Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Lacaille, Nicolas Louis de

(Encyclopedia)Lacaille, Nicolas Louis de nēkôläˈ lwē də läkäˈyə [key], 1713–62, French astronomer. As a result of his success in making meridional measurements in France under the patronage of the duke ...

Ledoux, Claude Nicolas

(Encyclopedia)Ledoux, Claude Nicolas klōd nēkôläˈ lədo͞oˈ [key], 1736–1806, French architect. He built palaces and various public buildings, among them the tollhouses (barrières) around Paris (1784). His...

Boileau-Despréaux, Nicolas

(Encyclopedia)Boileau-Despréaux, Nicolas nēkôläˈ bwälōˈ-dāprāōˈ [key], 1636–1711, French literary critic and poet. He was the spokesman of classicism, drawing his principles from his contemporaries, a...

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...

San Nicolás de los Garzas

(Encyclopedia)San Nicolás de los Garzas sän nēkōläsˈ dā lōs gärˈsäs [key], city (1990 pop. 436,603), Nuevo León state, N Mexico, in the Santa Catarina valley. It is situated on a major highway in a pred...

Soult, Nicolas Jean de Dieu

(Encyclopedia)Soult, Nicolas Jean de Dieu nēkôläˈ zhäN də dyö so͞olt [key], 1769–1851, marshal of France. Having won distinction in the Napoleonic Wars, especially at the battle of Austerlitz, he was crea...

Restif de la Bretonne, Nicolas Edme

(Encyclopedia)Restif de la Bretonne, Nicolas Edme nëkôläˈ ĕdˈmə rĕstēfˈ də lä brətônˈ [key], 1734–1806, French novelist. A printer by trade, he wrote and published over 250 novels, mostly based on ...

Lémery, Nicolas

(Encyclopedia)Lémery, Nicolas nēkôläˈ lāmərēˈ [key], 1645–1715, French chemist. He was a pharmacist and lecturer in Paris and was the author of a standard textbook in chemistry (1675) and of a treatise o...

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...

Lancret, Nicolas

(Encyclopedia)Lancret, Nicolas nēkôläˈ läNkrāˈ [key], 1690–1743, French rococo painter. He studied in Gillot's studio, together with Watteau whose themes and manner he popularized. His favorite subjects we...