Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

368 results found

Glauber, Johann Rudolf

(Encyclopedia)Glauber, Johann Rudolf yōˈhän ro͞oˈdôlf glouˈbər [key], 1604–70, German alchemist. A forerunner of scientific chemists, Glauber made many practical advances in analytical chemistry; he devis...

Glauber's salt

(Encyclopedia)Glauber's salt, common name for sodium sulfate decahydrate, Na2SO4·10H2O; it occurs as white or colorless monoclinic crystals. Upon exposure to fairly dry air it effloresces, forming powdery anhydrou...

Wyss, Johann David

(Encyclopedia)Wyss, Johann David yōˈhän däˈvĭt vēs [key], 1743–1818, Swiss author. His Swiss Family Robinson (1813, tr. 1814), an internationally popular classic for children, relates the adventures of a s...

Rudolf I

(Encyclopedia)Rudolf I or Rudolf of Hapsburg ro͞oˈdŏlf [key], 1218–91, German king (1273–91), first king of the Hapsburg dynasty. Rudolf's election as king ended the interregnum (1250–73), during which tim...

Rudolf

(Encyclopedia)Rudolf, 1858–89, Austrian archduke, crown prince of Austria and Hungary; only son of Emperor Francis Joseph and Empress Elizabeth. Upon his mysterious death at Mayerling near Vienna (officially decl...

Glauber, Roy Jay

(Encyclopedia)Glauber, Roy Jay, 1925–2018, American physicist, b. New York City, Ph.D. Harvard, 1949. From 1952 he was on the faculty at Harvard, where he became a professor in 1956. Glauber was the co-recipient,...

Carnap, Rudolf

(Encyclopedia)Carnap, Rudolf kärˈnäp, –năp [key], 1891–1970, German-American philosopher. He taught philosophy at the Univ. of Vienna (1926–31) and at the German Univ. in Prague (1931–35). After going t...

Bing, Rudolf

(Encyclopedia)Bing, Rudolf ro͞oˈdŏlf bĭng [key], 1902–97, Austrian operatic manager. Naturalized a British subject in 1946, he was general manager of the Glyndebourne operatic festivals (1934–49) and artist...

Nureyev, Rudolf

(Encyclopedia)Nureyev, Rudolf no͝orĕˈyĕf [key], 1938–93, Russian ballet dancer, b. near Irkutsk, Siberian USSR (now Russia). Nureyev studied in Ufa and Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), and in 1958 he became a ...

Rudolf II

(Encyclopedia)Rudolf II, 1552–1612, Holy Roman emperor (1576–1612), king of Bohemia (1575–1611) and of Hungary (1572–1608), son and successor of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II. Acceding to the Hapsburg la...

Browse by Subject