Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Chladni, Ernst Florens Friedrich ĕrnst flōˈrĕns frēˈdrĭkh klädˈnē [key], 1756–1827, German physicist. An authority on acoustics, he made studies of the transmission of sound in various gas...

(Encyclopedia) Schmeling, Max (Maximilian Schmeling), 1905–2005, German boxer. He debuted as a professional fighter in 1924 and came to the United States in 1928. Two years later the methodical slugger beat heavyw...

(Encyclopedia) Bernstorff, Johann Hartwig Ernst bĕrnsˈtôrf [key], 1712–72, Danish politician, of German (Hanoverian) origin. As minister of foreign affairs (1751–70) under Frederick V and Christian VII, he s...

(Encyclopedia) Bloch, Ernst, 1885–1977, German Marxist philosopher. He taught at the Univ. of Leipzig (1918–33), drifting toward Marxist thought during the 1920s. He fled the Nazis after 1933, moving first to Sw...

(Encyclopedia) Haeckel, Ernst Heinrich ĕrnst hīnˈrĭkh hĕˈkəl [key], 1834–1919, German biologist and philosopher. He taught (1862–1909) at the Univ. of Jena. An early exponent of Darwinism in Germany, he e...

(Encyclopedia) Mayr, Ernst ĕrnst mīr [key], 1904–2005, American zoologist and author, b. Kempten, Germany. He began his career in Berlin and emigrated to the United States in 1931, where, until 1953, he was asso...

(Encyclopedia) Planck, Max mäks plängk [key], 1858–1947, German physicist. Seeking to explain the experimental spectrum (distribution of electromagnetic energy according to wavelength) of blackbody radiation, he...

(Encyclopedia) Hoffmann, Max, 1869–1927, German general in World War I. A brilliant strategist, he contributed to the German victory over the Russians at Tannenberg and in 1916 became chief of staff of the eastern...

(Encyclopedia) Wundt, Wilhelm Max vĭlˈhĕlm mäks vo͝ont [key], 1832–1920, German physiologist and psychologist. From 1875 he taught at Leipzig, where he founded the first laboratory for experimental psychology...

(Encyclopedia) Gluckman, Herman Max glŭkˈmən [key], 1911–75, British anthropologist, b. Johannesburg, South Africa, grad. Univ. of Witwatersrand (B.A., 1930) and Oxford (Ph.D., 1936). From 1947 to 1971 he was p...