnz [key], ancient city of Greece, in the NE Peloponnesus, 2.5 mi (4 km) N of Nauplia (now Návplion) and near Argos. The site seems to have been inhabited since the 3d millennium b.c. I...

Drobisch, Moritz Wilhelm

(Encyclopedia)Drobisch, Moritz Wilhelm mōˈrĭts vĭlˈhĕlm drōˈbĭsh [key], 1802–96, German philosopher and mathematician. He was a teacher at Leipzig and a follower and adherent of Johann Friedrich Herbart....

Stürgkh, Karl, Graf von

(Encyclopedia)Stürgkh, Karl, Graf von kärl gräf fən shtürk [key], 1859–1916, prime minister of Austria (1911–16). During World War I he governed without the unruly parliament and was strongly opposed by li...