Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Tell, William

(Encyclopedia)Tell, William, legendary Swiss patriot. According to legend, Tell was a native of Uri, one of the Swiss forest cantons. Gessler, the canton's Austrian bailiff, decreed that Swiss citizens must remove ...

Arendt, Hannah

(Encyclopedia)Arendt, Hannah hänˈä ärˈənt [key], 1906–75, German-American political theorist, b. Hanover, Germany, B.A. Königsberg, 1924, Ph.D. Heidelberg, 1928. In 1925 she met Martin Heidegger, who great...

ethology

(Encyclopedia)ethology, study of animal behavior based on the systematic observation, recording, and analysis of how animals function, with special attention to physiological, ecological, and evolutionary aspects. ...

Menger, Carl

(Encyclopedia)Menger, Carl kärl mĕngˈər [key], 1840–1921, Austrian economist, a founder of the Austrian school of economics. He was professor of economics at the Univ. of Vienna from 1873 until 1903, when he ...

Karle, Jerome

(Encyclopedia)Karle, Jerome kärl [key], 1918–2013, American physicist, b. New York City, Ph.D. Univ. of Michigan, 1943. He worked on the Manhattan Project before beginning a career (1946–2009) at the U.S. Nava...

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich

(Encyclopedia)Bonhoeffer, Dietrich dēˈtrĭkh bônˈhöfər [key], 1906–45, German Protestant theologian. Bonhoeffer, influenced early by the thinking of the young Karl Barth, urged a conformation to the form of...

George V, king of Great Britain and Ireland

(Encyclopedia)George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert), 1865–1936, king of Great Britain and Ireland (1910–36), second son and successor of Edward VII. At the age of 12 he commenced a naval career, but this en...

will, in philosophy and psychology

(Encyclopedia)will, in philosophy and psychology, term used to describe that which is alleged to stimulate the motivation of purposeful activity. It is characteristic of the will that it can be observed only in one...

Bering, Vitus Jonassen

(Encyclopedia)Bering, Vitus Jonassen vēˈto͝os yōˈnäsən bārˈĭng [key], 1681–1741, Danish explorer in Russian employ. In 1725 he was selected by Peter I to explore far NE Siberia. Having finally moved men...

Cleland, Max

(Encyclopedia) Cleland, Max, 1942-2021, American politician, b. Atlanta, GA, as Joseph Maxwell Cleland, Stetson Univ. (B.A., 1964), Emory Univ. (M.A., 1968). Cleland enlisted in the Army in 1965 and served in Vie...

Browse by Subject