Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Viète, François

(Encyclopedia)Viète or Vieta, François fräNswäˈ vyĕt, vyātäˈ, vīēˈtə [key], 1540–1603, French mathematician. As a founder of modern algebra, he introduced the use of letters as algebraic symbols and ...

Cudahy, Michael

(Encyclopedia)Cudahy, Michael kŭdˈəhēˌ [key], 1841–1910, American meat packer, b. Co. Kilkenny, Ireland. He went (1849) to Milwaukee and after 1856 worked for meatpacking firms. In the 1870s he introduced re...

Charles of Blois

(Encyclopedia)Charles of Blois (Charles of Châtillon) blwä, shätēyôNˈ [key], c.1319–1364, duke of Brittany; nephew of Philip VI of France. He was one of the chief participants in the War of the Breton Succe...

Gosson, Stephen

(Encyclopedia)Gosson, Stephen gŏsˈĭn [key], 1554–1624, English writer, b. Canterbury, grad. Oxford, 1576. He wrote three plays, all of which are lost and none of which seems to have been successful. He is best...

Dôle

(Encyclopedia)Dôle dōl [key], city, Jura dept., E France, in Franche-Comté, on the Doubs River. There ar...

Fernández, Gregório

(Encyclopedia)Fernández or Hernández, Gregório grāgōˈrēō fārnänˈdāth, ārnänˈdāth [key], c.1576–1636, Spanish baroque sculptor. By 1605 he was established in Valladolid and was working for Philip I...

Hitchcock, Henry-Russell

(Encyclopedia)Hitchcock, Henry-Russell, 1903–87, American architectural historian, b. Boston. Educated at Harvard, Hitchcock taught at Smith College and New York Univ. His writings, which helped to define modern ...

James, Saint (St. James the Less)

(Encyclopedia)James, Saint, in the Bible, one of the Twelve Apostles, called St. James the Less or St. James the Little. He was the son of Alphaeus; his mother, Mary, was one of those at the cross and tomb. The Wes...

Battle of the Spurs

(Encyclopedia)Battle of the Spurs. 1 Fought in 1302 near Courtrai, Belgium, between the rebellious Flemish towns, led by Bruges, and an army sent by Philip IV of France, who had annexed Flanders in 1301. The French...

Winslow, Josiah

(Encyclopedia)Winslow, Josiah, c.1629–1680, American governor of Plymouth Colony, b. Plymouth, Mass.; son of Edward Winslow. Educated at Harvard, he was an assistant of the Plymouth Colony (1657–73) and then go...

Browse by Subject