Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Dionysius Thrax

(Encyclopedia)Dionysius Thrax [Lat.,=the Thracian], c.170–c.90 b.c., Greek grammarian of Alexandria. His Art of Grammar remained a standard work for centuries and was a model for subsequent grammars. ...

Aki, Keiiti

(Encyclopedia)Aki, Keiiti, 1930–2005, American seismologist, b. Yokohama, Japan, Ph.D. Univ. of Tokyo, 1958. Associated with the Univ. of Tokyo 's Earthquake Research Institute from 1963, Aki joined the faculty o...

fireproofing

(Encyclopedia)fireproofing, method of making normally combustible materials as nearly noncombustible as possible. Fireproofing generally applies to textiles and construction materials that are treated with a soluti...

Italian language

(Encyclopedia)CEE Italian language, member of the Romance group of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Romance languages). The official language of Italy and San Marino, and one of...

Unicode

(Encyclopedia)Unicode yo͞oˈnĭkōdˌ [key], set of codes used to represent letters, numbers, control characters, and the like, designed for use internationally in computers. It has been expanded to include such i...

money

(Encyclopedia)money, term that refers to two concepts: the abstract unit of account in terms of which the value of goods, services, and obligations can be compared; and anything that is widely established as a mean...

Giry, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Giry, Arthur ärtürˈ zhērēˈ [key], 1848–99, French historian. His Manuel de diplomatique (new ed. 1925) remains a standard work on the scientific study of documents. ...

mendelevium

(Encyclopedia)mendelevium mĕndəlāvˈēəm [key], artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Md; at. no. 101; mass no. of most stable isotope 258; m.p. 827℃; b.p. and sp. gr. unknown; valence +1...

Friedmann, Meir

(Encyclopedia)Friedmann, Meir mīˈər frētˈmän [key], 1831–1908, Hungarian Jewish scholar. He made important contributions in the field of scientific criticism of rabbinical texts. Friedmann's editions of the...

Cary, Henry Francis

(Encyclopedia)Cary, Henry Francis, 1772–1844, English translator. A graduate of Christ Church College, Oxford, he was assistant librarian in the British Museum from 1826 to 1837. He translated several classical w...

Browse by Subject