Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

159 results found

Heidegger, Martin

(Encyclopedia)Heidegger, Martin märˈtēn hīˈdĕger [key], 1889–1976, German philosopher. As a student at Freiburg, Heidegger was influenced by the neo-Kantianism of Heinrich Rickert and the phenomenology of E...

sunspots

(Encyclopedia)sunspots, dark, usually irregularly shaped spots on the sun's surface that are actually solar magnetic storms. The spots are darker because the temperature of the spots is lower than that of the surro...

garden

(Encyclopedia)garden, land set aside for the cultivation of flowers, herbs, vegetables, or small fruits, for either utility or ornament. Gardens range in size from window boxes and small dooryard plots to the publi...

German literature

(Encyclopedia)German literature, works in the German language by German, Austrian, Austro-Hungarian, and Swiss authors, as well as by writers of German in other countries. The postwar decades saw a gradual litera...

Zwingli, Huldreich

(Encyclopedia)Zwingli, Huldreich or Ulrich ho͝oldˈrīkh tsvĭngˈlē, o͝olˈrĭkh [key], 1484–1531, Swiss Protestant reformer. The real beginning of the Reformation in Switzerland was Zwingli's lectures on t...

transistor

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Simple transistor circuit transistor, three-terminal, solid-state electronic device used for amplification and switching. It is the solid-state analog to the triode electron tube; the transist...

National Socialism

(Encyclopedia)National Socialism or Nazism, doctrines and policies of the National Socialist German Workers' party, which ruled Germany under Adolf Hitler from 1933 to 1945. In German the party name was Nationalsoz...

Metternich, Clemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Fürst von

(Encyclopedia)Metternich, Clemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Fürst von klāˈmĕns vĕnˈtsəl nāˈpōmo͝ok lōˈtär fürst fən mĕtˈərnĭkh [key], 1773–1859, Austrian statesman and arbiter of post-Napoleonic ...

song

(Encyclopedia)song, relatively brief, simple vocal composition, usually a setting of a poetic text, often strophic, for accompanied solo voice. The song literature of Western music embodies two broad classification...

Kant, Immanuel

(Encyclopedia)Kant, Immanuel ĭmänˈo͞oĕl känt [key], 1724–1804, German metaphysician, one of the greatest figures in philosophy, b. Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia). The impact of Kant's work has be...