Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Morphy, Paul Charles

(Encyclopedia)Morphy, Paul Charles môrˈfē [key], 1837–84, American chess player, b. New Orleans. At 10 he learned the game and at 21 was acknowledged as the greatest player in the world. Not only was Morphy po...

Lafosse, Charles de

(Encyclopedia)Lafosse or La Fosse, Charles de shärl də lä fôs [key], 1636–1716, French painter. A pupil of Le Brun, he was more influenced by Veronese and Correggio, whose works he saw when he was in Italy (1...

Cockerell, Charles Robert

(Encyclopedia)Cockerell, Charles Robert kŏkˈərəl [key], 1788–1863, English architect, archaeologist, and writer. While excavating at Bassae, Aegina, and other sites in Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor, he studie...

Chaillé-Long, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Chaillé-Long, Charles shäyāˈ-lông [key], 1842–1917, American soldier, African explorer, and writer, b. Princess Anne, Md. After serving in the Civil War, he was commissioned (1869) in the Egypt...

Bagot, Sir Charles

(Encyclopedia)Bagot, Sir Charles băgˈət [key], 1781–1843, British diplomat. As minister to the United States (1815–20) he negotiated the Rush-Bagot Convention, which limited armaments along the U.S.-Canadian...

Charles, archduke of Austria

(Encyclopedia)Charles, 1771–1847, archduke of Austria; brother of Holy Roman Emperor Francis II. Despite his epilepsy, he was the ablest Austrian commander in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars; however...

Kennedy, Charles Rann

(Encyclopedia)Kennedy, Charles Rann, 1871–1950, Anglo-American dramatist, b. Derby, England. He became a U.S. citizen in 1917. His plays, concerned with moral problems, include The Servant in the House (1908) and...

Davis, Charles Henry

(Encyclopedia)Davis, Charles Henry, 1807–77, American naval officer and scientist, b. Boston. Appointed a midshipman in 1823, Davis directed operations of the Coast Survey for a time along the New England coast. ...

Poston, Charles Debrill

(Encyclopedia)Poston, Charles Debrill pōsˈtən [key], 1825–1902, American explorer and author, b. Hardin co., Ky. After practicing law in Tennessee, he moved to California in 1850 and from there led a party to ...

Freer, Charles Lang

(Encyclopedia)Freer, Charles Lang frēr [key], 1856–1919, American art collector, b. Kingston, N.Y. He gave to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., his entire collection and the building (designed acc...

Browse by Subject