Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Leclair, Jean-Marie

(Encyclopedia)Leclair, Jean-Marie zhäN-märēˈ ləklĕr [key], 1697–1764, French violinist and composer. Leclair studied in Italy, and his music was strongly influenced by Italian models, especially Vivaldi, al...

Cornu, Marie Alfred

(Encyclopedia)Cornu, Marie Alfred märēˈ älfrĕdˈ kôrnüˈ [key], 1841–1902, French physicist. From 1867 he was professor at the École polytechnique, Paris. He measured the velocity of light and made import...

Paz Estenssoro, Victor

(Encyclopedia)Paz Estenssoro, Victor vēktōrˈ päs āstānsōˈrō [key], 1907–2001, president of Bolivia (1952–56, 1960–64, 1985–89). An attorney and economist born into a land-owning family, he was a fo...

Grolier de Servières, Jean, vicomte d'Aguisy

(Encyclopedia)Grolier de Servières, Jean, vicomte d'Aguisy grōlˈyər, Fr. zhäN grôlyāˈ də sĕrvyĕrˈ vēkôNtˈ dägēzēˈ [key], 1479–1565, French bibliophile. Grolier served Francis I as government tr...

Raoult, François Marie

(Encyclopedia)Raoult, François Marie fräNswäˈ märēˈ räo͞olzˈ [key], 1830–1901, French physicist and chemist. He was professor (from 1870) and dean (from 1889) of the faculty of sciences at the Univ. of ...

Victor Amadeus III

(Encyclopedia)Victor Amadeus III, 1726–96, king of Sardinia (1773–96), son and successor of Charles Emmanuel III. He declared war on France in 1792 after French Revolutionary troops had occupied Savoy and Nice....

Chávez Frías, Hugo Rafael

(Encyclopedia)Chávez Frías, Hugo Rafael o͞oˈgō räfäĕlˈ chäˈvĕs frēˈäs [key], 1954–2013, Venezuelan political leader, president of Venezuela (1999–2013). Raised in poverty, he was educated at the ...

Marie de France

(Encyclopedia)Marie de France də fräNs [key], fl. 1155–90, poet. Born in France, she spent her adult life in England in aristocratic circles and wrote in Anglo-Norman. She is best known for some dozen lais; sev...

Vien, Joseph-Marie

(Encyclopedia)Vien, Joseph-Marie zhôzëfˈ-märēˈ vyăNˈ [key], 1716–1809, French neoclassical painter. A protégé of the comte de Caylus, he won the Prix de Rome and studied in Italy. He was appointed direc...

Stopes, Marie Carmichael

(Encyclopedia)Stopes, Marie Carmichael stōps [key], 1880–1958, British paleobotanist and eugenicist, b. Edinburgh, D.Sc. Univ. of London, Ph.D. Univ. of Munich. She lectured on paleobotany at the universities of...