Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Copernicus, Nicholas

(Encyclopedia)Copernicus, Nicholas kōpûrˈnĭkəs [key], Pol. Mikotaj Kopérnik, 1473–1543, Polish astronomer. After studying astronomy at the Univ. of Kraków, he spent a number of years in Italy studying vari...

Ignarro, Louis Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Ignarro, Louis Joseph, 1941–. American pharmacologist, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., Ph.D. Univ. of Minnesota, 1966. He was on the faculty at Tulane Univ. from 1979 to 1985, when he became a professor at the U...

Greengard, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Greengard, Paul, 1925–2019, American neuroscientist, b. New York City, Ph.D. Johns Hopkins, 1953. Greengard was on the staff at Geigy Research Laboratories (1959–67) and a professor at the Albert ...

medicinal plants

(Encyclopedia)medicinal plants, plants used as natural medicines. This practice has existed since prehistoric times. There are three ways in which plants have been found useful in medicine. First, they may be used ...

Fallada, Hans

(Encyclopedia)Fallada, Hans ro͞oˈdôlf dĭtˈsən [key], 1893–1947, German novelist. Little Man, What Now? (1932, tr. 1933), his story of a young couple in Germany after World War I, was an immediate internatio...

Antisthenes

(Encyclopedia)Antisthenes ăntĭsˈthənēz [key], b. 444? b.c., d. after 371 b.c., Greek philosopher, founder of the Cynics. Most of his paradoxical views stemmed from his early Sophist orientation, even though he...

Ingenhousz, Jan

(Encyclopedia)Ingenhousz, Jan yän ĭngˈənhous [key], 1730–99, Dutch scientist. He practiced medicine in Holland, England, and Vienna and was noted for his skillful inoculations against smallpox. He demonstrate...

Manchester, Victoria University of

(Encyclopedia)Manchester, Victoria University of, at Manchester, England; founded 1880 as Victoria Univ., an outgrowth of Owens College (est. 1851). In 1903 the university was reconstituted and its present name was...

Simpson, Sir James Young

(Encyclopedia)Simpson, Sir James Young, 1811–70, Scottish physician, M.D. Univ. of Edinburgh, 1832. He became (1839) professor of medicine and midwifery at Edinburgh. For a while he employed ether anesthesia in c...

Rabelais, François

(Encyclopedia)Rabelais, François răbˈəlā, Fr. fräNswäˈ räblāˈ [key], c.1490–1553, French writer and physician, one of the great comic geniuses in world literature. His father, a lawyer, owned several e...

Browse by Subject