Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Chardin, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon

(Encyclopedia)Chardin, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon zhäN-bätēstˈ-sēmāôNˈ shärdăNˈ [key], 1699–1779, French painter. He was a major figure of 18th-century painting. While the Académie royale still advocated h...

Foucault, Jean Bernard Léon

(Encyclopedia)Foucault, Jean Bernard Léon zhäN bĕrnärˈ lāôNˈ fo͞okōˈ [key], 1819–68, French physicist. Known especially for his research on the speed of light, he determined its velocity in air and fou...

Houdin, Jean Eugène Robert

(Encyclopedia)Houdin, Jean Eugène Robert or Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin zhäN özhĕnˈ rōbĕrˈ o͞odăNˈ [key], 1805–71, French conjurer and magician. Originally a clockmaker, he was celebrated for his optica...

Gros, Antoine-Jean, Baron

(Encyclopedia)Gros, Antoine-Jean, Baron äNtwänˈ zhäN bärôNˈgrō [key], 1771–1835, French painter. He studied with his father, a miniaturist, and with J.-L. David, whose classical theory he adopted. Napoleo...

Gérard, Jean Ignace Isidore

(Encyclopedia)Gérard, Jean Ignace Isidore zhäN ēnyäsˈ ēzēdôrˈ zhārärˈ [key], 1803–47, French caricaturist, illustrator, and lithographer, better known as Grandville. He is noted for his spirited caric...

Nau, Jacques Jean David

(Encyclopedia)Nau, Jacques Jean David zhäk zhäN dävēdˈ nō [key], c.1630–1671, French pirate in the West Indies. He is also called François L'Olonnois. He went to the West Indies in 1650. Expelled in 1653 f...

Le Pen, Jean-Marie

(Encyclopedia)Le Pen, Jean-Marie zhŏnˌ-märēˈ lə pĕn, pŏN [key], 1928–, French politician. He graduated from law school, was elected (1956) a parliamentary deputy, and criticized President de Gaulle's Alge...

Köhler, Georges Jean Franz

(Encyclopedia)Köhler, Georges Jean Franz kōˈlər, Ger. köˈlər [key], 1946–95, German immunologist, Ph.D. Univ. of Freiburg, 1974. He worked (1974–76) with César Milstein at the Laboratory of Molecular Bi...

La Bruyère, Jean de

(Encyclopedia)La Bruyère, Jean de zhäN də lä brüyĕrˈ [key], 1645–96, French writer. He lived (1684–96) as tutor in the house of the prince de Condé. His great work, Les Caractères de Théophraste, trad...

Browse by Subject