Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Bignon, Louis Pierre Édouard

(Encyclopedia)Bignon, Louis Pierre Édouard lwē pyĕr ādwärˈ bēnyôNˈ [key], 1771–1841, French diplomat and historian. He held diplomatic posts under Napoleon, was acting minister of foreign affairs during ...

Berthollet, Claude Louis, Comte

(Encyclopedia)Berthollet, Claude Louis, Comte klōd lwē, kôNt bĕrtōlāˈ [key], 1748–1822, French chemist. His contributions to chemistry include the analysis of ammonia and prussic acid and the discovery of ...

Saint-Just, Louis de

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Just, Louis de lwēˈ də săN-zhüstˈ [key], 1767–94, French revolutionary. A member of the Convention from 1792, he became a favorite of Maximilien Robespierre and was (1793–94) a leading...

St. Laurent, Louis Stephen

(Encyclopedia)St. Laurent, Louis Stephen săN lôräNˈ [key], 1882–1973, Canadian political leader. A well-known lawyer, he entered (1941) political life as minister of justice and attorney general in the Macken...

Rocard, Michel Louis Léon

(Encyclopedia)Rocard, Michel Louis Léon, 1930–2016, French political leader. After studying at the École Nationale d'Administration and the Institut d'Études Politiques, he joined the civil service. He led the...

Rivette, Jacques Pierre Louis

(Encyclopedia)Rivette, Jacques Pierre Louis, 1928–2016, French filmmaker and critic b. Rouen. One of the French New Wave directors of the 1950s and 60s, he wrote criticism for the influential journal Cahiers du C...

Æthelred, king of Wessex

(Encyclopedia)Æthelred ĕˈthəlrĕd, ăˈ– [key], d.871, king of Wessex (865–71), son of Æthelwulf and brother of Alfred. He succeeded his brother Æthelbert as king of Wessex and as overlord of Kent and pos...

Du Pont, Pierre Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Du Pont, Pierre Samuel, 1870–1954, American industrialist, b. Wilmington, Del., grad. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1890. Du Pont worked as a chemist with the family's company, helping to d...

Athelney, Isle of

(Encyclopedia)Athelney, Isle of ăthˈəlnē [key], small area formerly surrounded by marshland, Somerset, SW England. King Alfred took refuge from the Danes there in 878 and founded a Benedictine abbey in 888. Rel...

Browse by Subject