Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan

(Encyclopedia)Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan lĕˈ fənyo͞o [key], 1814–73, Irish author. He spent his early career as a journalist. In 1863, he began producing a series of stories noted for their reflections of Irish...

Le Guin, Ursula Kroeber

(Encyclopedia)Le Guin, Ursula Kroeber krōˈbər lə gwĭnˈ [key], 1929–2018, American writer, b. Berkeley, Calif.; daughter of anthropologist Alfred Louis Kroeber. Possessing a keen eye for physical and cultura...

Le Bel, Joseph Achille

(Encyclopedia)Le Bel, Joseph Achille zhôsĕfˈ äshēlˈ ləbĕl [key], 1847–1930, French chemist. He was educated at the École polytechnique and carried out much of his research in his own private laboratory. ...

Le Châtelier, Henri Louis

(Encyclopedia)Le Châtelier, Henri Louis äNrēˈ lwē lə shätəlyāˈ [key], 1850–1936, French industrial chemist. He made many contributions to industrial chemistry, but is best known for his work on the stru...

Briggs, Le Baron Russell

(Encyclopedia)Briggs, Le Baron Russell, 1855–1934, American educator, b. Salem, Mass., grad. Harvard (B.A., 1875; M.A., 1882). As a teacher at Harvard he developed, with Barrett Wendell, a prescribed and widely i...

Puy-en-Velay, Le

(Encyclopedia)Puy-en-Velay, Le lə püēˈ-äN-vəlāˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 23,434), capital of Haute-Loire dept., S central France. Le Puy-en-Velay is the center of an old lace industry, as well as traditional ...

Sade, Donatien Alphonse François, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Sade, Donatien Alphonse François, comte de dônäsyăNˈ älfôNsˈ fräNswäˈ kôNt də säd [key], 1740–1814, French writer and libertine. He is known as the marquis de Sade —the title he held...

La Fontaine, Jean de

(Encyclopedia)La Fontaine, Jean de zhäN də [key], 1621–95, French poet, whose celebrated fables place him among the masters of world literature. He was born at Château-Thierry to a bourgeois family. A restless...

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...

Browse by Subject