Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Wissmann, Hermann von

(Encyclopedia)Wissmann, Hermann von hĕrˈmän fən vĭsˈmän [key], 1853–1905, German explorer in Africa. He crossed (1880–82) Africa from Luanda to Zanzibar and, on behalf of Leopold II of Belgium, explored ...

Wolfram von Eschenbach

(Encyclopedia)Wolfram von Eschenbach vôlˈfräm fən ĕshˈənbäkh [key], c.1170–c.1220, German poet. Perhaps the greatest of the German minnesingers, and one of the finest poets of medieval Europe. He was a kn...

Boyen, Hermann von

(Encyclopedia)Boyen, Hermann von boiˈən [key], 1771–1848, Prussian field marshal. After the Prussian defeat by Emperor Napoleon I and the disastrous treaties of Tilsit in 1807 (see Sovetsk), he assisted Scharnh...

Sybel, Heinrich von

(Encyclopedia)Sybel, Heinrich von hīnˈrĭkh fən zēˈbəl [key], 1817–95, German historian. He studied under Ranke at the Univ. of Berlin, but later abandoned the Rankean striving for objective history; he beg...

Suppé, Franz von

(Encyclopedia)Suppé, Franz von fränts fən zo͝opˈā [key], 1819–95, Austrian composer, b. Spalato, Dalmatia. His operettas, including The Light Cavalry (1866), were among the best by Viennese composers and ri...

Stein, Lorenz von

(Encyclopedia)Stein, Lorenz von lōˈrĕnts fən shtīn [key], 1815–90, German economist and sociologist. He studied jurisprudence at the Univ. of Kiel and at Paris and taught (1846–51) at the Univ. of Kiel, bu...

Bergmann, Ernst von

(Encyclopedia)Bergmann, Ernst von ĕrnst fən bĕrgˈmän [key], 1836–1907, German surgeon, b. Riga. He became a professor at the Univ. of Berlin in 1882. He contributed to the modern practice of asepsis in surge...

Zesen, Philipp von

(Encyclopedia)Zesen, Philipp von fēˈlĭp fən tsāˈzən [key], 1619–89, German poet and novelist. Zesen was a major champion of the purification of the German language. His works include Deutscher Helikon [Ger...

Browse by Subject