Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

236 results found

Spartacus party

(Encyclopedia)Spartacus party or Spartacists, radical group of German Socialists, formed c.Mar., 1916, and led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. The name was derived from the pseudonym Spartacus used by Liebkn...

cadmium

(Encyclopedia)cadmium kădˈmēəm [key] [from cadmia, Lat. for calamine, with which cadmium is found associated], metallic chemical element; symbol Cd; at. no. 48; at. wt. 112.411; m.p. 321℃; b.p. 765℃; sp. gr...

Celan, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Celan, Paul äntˈshschwa;l [key], 1920–70, Romanian-French poet. Although he spent his early years in Romania and his later years in France, Celan wrote in German and is widely considered the great...

aspirin

(Encyclopedia)aspirin, acetyl derivative of salicylic acid (see salicylate) that is used to lower fever, relieve pain, reduce inflammation, and thin the blood. Common conditions treated with aspirin include headach...

harmonica

(Encyclopedia)harmonica. 1 The simplest of the musical instruments employing free reeds, known also as the mouth organ or French harp. It was probably invented in 1829 by Friedrich Buschmann of Berlin, who called h...

cerium

(Encyclopedia)cerium sērˈēəm [key] [from the asteroid Ceres], metallic chemical element; symbol Ce; at. no. 58; at. wt. 140.116; m.p. 799℃; b.p. 3,426℃; sp. gr. 6.77 at 25℃; valence +3 or +4. Cerium is a ...

urea

(Encyclopedia)CE5 urea yo͝oēˈə [key], organic compound that is the principal end product of nitrogen metabolism in most mammals. Urea was the first animal metabolite to be isolated in crystalline form; its c...

idealism

(Encyclopedia)idealism, the attitude that places special value on ideas and ideals as products of the mind, in comparison with the world as perceived through the senses. In art idealism is the tendency to represent...

Barth, Karl

(Encyclopedia)Barth, Karl bärt [key], 1886–1968, Swiss Protestant theologian, one of the leading thinkers of 20th-century Protestantism. He helped to found the Confessing Church and his thinking formed the theol...

Nibelungen

(Encyclopedia)Nibelungen –lētˌ [key] [song of the Nibelungen] is a long Middle High German epic by a south German poet of the early 13th cent. It includes pagan legends and traditions but is patently the produc...