Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Jarry, Alfred

(Encyclopedia)Jarry, Alfred älfrĕdˈ zhärēˈ [key], 1873–1907, French author. He was well known in Paris for his eccentric and dissolute behavior and for his insistence on the superiority of hallucinations ov...

Indiana, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Indiana, Robert ĭnˌdē-ănˈə [key], 1928–2018, American pop artist, b. New Castle, Ind., as Robert Clark. A leading figure in the pop art movement of the 1960s, he specialized in making signs in...

Faust

(Encyclopedia)Faust yōˈhän [key], fl. 16th cent., learned German doctor who traveled widely, performed magical feats, and died under mysterious circumstances. According to legend he had sold his soul to the devi...

Francis, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Francis, Saint, or Saint Francis of Assisi əsēˈzē, 1182?–1226, founder of the Franciscans, one of the greatest Christian saints, b. Assisi, Umbria, Italy. Two years before his death (1224) the...

Erskine, Thomas, 1st Baron Erskine

(Encyclopedia)Erskine, Thomas, 1st Baron Erskine, 1750–1823, British jurist, b. Edinburgh. He was admitted to the bar in 1778. His eloquence and forensic skill won Erskine an enormous practice, during which he ma...

Favras, Thomas de Mahy, marquis de

(Encyclopedia)Favras, Thomas de Mahy, marquis de tômäˈ də mäēˈ märkēˈ də fävräsˈ [key], 1744–90, French royalist. After the outbreak of the French Revolution, he plotted (1789) with the comte de La ...

Gloucester, Thomas of Woodstock, duke of

(Encyclopedia)Gloucester, Thomas of Woodstock, duke of, 1355–97, English nobleman; youngest son of Edward III. He was betrothed (1374) to Eleanor, heiress of Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford, and became earl o...

Bugeaud de la Piconnerie, Thomas Robert

(Encyclopedia)Bugeaud de la Piconnerie, Thomas Robert tōmäˈ rōbĕrˈ büzhōˈ də lä pēkōnərēˈ [key], 1784–1849, marshal of France, duc d'Isly, general and administrator in Algeria. He served in the ar...

James, Thomas, English navigator and explorer

(Encyclopedia)James, Thomas, 1593?–1635?, English navigator and explorer (1631) of James Bay. Financed by Bristol merchants, he sailed in command of the Henrietta Maria in the spring of 1631 to find the Northwest...

De la Beche, Sir Henry Thomas

(Encyclopedia)De la Beche, Sir Henry Thomas də lä bāsh, dĕləbĕshˈ [key], 1796–1855, English geologist. As a result of his private undertaking to prepare a geological map of England, the British government ...