Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Humphrey, Doris

(Encyclopedia)Humphrey, Doris, 1895–1958, American modern dancer and choreographer, b. Oak Park, Ill. Humphrey was a featured soloist with the Denishawn Company (see St. Denis, Ruth; Shawn, Ted) until 1927. She t...

Shawn, Ted

(Encyclopedia)Shawn, Ted (Edwin Myers Shawn), 1891–1972, American modern dancer and choreographer, b. Kansas City, Mo. Introduced to dance as physical therapy, he taught ballroom dancing, then married (1914) the ...

Saint-Denis, city, Réunion

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Denis, city (1990 pop. 122,875), capital of the French overseas department of Réunion. It is a port on the Indian Ocean at the mouth of the St.-Denis River and exports sugar and rum. St.-Denis ...

Diderot, Denis

(Encyclopedia)Diderot, Denis dənēˈ dēdərōˈ [key], 1713–84, French encyclopedist, philosopher of materialism, and critic of art and literature, b. Langres. He was also a novelist, satirist, and dramatist. D...

Denis, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Denis, Saint dĕnˈĭs, dənēˈ [key], fl. 3d cent.?, patron of France. He is said to have been first bishop of Paris and to have died a martyr on Montmartre. His shrine was Saint-Denis. The Latin of...

Denis, Maurice

(Encyclopedia)Denis, Maurice môrēsˈ dənēˈ [key], 1870–1943, French painter and writer on art. His paintings, usually on religious themes, have not proved so influential as his art theories. As the spokesman...

Johnson, Denis

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, Denis, 1949–2017, American writer, b. Munich, Germany, where his father was a diplomat; B.A. Univ. of Iowa, 1971, M.F.A. Iowa Writers' Workshop, 1974. Years of drinking and taking drugs end...

Mukwege, Denis

(Encyclopedia)Mukwege, Denis, 1955–, Congolese gynecologist and human-rights activist. He studied medicine at the Univ. of Burundi (grad. 1983) and worked as a pediatrician in a hospital in Lemera, Congo (Kinshas...

Kearney, Denis

(Encyclopedia)Kearney, Denis kärˈnē [key], 1847–1907, American political agitator, b. Co. Cork, Ireland. He was a sailor and then a San Francisco drayman. When California suffered a depression in 1877, Kearney...

Papin, Denis

(Encyclopedia)Papin, Denis dənēˈ päpăNˈ [key], 1647–1712?, French physicist and inventor. He was an assistant of Christian Huygens and of Robert Boyle and was professor of mathematics at the Univ. of Marbur...