Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Boileau-Despréaux, Nicolas

(Encyclopedia)Boileau-Despréaux, Nicolas nēkôläˈ bwälōˈ-dāprāōˈ [key], 1636–1711, French literary critic and poet. He was the spokesman of classicism, drawing his principles from his contemporaries, a...

Mitscherlich, Eilhard

(Encyclopedia)Mitscherlich, Eilhard īlˈhärt mĭchˈərlĭkh [key], 1794–1863, German chemist. He was professor at Berlin from 1822. Noted for his discovery of the principle of isomorphism, he did important wor...

five hundred

(Encyclopedia)five hundred, card game, similar in principle to euchre, usually played by three persons with a pack of 32 cards and a joker. Each player receives 10 cards, and highest bidder for the widow (the three...

Kato, Tomosaburo

(Encyclopedia)Kato, Tomosaburo tōmōsˌäˌbo͞orōˈ, käˈtō [key], 1861–1923, Japanese admiral. He was naval chief of staff (1894–95) and chief assistant to Admiral Togo in the Russo-Japanese War. As navy ...

Archimedes' screw

(Encyclopedia)Archimedes' screw, a simple mechanical device believed to have been invented by Archimedes in the 3d cent. b.c. It consists of a cylinder inside of which a continuous screw, extending the length of th...

ahimsa

(Encyclopedia)ahimsa əhĭmˈsä [key] [Sanskrit,=noninjury], ethical principle of noninjury to both men and animals, common to Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism. Ahimsa became influential in India after 600 b.c., co...

Caus, Salomon de

(Encyclopedia)Caus or Caux, Salomon de both: sälōmôNˈ də kō [key] 1576–1626, French engineer and physicist, educated in England. From 1614 to 1620 he was engineer to the Elector Palatine, Frederick, at Heid...

David, Félicien César

(Encyclopedia)David, Félicien César fālēsyăNˈ sāzärˈ dävēdˈ [key], 1810–76, French composer. His ode-symphony Le Desert (1844) and his opera Lalla-Roukh (1862) contain Eastern elements, presaging the ...

Demangeon, Albert

(Encyclopedia)Demangeon, Albert dāmäNzhōNˈ [key], 1872–1940, French geographer, specializing in the study of regional and economic geography. His best-known works include Le Déclin de L'Europe (1920), L'Empi...

Browse by Subject