Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

326 results found

biogenetic law

(Encyclopedia)biogenetic law, in biology, a law stating that the earlier stages of embryos of species advanced in the evolutionary process, such as humans, resemble the embryos of ancestral species, such as fish. T...

contrabassoon

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Contrabassoon contrabassoon, large, deep-toned instrument of the oboe family, also called double bassoon. Its tube, over 16 ft (5 m) long, is doubled upon itself four times. It was first made ...

minnesinger

(Encyclopedia)minnesinger mĭnˈĭsĭngˌər [key], a medieval German knight, poet, and singer of Minne, or courtly love. Originally imitators of Provençal troubadours, minnesingers developed their own style in th...

Bernadotte, Count Folke

(Encyclopedia)Bernadotte, Count Folke fôlˈkə bĕrnädôtˈ, bûrˈnədŏt [key], 1895–1948, Swedish internationalist; nephew of King Gustavus V. He was active in the Swedish Red Cross and became its president ...

Baeyer, Adolf von

(Encyclopedia)Baeyer, Adolf von (Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer) äˈdôlf fən bāˈyər; yōhänˈ frēˈdrĭkh vĭlˈhĕlm [key], 1835–1917, German chemist. He taught at Berlin and Strasbourg and in...

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. ...

Keller, Gottfried

(Encyclopedia)Keller, Gottfried gôtˈfrēt [key], 1819–90, Swiss novelist, poet, and short-story writer. His vital, realistic, and purposeful fiction gives him a high place among 19th-century authors. Chief amon...

Greenberg, Clement

(Encyclopedia)Greenberg, Clement, 1909–94, American art critic, b. New York City. Greenberg's criticism was primarily concerned with art produced after abstract expressionism. This art, now known as color-field p...

Drygalski, Erich von

(Encyclopedia)Drygalski, Erich von āˈrĭkh fən drēgälˈskē [key], 1865–1949, German polar explorer. A professor of geography at the Univ. of Munich, he led an expedition that wintered (1892–93) in W Green...

Schimper, Karl Friedric

(Encyclopedia)Schimper, Karl Friedric shĭmˈpər [key], 1803–67, German botanist. He did important work in plant morphology and originated the theory, called phyllotaxis, that there is a fixed order to the arran...