Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

113 results found

Biron, Ernst Johann von

(Encyclopedia)Biron or Biren, Ernst Johann von ĕrnst yōhänˈ fən bēˈrôn, bēˈrən [key], 1690–1772, duke of Courland (1737–43, 1763–69), favorite of Czarina Anna of Russia. A Baltic nobleman, he rose ...

Křenek, Ernst

(Encyclopedia)Křenek, Ernst krĕˈnĕk, Czech kerzhĕˈnĕk [key], 1900–1991, Austrian-American composer, b. Vienna. to Czech parents. He studied in Vienna and Berlin, and in the early 1920s he composed chamber ...

Lubitsch, Ernst

(Encyclopedia)Lubitsch, Ernst lo͞oˈbĭch [key], 1892–1947, German-American film director, b. Berlin. He studied acting in his native city and in 1911 joined Max Reinhardt's theatre company. Lubitsch turned to d...

Fleming, Sir Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Fleming, Sir Alexander, 1881–1955, Scottish bacteriologist, discoverer of penicillin (1928) and lysozyme (1922), an antibacterial substance found in saliva and other body secretions. Educated at St....

Mansfeld, Peter Ernst von

(Encyclopedia)Mansfeld, Peter Ernst von pāˈtər ĕrnst fən mänsˈfĕlt [key], 1580?–1626, military commander in the Thirty Years War. Illegitimate son of a governor for the Hapsburgs in Luxembourg, he rendere...

laetrile

(Encyclopedia)laetrile lāˈətrĭlˌ [key], name given to the chemical amygdalin, a substance derived from an extract of the kernels of many fruits, notably apricots, bitter almonds, and peaches. The idea that lae...

Richter, Hans

(Encyclopedia)Richter, Hans rĭkhˈtər [key], 1888–1976, American artist, b. Germany. A painter and filmmaker, Richter was influenced by cubism and Dada and was a member of the Dutch de Stijl group (see Stijl, ...

Schleiermacher, Friedrich Daniel Ernst

(Encyclopedia)Schleiermacher, Friedrich Daniel Ernst frēˈdrĭkh däˈnyĕl ĕrnst shlīˈərmäkhˌər [key], 1768–1834, German Protestant theologian, b. Breslau. He broke away from the Moravian Church and stud...

Chain, Ernst Boris

(Encyclopedia)Chain, Ernst Boris, 1906–79, English biochemist, b. Berlin, Germany. In 1933 he left Germany and went to England, where he conducted research at Cambridge from 1933 to 1935 and at Oxford from 1935; ...

Baer, Karl Ernst von

(Encyclopedia)Baer, Karl Ernst von, 1792–1876, Estonian biologist. He was a professor at Würzburg and Königsberg and from 1834 at St. Petersburg. Considered a founder of modern embryology, he discovered the not...
 

Browse by Subject