Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) radiochemistry, chemistry of radioactive substances (see radioactivity). Radioactive isotopes are very useful as tracers to study the mechanisms of complex organic reactions, since even minute amounts...

(Encyclopedia) Müller, Karl Alexander, 1927–, Swiss physicist, Ph.D. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, 1958. In 1983, Müller and co-researcher Johannes Georg Bednorz discovered superconductivity in a cerami...

(Encyclopedia) Eeden, Frederik van frāˈdərĭk vän āˈdən [key], 1860–1932, Dutch novelist and poet, a practicing physician. He founded a cooperative farm colony (1898). His work is pervaded by deep mysticism...

(Encyclopedia) Struve shtro͞oˈvə [key], family of astronomers. Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, 1793–1864, was born in Germany but later lived in Russia. While director (1817–39) of Dorpat Observatory he w...

(Encyclopedia) Orbiting Geophysical Observatory (OGO), series of six orbiting observatories (see observatory, orbiting) launched between 1964 and 1969 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to s...

(Encyclopedia) prospecting, search for mineral deposits suitable for mining. Modern prospecting has replaced earlier methods based on chance or superstition (e.g., use of the divining rod) with others based on a sci...

(Encyclopedia) Book of Changes or I Ching ē jĭng, ē chĭng [key], ancient Chinese book of prophecy and wisdom. The oldest parts of its text are thought to have attained their present form in the century before Co...

(Encyclopedia) Vermeer, Jan or Johannes vərmērˈ, Dutch yän vərmārˈ, yōhänˈəs [key], 1632–75, Dutch genre and landscape painter. He was born in Delft, where he spent his entire life. He was also known as...

(Encyclopedia) monad: see Bruno, Giordano; Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, Baron von. ...

(Encyclopedia) Grossbeeren grōsbārˈən [key], village, Brandenburg, E Germany. There, in 1813, Friedrich Wilhelm von Bülow, using the Prussian militia for the first time, defeated the French under Oudinot, thus ...