Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Dirac, Paul Adrien Maurice

(Encyclopedia)Dirac, Paul Adrien Maurice dĭrăkˈ [key], 1902–84, English physicist. He was educated at the Univ. of Bristol and St. John's College, Cambridge, and became professor of mathematics at Cambridge in...

Noailles, Adrien Maurice, duc de

(Encyclopedia)Noailles, Adrien Maurice, duc de ädrēăNˈ mōrēsˈ dük də nōīˈyə [key], 1678–1766, marshal of France. He fought in the War of the Spanish Succession and was head of the finance council und...

Sérusier, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Sérusier, Paul pōl sāro͞osyāˈ [key], 1863–1927, French painter. In 1888 at Pont-Aven, Sérusier met Gauguin whose style he adhered to, particularly in his paintings of Breton landscapes. With ...

Fermi-Dirac statistics

(Encyclopedia)Fermi-Dirac statistics, class of statistics that applies to particles called fermions. Fermions have half-integral values of the quantum mechanical property called spin and are “antisocial” in the...

Helvétius, Claude Adrien

(Encyclopedia)Helvétius, Claude Adrien hĕlvēˈshəs, Fr. klōd ädrēăNˈ ĕlvāsyüsˈ [key], 1715–71, French philosopher, one of the Encyclopedists. He held the post of farmer-general (i.e., tax collector),...

Gerlache, Adrien de

(Encyclopedia)Gerlache, Adrien de ädrē-ăN də gĕrläshˈ [key], 1866–1934, Belgian naval officer and explorer. Sailing with Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen who would later be the first to reach the South Po...

Legendre, Adrien Marie

(Encyclopedia)Legendre, Adrien Marie ädrēăNˈ märēˈ ləzhäNˈdrə [key], 1752–1833, French mathematician. He is noted especially for his work on the theory of numbers, on which he wrote an essay (1798) con...

Boieldieu, François Adrien

(Encyclopedia)Boieldieu, François Adrien fräNswäˈ ädrēăNˈ bwäldyöˈ [key], 1775–1834, French composer. He studied with the organist of the cathedral in Rouen and composed one successful opera, Le Calife...

Lamb, Willis Eugene, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Lamb, Willis Eugene, Jr., 1913–2008, American physicist, b. Los Angeles, Ph.D. Univ. of California, Berkeley, 1938. Lamb was a professor at Columbia (1938–51), Stanford (1951–56), Oxford (1956�...

Denis, Maurice

(Encyclopedia)Denis, Maurice môrēsˈ dənēˈ [key], 1870–1943, French painter and writer on art. His paintings, usually on religious themes, have not proved so influential as his art theories. As the spokesman...