Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Flourens, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Flourens, Pierre (Marie Jean Pierre Flourens) pyĕr flo͞oräNsˈ [key], 1794–1867, French physiologist. He demonstrated the respiratory center in the medulla and the function of the cerebellum in m...

Favart, Charles Simon

(Encyclopedia)Favart, Charles Simon shärl sēmôNˈ fävärˈ [key], 1710–92, French dramatist and theatrical manager, for a time director of the Opéra-Comique. He was the originator of the modern light opera a...

Broglie

(Encyclopedia)Broglie brôˈyə, brôglēˈ [key], French noble family of Piedmontese origin, who settled in France in the 17th cent. Victor Maurice, comte de Broglie, 1647–1727, was marshal of France and fought ...

Lehn, Jean-Marie

(Encyclopedia)Lehn, Jean-Marie zhäNˈ-märēˈ lĕN [key], 1939–, French chemist, Ph.D. Univ. of Strasbourg, 1963. A professor at Louis Pasteur Univ. (1970–78) and the Collège de France (1979–), Lehn did gr...

Legendre, Adrien Marie

(Encyclopedia)Legendre, Adrien Marie ädrēăNˈ märēˈ ləzhäNˈdrə [key], 1752–1833, French mathematician. He is noted especially for his work on the theory of numbers, on which he wrote an essay (1798) con...

Bassompierre, François, baron de

(Encyclopedia)Bassompierre, François, baron de fräNswäˈ bärôNˈ də bäsôNpyĕrˈ [key], 1579–1646, marshal of France. Under King Henry IV he distinguished himself in the army and as a courtier, and after ...

Ursins, Marie Anne de la Trémoille, princesse des

(Encyclopedia)Ursins, Marie Anne de la Trémoille, princesse des märēˈ än də lä trāmwäˈyə prăNsĕsˈ dāzürsănˈ [key], 1642–1722, French noblewoman and unofficial diplomat. After the death of her fi...

Louis XIII, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Louis XIII, 1601–43, king of France (1610–43). He succeeded his father, Henry IV, under the regency of his mother, Marie de' Medici. He married Anne of Austria in 1615. Even after being declared o...

Puvis de Chavannes, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Puvis de Chavannes, Pierre pyĕr püvēˈ də shävänˈ [key], 1824–98, French mural painter, b. Lyons. In 1844 he went to Paris, where he studied under Delacroix and Couture. His painting War (Ami...

Alfonso VI, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso VI, 1643–83, king of Portugal (1656–83), son and successor of John IV. Slightly paralyzed and mentally defective, he led a dissolute youth until he came under the influence of the count of...
 

Browse by Subject