Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Cram, Donald James

(Encyclopedia)Cram, Donald James, 1919–2001, American chemist, b. Chester, Vt., Ph.D. Harvard, 1947. A professor at the Univ. of California at Los Angeles, Cram expanded on the work of Charles J. Pedersen by synt...

Dacko, David

(Encyclopedia)Dacko, David dävēdˈ däkōˈ [key], 1930–2003, president of the Central African Republic (1960–66, 1979–81). A leader in the independence movement in French Equatorial Africa, he became the f...

essence

(Encyclopedia)essence, in philosophy, the nature of a thing. Aristotle maintained that there is a distinction between the form of a thing—its intelligible, verbally formulable character—and the essence of a thi...

Smith College

(Encyclopedia)Smith College, at Northampton, Mass.; undergraduate for women, graduate coeducational; chartered 1871, opened 1875 through a bequest of Sophia Smith. The first president, Laurenus Clark Seelye, was in...

miniature painting

(Encyclopedia)miniature painting [Ital.,=artwork, especially manuscript initial letters, done with the red lead pigment minium; the word originally had no implication as to size]. In a general sense the term denote...

Machebeuf, Joseph Projectus

(Encyclopedia)Machebeuf, Joseph Projectus zhôzĕfˈ prôzhĕktüsˈ mäshböfˈ [key], 1812–89, French missionary in the American Southwest, a Roman Catholic priest. He was a friend and associate of Jean Baptist...

Mangin, Charles Marie Emmanuel

(Encyclopedia)Mangin, Charles Marie Emmanuel shärl märēˈ ĕmänüĕlˈ mäNzhăNˈ [key], 1866–1925, French general. A graduate of Saint-Cyr, he served in the Sudan under Jean Marchand and in French North Afr...

Grasse

(Encyclopedia)Grasse, town, Alpes-Maritime dept., SE France. Probably founded in Roman times, Grasse was a commercial center during the Middle Ages. Destroyed many ti...

Desmarets, Nicolas

(Encyclopedia)Desmarets, Nicolas nēkôläˈ dāmärāˈ [key], 1648–1721, French statesman; the nephew of Jean Baptiste Colbert. He became director of finances in 1703 and succeeded Michel Chamillart as controll...

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 ...

Browse by Subject