Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Freundlich, Erwin Finlay

(Encyclopedia)Freundlich, Erwin Finlay froindˈlĭkh [key], 1885–1964, German astronomer. Freundlich obtained a doctorate in mathematics at Göttingen, then joined the Royal Observatory at Berlin, where he worked...

Hofmann, August Wilhelm von

(Encyclopedia)Hofmann, August Wilhelm von ouˈgo͝ost vĭlˈhĕlm fən hôfˈmän [key], 1818–92, German organic chemist. He was professor at the Univ. of Berlin from 1865 and was a founder (1868) of the German C...

Horowitz, Vladimir

(Encyclopedia)Horowitz, Vladimir hôrˈōwĭts [key], 1904–89, Russian-American virtuoso pianist, b. Kiev. Horowitz studied at the Kiev Conservatory. After a Russian debut at the age of 17, he appeared with overw...

Ehrlich, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Ehrlich, Paul poul ārˈlĭkh [key], 1854–1915, German bacteriologist. He directed (1896) an institute for serum research at Steglitz, near Berlin, that was transferred (1899) to Frankfurt-am-Main a...

Kerr, Judith

(Encyclopedia)Kerr, Judith (Anna Judith Gertrud Helene Kerr), 1923–2019, English children's book author and illustrator, b. Berlin. Her first and most well-known book, The Tiger Who Came to Tea (1968), tells of a...

Simmel, Georg

(Encyclopedia)Simmel, Georg gāˈôrk zĭmˈəl [key], 1858–1918, German philosopher and sociologist. At the universities of Berlin and Strasbourg he was an influential lecturer. Basing his social philosophy on a...

Burgkmair, Hans

(Encyclopedia)Burgkmair or Burckmair, Hans both: häns bo͝orkˈmīər [key], 1473–1531, German engraver, woodcut designer, and painter. Having learned woodcutting from Schongauer, he settled in 1498 in his nativ...

Witherspoon, Herbert

(Encyclopedia)Witherspoon, Herbert wĭᵺˈərspo͞on [key], 1873–1935, American basso, b. Buffalo, N.Y.; grad. Yale, 1895, studied music with Edward MacDowell. He studied both painting and singing in New York Ci...

Nefertiti

(Encyclopedia)Nefertiti nĕfˌrĕtēˈtē [key], fl. c.1372–1350 b.c., queen of ancient Egypt; wife of Ikhnaton (XVIII dynasty) and aunt of Tutankhamen. She seems to have been divorced by Ikhnaton late in his rei...

Leontief, Wassily

(Encyclopedia)Leontief, Wassily lēˈŏntēf [key], 1906–99, American economist, b. Russia, grad. Univ. of Berlin (Ph.D., 1928). The son of a Russian economist, he and his family left the Soviet Union in 1925 bec...