Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

473 results found

Tonti, Henri de

(Encyclopedia)Tonti or Tonty, Henri de both: äNrēˈ də tôNtēˈ [key], c.1650–1704, French explorer in North America, b. Italy. Serving in the French army, he lost a hand in battle; his skillful use of the ap...

Sendak, Maurice Bernard

(Encyclopedia)Sendak, Maurice Bernard, 1928–2012, American writer and illustrator of children's books, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. Largely self-taught, he was widely acclaimed as the 20th-century's most important childrens...

parachute

(Encyclopedia)parachute, umbrellalike device designed to retard the descent of a falling body by creating drag as it passes through the air. The development of modern aircraft has led to many experiments in the aer...

curium

(Encyclopedia)curium kyo͝orˈēəm [key], artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Cm; at. no. 96; mass no. of most stable isotope 247; m.p. about 1,340℃; b.p. 3,110℃; sp. gr. 13.5 (calculate...

Gerson, John

(Encyclopedia)Gerson, John (Jean Charlier de Gerson) gûrˈsən; zhäN shärlyāˈ də zhârsôNˈ [key], 1363–1429, French ecclesiastical statesman and writer. He studied (1377–94) under Pierre d'Ailly at the ...

Bienville, Jean Baptiste le Moyne, sieur de

(Encyclopedia)Bienville, Jean Baptiste le Moyne, sieur de zhäN bätēstˈ lə mwän syör də byăNvēlˈ [key], 1680–1768, colonizer and governor of Louisiana, b. Ville Marie (on the site of Montreal), Canada; ...

modern art

(Encyclopedia)modern art, art created from the 19th cent. to the mid-20th cent. by artists who veered away from the traditional concepts and techniques of painting, sculpture, and other fine arts that had been prac...

Leipzig

(Encyclopedia)Leipzig līpˈtsĭkh [key], city (1994 pop. 490,850), Saxony, E central Germany, at the confluence of the Pleisse, White Elster, and Parthe rivers. Originally a Slavic settlement called Lipsk, Leipz...

Bonaparte

(Encyclopedia)Bonaparte bwōnäpärˈtā [key], family name of Napoleon I, emperor of the French. Of the second generation of the family the most important was Louis Bonaparte's son, Louis Napoleon, who became e...

Leeward Islands

(Encyclopedia)Leeward Islands lo͞oˈərd, lyo͞oˈ–, lēˈ– [key], northern group of the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies, extending SE from Puerto Rico to the Windward Islands. The principal islands are the...