Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Rambaud, Alfred Nicolas

(Encyclopedia)Rambaud, Alfred Nicolas älfrĕdˈ nēkôläˈ räNbōˈ [key], 1842–1905, French historian and politician. He served in the administration of Jules Ferry, was elected senator (1895), and was minist...

Boisbaudran, Paul Émile Lecoq de

(Encyclopedia)Boisbaudran, Paul Émile Lecoq de pôl āmēlˈ ləkôkˈ də bwäbōdräNˈ [key], 1838–1912, French discoverer of the elements gallium, samarium, and dysprosium. He also made contributions in the ...

Giraudoux, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Giraudoux, Jean zhäN zhērōdo͞oˈ [key], 1882–1944, French novelist and dramatist. He was a prolific writer and combined his literary work with a long and successful diplomatic career. His early ...

Jenson, Nicolas

(Encyclopedia)Jenson or Janson, Nicolas both: nēkôläˈ zhäNsôNˈ [key], d. c.1480, Venetian printer, b. France. Jenson studied printing with Gutenberg at Mainz for three years. He was one of the first to desig...

La Fontaine, Jean de

(Encyclopedia)La Fontaine, Jean de zhäN də [key], 1621–95, French poet, whose celebrated fables place him among the masters of world literature. He was born at Château-Thierry to a bourgeois family. A restless...

Changarnier, Nicolas

(Encyclopedia)Changarnier, Nicolas nēkôläˈ shäNgärnyāˈ [key], 1793–1877, French general and politician. He served in Algeria and was briefly (1848) governor-general of Algeria, succeeding Louis Cavaignac....

Saint-Nicolas

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Nicolas: see Sint-Niklaas, Belgium. ...

Vidal de la Blache, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Vidal de la Blache, Paul pōl vēdälˈ də lä bläsh [key], French geographer, 1845–1918, the father of French human geography. He was educated at the École Normale Supérieure, Paris, and had an...

Chuquet, Nicolas

(Encyclopedia)Chuquet, Nicolas nēkôläˈ shükāˈ [key], c.1450–1500, French mathematician, probably b. Paris. Little is known of Chuquet's life. At Lyons in 1484 he composed a manuscript on the science of num...

Browse by Subject