Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

promethium

(Encyclopedia)promethium prōmēˈthēəm [key], artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Pm; at. no. 61; mass no. of most stable isotope 145; m.p. 1,042℃; b.p. 3,000℃ (estimated); sp. gr. unk...

Arius

(Encyclopedia)Arius ərīˈəs, ârˈē– [key], c.256–336, Libyan theologian, founder of the Arian heresy. A parish priest in Alexandria, he advanced the doctrine famous as Arianism and was excommunicated local...

magnesite

(Encyclopedia)magnesite măgˈnəsīt [key], mineral, magnesium carbonate, MgCO3, white, yellow, or gray in color. It originates through the alteration of olivine or of serpentine by waters carrying carbon dioxide;...

Hooks, Benjamin Lawson

(Encyclopedia)Hooks, Benjamin Lawson, 1925–2010, African-American civil-rights leader, b. Memphis, Tenn. In 1972 President Nixon named Hooks, a lawyer, Baptist minister, and former Tennessee county criminal court...

Görres, Joseph von

(Encyclopedia)Görres, Joseph von yōˈzĕf fən görˈəs [key], 1776–1848, German historian, journalist, and writer. As lecturer on philosophy at the Univ. of Heidelberg he befriended Joachim von Arnim and Clem...

isoniazid

(Encyclopedia)isoniazid īˌsōnīˈəzĭd [key], drug used to treat tuberculosis. Also known as isonicotinic acid hydrazide, isoniazid is the most effective antituberculosis drug currently available. The drug inhi...

defense mechanism

(Encyclopedia)defense mechanism, in psychoanalysis, any of a variety of unconscious personality reactions which the ego uses to protect the conscious mind from threatening feelings and perceptions. Sigmund Freud fi...

chloroform

(Encyclopedia)chloroform trīˌklôrōmĕthˈān [key], CHCl3, volatile, colorless, nonflammable liquid that has a sweetish taste and a somewhat pungent odor; it boils at 61.7℃. It dissolves freely in ethanol and...

Romero, Francisco

(Encyclopedia)Romero, Francisco fränsēsˈkō rōmāˈrō [key], 1891–1962, Argentine philosopher and essayist, b. Seville, Spain. One of the most prominent philosophers of Latin America, he was the leading repr...

Ritschl, Albrecht

(Encyclopedia)Ritschl, Albrecht älˈbrĕkht rĭchˈəl [key], 1822–89, German Protestant theologian. He taught theology at Bonn (1851–64) and at Göttingen (from 1864). The Ritschlian theology, a reaction agai...

Browse by Subject