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...

Ramuz, Charles Ferdinand

(Encyclopedia)Ramuz, Charles Ferdinand shärl fĕrdēnäNˈ rämüzˈ [key], 1878–1947, Swiss novelist. His works deal with the simple people of his native canton of Vaud. Among his major novels are Le Règne de ...

Saussure, Ferdinand de

(Encyclopedia)Saussure, Ferdinand de fĕrdēnäNˈ də sōsürˈ [key], 1857–1913, Swiss linguist. One of the founders of modern linguistics, he established the structural study of language, emphasizing the arbit...

Perutz, Max Ferdinand

(Encyclopedia)Perutz, Max Ferdinand, 1914–2002, British molecular biologist, b. Vienna. One of the pioneers in the field of molecular biology, Perutz studied chemistry at the Univ. of Vienna (1932–36) and then ...

mezzotint

(Encyclopedia)mezzotint mĕtˈsətĭnt, mĕdˈzə–, mĕzˈə– [key] [Ital.,=halftint], method of copper or steel engraving in tone. A Dutch officer, Ludwig von Siegen, is given credit for the invention of mezzo...

Opitz, Martin

(Encyclopedia)Opitz, Martin märˈtĭn ōˈpĭts [key], 1597–1639, leader of the Silesian school of German poetry. His influence as poet, critic, and metrical reformer was widely recognized during his time; he wa...

Wrangell Mountains

(Encyclopedia)Wrangell Mountains, S Alaska, extending c.100 mi (160 km) SE from the Copper River to the Canadian border, where they meet the St. Elias Mts. Mt. Blackburn (16,523 ft/5,036 m) is the highest peak. The...

mark

(Encyclopedia)mark, designation for the free village community that was supposed to have been the unit of primitive German social life. According to a theory formulated in the 19th cent. by Georg Ludwig von Maurer ...

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,...

Diels, Otto Paul Hermann

(Encyclopedia)Diels, Otto Paul Hermann, 1876–1954, German chemist, Ph.D. Univ. of Berlin, 1899. From 1899 to 1915, Diehls was on the faculty at the Univ. of Berlin. In 1916, he joined the Univ. of Kiel, where he ...