Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Palissy, Bernard

(Encyclopedia)Palissy, Bernard bĕrnärˈ pälēsēˈ [key], c.1510–c.1589, French potter. For 16 years he worked in vain to imitate white-glazed pottery (probably Chinese), even burning his furniture to fire his...

Winthrop, John, 1606–76, colonial governor in America

(Encyclopedia)Winthrop, John, 1606–76, colonial governor in America, b. Groton, Suffolk, England; oldest son of John Winthrop (1588–1649). He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, became a lawyer, and emigra...

Bergius, Friedrich Karl Rudolf

(Encyclopedia)Bergius, Friedrich Karl Rudolf, 1884–1949, German chemist, Ph.D. Univ. of Leipzig, 1907. In 1910, Bergius set up a laboratory to carry out his research and in 1914 transferred the operation to the E...

spectroscope

(Encyclopedia)spectroscope, optical instrument for producing spectral lines and measuring their wavelengths and intensities, used in spectral analysis (see spectrum). When a material is heated to incandescence it e...

Eliot, Charles William

(Encyclopedia)Eliot, Charles William, 1834–1926, American educator and president of Harvard, b. Boston, grad. Harvard, 1853. In 1854 he was appointed tutor in mathematics at Harvard and in 1858 became assistant p...

flerovium

(Encyclopedia)flerovium, artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Fl; at. no. 114; mass number of most stable isotope 289; m.p., b.p., sp. gr., and valence unknown. Situated in Group 14 of the per...

Dow Jones Average

(Encyclopedia)Dow Jones Average, indicators used to measure and report value changes in representative stock groupings on the New York stock exchange. There are four different averages—industrial stocks, transpor...

electronegativity

(Encyclopedia)electronegativity ĭlĕkˌtrōnĕgətĭvˈətē [key], in chemistry, tendency for an atom to attract a pair of electrons that it shares with another atom (see chemical bond). For example, the molecule...

Aldanov, Mark

(Encyclopedia)Aldanov, Mark əlyĭksänˈdrəvyĭch ləndouˈ [key], 1886–1957, Russian writer. Aldanov earned degrees in chemistry and law. He took part in the Revolution of 1917, after which he emigrated to Fra...

Charpentier, Emmanuelle Marie

(Encyclopedia)Charpentier, Emmanuelle Marie āmänüĕl märēˈ shärpäNtyāˈ [key], 1968–, French microbiologist, Ph.D. Pierre and Marie Curie Univ., 1995. Following postdoctoral appointments at several insti...