Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Sophia Charlotte

(Encyclopedia)Sophia Charlotte zōfēˈä shärlôtˈə [key], 1668–1705, first queen of Prussia, second wife of King Frederick I, daughter of Electress Sophia of Hanover, and sister of King George I of England. ...

Rheticus

(Encyclopedia)Rheticus (Georg Joachim von Lauchen) rāˈtēko͝os, gāˈôrk yōäˈkhĭm fən louˈkhən [key], 1514–76, German astronomer, mathematician, and first disciple of Copernicus. In 1540 he printed a s...

metaphysics

(Encyclopedia)metaphysics mĕtəfĭzˈĭks [key], branch of philosophy concerned with the ultimate nature of existence. It perpetuates the Metaphysics of Aristotle, a collection of treatises placed after the Physic...

Struve

(Encyclopedia)Struve shtro͞oˈvə [key], family of astronomers. Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, 1793–1864, was born in Germany but later lived in Russia. While director (1817–39) of Dorpat Observatory he w...

Nuremberg

(Encyclopedia)Nuremberg nürnˈbĕrkˌ [key], city (1994 pop. 498,945), Bavaria, S Germany, on the Pegnitz River and the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal. One of the great historic cities of Germany, Nuremberg is now an imp...

Harden, Sir Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Harden, Sir Arthur, 1865–1940, British biochemist, Ph.D. Univ. of Erlangen, 1888. Harden was a lecturer at the Univ. of Manchester (1888–1897) before becoming a researcher (1897–1930) at the Bri...

Fried, Alfred Hermann

(Encyclopedia)Fried, Alfred Hermann älˈfrāt hĕrˈmän frēt [key], 1864–1921, Austrian pacifist. He moved to Berlin, where he was a bookseller and a writer. Influenced by Bertha von Suttner, he devoted himsel...

Murner, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Murner, Thomas tōˈmäs mo͝orˈnər [key], 1475–1537, German satirist and Franciscan monk, b. Strasbourg. He was the most scurrilous writer of his time and spared almost no one in his satire. He a...

Marx, Wilhelm

(Encyclopedia)Marx, Wilhelm vĭlˈhĕlm [key], 1863–1946, German statesman. A Reichstag member, he was a leading figure of the Catholic Center party and was elected its president in 1921. As chancellor (1923–24...

Zabrze

(Encyclopedia)Zabrze zäbˈzhĕ [key], Ger. Hindenburg, city (1992 est. pop. 202,800), Śląskie prov., S Poland. It is a railway junction in the Katowice mining and industrial region. Local coal deposits form the ...