Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Vidal de la Blache, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Vidal de la Blache, Paul pōl vēdälˈ də lä bläsh [key], French geographer, 1845–1918, the father of French human geography. He was educated at the École Normale Supérieure, Paris, and had an...

Guadeloupe

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Guadeloupe gwädəlo͞opˈ [key], overseas department and administrative region of France (2015 est. pop. 450,000), 687 sq mi (1,779 sq km), in the Leeward Islands, West Indies. The department ...

Charron, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Charron, Pierre pyĕr shärôNˈ [key], 1541–1603, French Roman Catholic theologian and philosopher. He was an important contributor to 17th-century theological thought, combining an individual form...

Iorga, Nicolae

(Encyclopedia)Iorga, Nicolae nēˈkōlī yôrˈgä [key], 1871–1940, Romanian historian and statesman. A professor at the Univ. of Bucharest, he founded (1910) and later led the National Democratic party; after W...

Grillparzer, Franz

(Encyclopedia)Grillparzer, Franz fränts grĭlˈpärtsər [key], 1791–1872, Austrian dramatist. His work combines German classicism and exuberant lyricism. Considered Austria's greatest playwright, he wrote Der T...

Gris, Juan

(Encyclopedia)Gris, Juan hwän grēs [key], 1887–1927, Spanish cubist painter, whose original name was José Victoriano González. After studying in Madrid he settled in Paris in 1906, where he held his first exh...

Jacobi, Friedrich Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Jacobi, Friedrich Heinrich, 1743–1819, German philosopher. Although educated for commerce, he early gave up business and became in 1770 a member of the council for the duchies of Berg and Jülich. A...

Maillol, Aristide

(Encyclopedia)Maillol, Aristide ärēstēdˈ mäyôlˈ [key], 1861–1944, French sculptor, woodcut artist, and painter. At first a painter, Maillol studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, and then allied hims...

Maupertuis, Pierre Louis Moreau de

(Encyclopedia)Maupertuis, Pierre Louis Moreau de pyĕr lwē môrōˈ də mōpĕrtüēˈ [key], 1698–1759, French mathematician and astronomer. For his skillful support of Newton's theory he was admitted to the Ro...

Browse by Subject