outstanding authority on the Talmud, and a researcher who discovered important ancient documents. He was also a leader of Conservative Judaism in the United States.
calcium tungstate mineral, CaWO4, that is an important ore of tungsten. It acquired commercial value in the 20th century when tungsten became used in alloy steels and electric-light filaments. The mineral is named in honour of the Swedish chemist Carl ...
poet and novelist whose immensely popular humorous epic poem Der Trompeter von Sackingen (1854; "The Trumpeter of Sackingen") and historical novel Ekkehard (1855) appealed to sentimental popular taste and made him one of the most widely read German authors of ...
any of several tropical evergreen trees or shrubs, in the ginseng family (Araliaceae), that are widely cultivated as indoor foliage plants because of their tolerance to low light conditions. The genus Schefflera includes the New Zealand seven fingers (S. digitata), ...
German Social Democratic politician who, without party or government authorization, on Nov. 9, 1918, made the Weimar Republic a fact by proclaiming it from the balcony of the Reichstag. He later became the republic's first chancellor.
uncommon hereditary metabolic disease characterized by clawing of the hands, corneal clouding, incompetence of the aortic valve of the heart, and painful nerve compression in the wrist (carpal tunnel syndrome). The disease was described by Harold Scheie of the United ...
German composer of sacred and secular music, one of the earliest (with Michael Praetorius and Heinrich Schutz) to introduce the Italian Baroque style into German music.
river, 270 miles (435 km) long, that rises in northern France and flows across Belgium to its North Sea outlet in Dutch territory. Along with the Lower Rhine and the Meuse rivers, it drains one of the world's most densely ...
German social and ethical philosopher, remembered for his phenomenological approach, after the philosophical method of the founder of phenomenology, Edmund Husserl.
German philosopher and educator, a major figure of German idealism, in the post-Kantian development in German philosophy. He was ennobled (with the addition of von) in 1806.
American economist, who shared the 2005 Nobel Prize for Economics with Robert J. Aumann. Schelling specialized in the application of game theory to cases in which adversaries must repeatedly interact, especially in international trade, treaties, and conflicts. The cowinners were ...
any one of many colourless, submicroscopic structures in organisms that serve as a source of colour by the manner in which they reflect light. Among those physical structures in organisms that fractionate light into its component colours are ridges, striations, ...
Dutch novelist and short-story writer, whose basically Romantic temperament, combined with a concentrated, restrained, almost classical style, produced some of the greatest novels of his period.
county, east-central New York state, U.S., comprising a hilly region bordered to the southeast by the Mohawk River (which also bisects the county) and to the west by Schoharie Creek. The Mohawk incorporates the New York State Canal System (completed ...
city, seat (1809) of Schenectady county, east-central New York, U.S., on the Mohawk River and New York State Canal System. With Albany and Troy, it forms an urban-industrial complex. Founded as a Dutch settlement in 1662, it took its name ...
Dutch speed skater who in 1972 won three gold medals in the Winter Olympic Games in Sapporo, Japan. He became the first skater to win the 500-, 1,500-, 5,000- and 10,000-metre races at the world championships in a single year ...
Austrian music theorist whose insights into the structural hierarchies underlying much of 18th- and 19th-century music led to a new understanding of the laws of melodic and harmonic construction and form. Schenker was not well known in his time; he ...
Swiss physicist who collaborated with Peter Debye in the development of a method of X-ray diffraction analysis. The Debye-Scherrer method is widely used to identify materials that do not readily form large, perfect crystals.
in music, frequently the third movement of a symphony, sonata, or string quartet; also, in the Baroque era (c. 1600-c. 1750), a light vocal or instrumental piece (e.g., the Scherzi musicali of Claudio Monteverdi, 1607), and, in the 19th century, ...
seaside resort and fishing port, Zuid-Holland provincie, western Netherlands, on the North Sea. Fishing has been an occupation there since the 14th century. Charles II embarked from Scheveningen to return to England at the Restoration (1660), and King William I ...
Italian-born French dress designer whose use of accessories and dramatic colours enlivened the fashion scene for 40 years. She introduced the padded shoulder in 1932; designed fur bed jackets and rhinestone-trimmed lingerie in the 1940s; and in the 1950s popularized ...
Italian astronomer and senator whose reports of groups of straight lines on Mars touched off much controversy on the possible existence of life on that planet.
German journalist, poet, novelist, and dramatist, whose personal experience of conflict between nations made his work an intense plea for peace and understanding.
gemeente (commune) and river port, Zuid-Holland provincie, western Netherlands, at the confluence of the Schie and Nieuwe Maas (New Meuse) rivers, just west of Rotterdam. Named for an early dam on the Schie, it was chartered in 1273 and conducted ...
American financier and philanthropist. As head of the investment banking firm of Kuhn, Loeb, and Company he became one of the leading railroad bankers in the United States, playing a pivotal role in the reorganization of several transcontinental lines around ...
prominent German actor, singer, playwright, and theatre manager now chiefly remembered as the librettist of Mozart's opera Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute).
leading German dramatist, poet, and literary theorist, best remembered for such dramas as Die Rauber (1781; The Robbers), the Wallenstein trilogy (1800-01), Maria Stuart (1801), and Wilhelm Tell (1804). He was ennobled (with the addition of the von) in 1802.
also called Hans Schiltberger German nobleman whose Reisebuch ("Travel Book"), describing his journeys through areas now chiefly within the Transcaucasian region and Russia, offers an important record of medieval times.
Dutch statesman and leader of the Patriot Party who as councillor pensionary (raadpensionaris) ruled the Batavian Commonwealth (now The Netherlands) under Napoleon I from 1805 to 1806 and instituted sweeping fiscal and educational reforms.
German paleontologist, known for his research on corals and cephalopods. Schindewolf was a faculty member of the University of Marburg from 1919 until 1927, when he became director of the Geological Survey of Berlin; in 1948 he became a professor ...
Swiss prelate, papal diplomat, and intimate counsellor of the Holy Roman emperor Charles V; he worked to preserve the freedom of the Papal States from French domination.
German architect and painter whose Romantic-Classical creations in other related arts made him the leading arbiter of national aesthetic taste in his lifetime.
town, Vicenza province, Veneto region, northern Italy, northwest of Vicenza, on the Leogra River. A manufacturing centre with wool, machinery, lumber, and cutlery enterprises, Schio's ancient wool trade declined with the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797 but was ...
Belgian dog breed that originated in Flanders several centuries ago and was used for many years as a guard on barges. The schipperke ("little captain") is descended from a black shepherd dog, the Leauvenaar, which also gave rise to the ...
U.S. astronaut who manned the Mercury Sigma 7 (1962) and was command pilot of Gemini 6 (1965), which made the first rendezvous in space. Schirra began flying at 13 and became a naval aviator after graduating from the U.S. Naval ...
megascopically crystalline rock that has a highly developed schistosity, or tendency to split into layers. Banding (foliation) is typically poorly developed or absent. Most schists are composed largely of platy minerals such as muscovite, chlorite, talc, sericite, biotite, and graphite; ...
group of chronic disorders caused by small, parasitic flatworms (family Schistosomatidae) commonly called blood flukes. Schistosomiasis is characterized by inflammation of the intestines, bladder, liver, and other organs. Next to malaria, it is probably humanity's most serious parasitic infection, affecting ...
family of the fern order Filicales, class Filicopsida. It contains six genera and about 160 species and is called the climbing fern family. The family is considered to be relatively primitive because of the characteristic large, individually produced spore-bearing structures ...
