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Durkheim, Émile

(Encyclopedia)Durkheim, Émile dûrkˈhīm, Fr. āmēlˈ dürkĕmˈ [key], 1858–1917, French sociologist. Along with Max Weber he is considered one of the chief founders of modern sociology. Educated in France an...

Pettenkofer, Max von

(Encyclopedia)Pettenkofer, Max von mäks fən pĕtˈənkōˌfər [key], 1818–1901, German chemist and hygienist. He studied medicine at Munich. Pettenkofer is considered a founder of epidemiology and is known for...

Laue, Max von

(Encyclopedia)Laue, Max von mäks fən louˈə [key], 1879–1960, German physicist, studied under Max Planck. From 1919 he was professor of theoretical physics at the Univ. of Berlin. He worked out a method for me...

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...

Friedländer, Max J.

(Encyclopedia)Friedländer, Max J. frēdˈlĕndər [key], 1867–1958, German art historian. Educated in Munich, he became director of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin. He left Germany in 1933 and settled in H...

Coblentz, William Weber

(Encyclopedia)Coblentz, William Weber kōˈblĕnts [key], 1873–1962, American physicist, b. North Lima, Ohio, grad. Case School of Applied Science (B.S., 1900) and Cornell (Ph.D., 1903). From 1905 to 1945 he was ...

Weber and Fields

(Encyclopedia)Weber and Fields wĕbˈər [key], American comedy team. The partners were Joe Weber (Joseph Maurice Weber), 1867–1942, and Lew Fields (Lewis Maurice Schanfield), 1867–1941, both born in New York C...

German Catholics

(Encyclopedia)German Catholics, religious groups founded in 1844 by dissidents from the Roman Catholic Church. They were led by two excommunicated priests, Johann Czerski of Schneidemühl, Posen, and Johann Ronge o...

German Confederation

(Encyclopedia)CE5 German Confederation (1815) German Confederation, 1815–66, union of German states provided for at the Congress of Vienna to replace the old Holy Roman Empire, which had been destroyed during...

German language

(Encyclopedia)German language, member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages). It is the official language of Germany and Austria and i...

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