Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Hevesy, Georg von gāˈôrkh fən hĕˈvĕshē [key], 1885–1966, Hungarian physicist and chemist. He received the 1943 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the use of isotopes as tracers in stud...

(Encyclopedia) Wissmann, Hermann von hĕrˈmän fən vĭsˈmän [key], 1853–1905, German explorer in Africa. He crossed (1880–82) Africa from Luanda to Zanzibar and, on behalf of Leopold II of Belgium, explored ...

(Encyclopedia) Bekesy, Georg von gāˈôrk fən bĕkˈĭshē [key], 1899–1972, American biophysicist, b. Budapest, Hungary, grad. Univ. of Budapest (Ph.D. 1923). He was (1923–46) a physicist in the research labo...

(Encyclopedia) Schwanthaler, Ludwig von lo͝otˈvĭkh fən shvänˈtälər [key], 1802–48, German sculptor. Though he was a neoclassicist, his later works were more in the romantic manner and devoted to themes tha...

(Encyclopedia) Humboldt, Wilhelm, Freiherr von frīˈhĕr fən ho͝omˈbôlt [key], 1767–1835, German statesman and philologist; brother of Alexander von Humboldt. As Prussian minister of education (1809–10) he...

(Encyclopedia) Rezzori, Gregor von, 1914–98, Austrian-Romanian writer, b. Gregor Arnulph Hilarius von Rezzori d'Arezzo in Czernowitz, Austria-Hungary (later in Romania and the USSR, now Chernivtsi, Ukraine). The a...

(Encyclopedia) Heidenstam, Verner von vĕrˈnər fən hāˈdənstäm [key], 1859–1940, Swedish lyric poet, novelist, and essayist. His first volume of poetry, Pilgrimage and Wanderyears (1888), challenged the cont...

(Encyclopedia) Winkelried, Arnold von ärˈnôlt fən vĭngˈkəlrēt [key], d. 1386, Swiss hero. His action at the battle of Sempach (July 9, 1386) is credited in legend with the Swiss defeat of the Austrians under...

(Encyclopedia) Falkenhayn, Erich von āˈrĭkh fən fälˈkənhīn [key], 1861–1922, German military officer. Minister of war from 1906 to 1915, he succeeded (1914) Moltke as chief of the German general staff. He ...

(Encyclopedia) Von Neumann, John noiˈmän [key], 1903–57, American mathematician, b. Hungary, Ph.D. Univ. of Budapest, 1926. He came to the United States in 1930 and was naturalized in 1937. He taught (1930–33)...