Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Du Deffand, Marie de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise

(Encyclopedia)Du Deffand, Marie de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise märēˈ də vēshēˈ-shäNrôNˈ märkēzˈ dü dĕfäNˈ [key], 1697–1780, French woman of letters, whose salon was frequented (1753–80) by the lea...

Maine de Biran

(Encyclopedia)Maine de Biran mĕn də bēräNˈ [key], 1766–1824, French philosopher, member of the Council of Five Hundred (1797), and councilor of state (1816). His real name was Marie François Pierre Gonthier...

Pisan, Christine de

(Encyclopedia)Pisan, Christine de krēstēnˈ də pēzäNˈ [key], 1364–c.1430, French poet, of Italian descent. She wrote many verse romances and works in prose, as well as the lyric poems for which she is most ...

Renoir, Pierre Auguste

(Encyclopedia)Renoir, Pierre Auguste rənwärˈ [key], 1841–1919, French impressionist painter and sculptor, b. Limoges. Renoir went to work at the age of 13 in Paris as a decorator of factory-made porcelain, co...

La Rochejaquelein, Henri Du Vergier, comte de

(Encyclopedia)La Rochejaquelein or La Rochejacquelin, Henri Du Vergier, comte de both: äNrēˈ dü vĕrzhyāˈ kôNt də lä rôshzhäkəlăNˈ [key], 1772–94, French commander, leader of the counterrevolutionar...

Nîmes

(Encyclopedia)Nîmes nēm [key], city (1990 pop. 133,607), capital of Gard dept., S France, in Cévennes. An important market town and rail hub, its products include machinery, textiles and clothing, and tinware. A...

Borlaug, Norman Ernest

(Encyclopedia)Borlaug, Norman Ernest bôrˈlôg [key], 1914–2009, U.S. agronomist, b. near Saude, Iowa, grad. Univ. of Minn. (Ph.D., 1942). He worked as researcher with the E. I. du Pont Company until 1944, when ...

Laclede, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Laclede, Pierre pyĕr läklĕdˈ [key], c.1724–1778, French pioneer in the United States. His surname was Liguest, but he adopted the name Pierre Laclede. He went to New Orleans in 1755 and was a me...

Monteux, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Monteux, Pierre pyĕr môNtöˈ [key], 1875–1964, French-American conductor, studied at the Paris Conservatory. As conductor (1911–14) of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, he directed the premieres of b...

Lescot, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Lescot, Pierre pyĕr lĕskōˈ [key], c.1510–1578, French Renaissance architect. Appointed by Francis I to design a new royal palace in Paris, he built the earliest portions of what was later to bec...