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Radisson, Pierre Esprit

(Encyclopedia)Radisson, Pierre Esprit pyĕr ĕsprēˈ rädēsôNˈ [key], c.1632–1710, French explorer and fur trader in North America. He arrived in Canada in 1651. His journals, first published as the Voyages o...

Raffarin, Jean-Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Raffarin, Jean-Pierre zhäN-pyĕr räfärăNˈ [key], 1948–, French politician. From a political family, he began his career in business and served as a spokesman for a labor minister in the late 19...

Rampal, Jean-Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Rampal, Jean-Pierre, 1922–2000, French virtuoso flutist. He played in several chamber groups but was most celebrated as a soloist of great brilliance. ...

Proudhon, Pierre Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Proudhon, Pierre Joseph pyĕr zhôzĕfˈ pro͞odhôNˈ [key], 1809–65, French social theorist. Of a poor family, Proudhon won an education through scholarships. Much of his later life was spent in p...

Périer, Casimir Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Périer, Casimir Pierre käzēmērˈ pyĕr pĕryāˈ [key], 1777–1832, French statesman. He was a member of a wealthy bourgeois family. His father, Claude Périer, a manufacturer and financier of Gr...

Villeneuve, Pierre de

(Encyclopedia)Villeneuve, Pierre de pyĕr də vēlnövˈ [key], 1763–1806, French admiral. He commanded the rear guard of the fleet in the disastrous battle of Abu Qir (1798). His defeat at the battle of Trafalga...

Ailly, Pierre d'

(Encyclopedia)Ailly, Pierre d' pyĕr dāyēˈ [key], 1350–1420, French theologian and writer, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the teacher of John Gerson and was Gerson's predecessor as chancellor of...

Boyer, Jean Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Boyer, Jean Pierre zhäN pyĕr bwäyāˈ [key], 1776–1850, president of Haiti (1818–43). A free mulatto, he fought under Toussaint Louverture and then joined André Rigaud, also a mulatto, in the ...

Calloc'h, Jean Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Calloc'h, Jean Pierre zhäN pyĕr kälôkhˈ [key], 1888–1917, Breton poet. Important in the revival of Breton literature, he wrote in the Vannes dialect of Brittany. His lyrical verse displays a lo...

Cambon, Pierre Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Cambon, Pierre Joseph pyĕr zhôzĕfˈ [key], b. 1754 or 1756, d. 1820, French financier and revolutionary. A merchant of Montpellier, he became a member of the Legislative Assembly and the Convention...