Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Tarski, Alfred

(Encyclopedia)Tarski, Alfred tärˈskē [key], 1901–83, Polish-American mathematician and philosopher, Ph.D. Univ. of Warsaw, 1924, b. Alfred Teitelbaum, changed his named 1923. He lectured at Warsaw until 1939, ...

adsorption

(Encyclopedia)adsorption, adhesion of the molecules of liquids, gases, and dissolved substances to the surfaces of solids, as opposed to absorption, in which the molecules actually enter the absorbing medium (see a...

Basedow, Johann Bernhard

(Encyclopedia)Basedow, Johann Bernhard yōhänˈ bĕrnˈhärt bäˈzədō [key], 1723–90, German educator, b. Hamburg, educated in Hamburg and at the Univ. of Leipzig. Later he taught in Denmark (1753) and German...

Gallaudet University

(Encyclopedia)Gallaudet University, at Washington, D.C.; coeducational; with federal support. It was founded (1856) as the Kendall School, a training school for deaf and blind students, by Edward Miner Gallaudet (s...

geometric problems of antiquity

(Encyclopedia)geometric problems of antiquity, three famous problems involving elementary geometric constructions with straight edge and compass, conjectured by the ancient Greeks to be impossible but not proved to...

Fracastoro, Girolamo

(Encyclopedia)Fracastoro, Girolamo jērôˈlämō fräkästôˈrō [key], 1483–1553, Italian physician and poet. He was born in Verona, where he practiced after studying at Padua. He studied epidemic diseases and...

loam

(Encyclopedia)loam, soil composed of sand, silt, clay, and organic matter in evenly mixed particles of various sizes. More fertile than sandy soils, loam is not stiff and tenacious like clay soils. Its porosity all...

tunneling

(Encyclopedia)tunneling, quantum-mechanical effect by which a particle can penetrate a barrier into a region of space that would be forbidden by ordinary classical mechanics. Tunneling is a direct result of the wav...

Paul, Wolfgang

(Encyclopedia)Paul, Wolfgang, 1913–93, German physicist, Ph.D. Technical Univ., Berlin, 1939. A professor at the Univ. of Bonn from 1952, Paul developed an ion-trap technique (known as the Paul trap), which made ...

Walton, Ernest Thompson Sinton

(Encyclopedia)Walton, Ernest Thompson Sinton, 1903–95, Irish physicist, educated at Methodist College (Belfast), Trinity College (Dublin), and Cambridge. He became a fellow of Trinity College in 1934 and professo...
 

Browse by Subject