Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Liotard, Jean-Étienne zhäN ātyĕnˈ lyôtärˈ [key], 1702–89, Swiss painter. He is best known for his portraits and drawings in pastel, but he also made portraits in oil, paintings on glass and ...

(Encyclopedia) Jouvenet, Jean Baptiste zhäN bätēstˈ zho͞ovənāˈ [key], 1644–1717, French painter, one of a family of painters. He worked in Paris in the studio of Charles Le Brun, whose manner he acquired a...

(Encyclopedia) Fresnel, Augustin Jean ōgüstăNˈ zhäN frānĕlˈ [key] 1788–1827, French physicist and engineer. He is known for his research on light, especially on conditions governing interference phenomena ...

(Encyclopedia) Aesop ēˈsəp, ēˈsŏp [key], legendary Greek fabulist. According to Herodotus, he was a slave who lived in Samos in the 6th cent. b.c. and eventually was freed by his master. Other accounts associa...

(Encyclopedia) Chrétien, Jean (Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien) zhōsĕfˈ zhäk zhäN krātyăNˈ [key], 1934–, Canadian politician and prime minister (1993–2003), b. Quebec. He received his legal education at Q...

(Encyclopedia) Nathan, George Jean, 1882–1958, American editor and drama critic, b. Fort Wayne, Ind. He left the New York Herald to join H. L. Mencken in editing Smart Set (1914–23), which they made into a guide...

(Encyclopedia) Duvalier, Jean-Claude düvälyāˈ [key], 1951–2014, president of Haiti (1971–86). At age 19, he was proclaimed “president for life” upon the death of his father, Francois Duvalier. Under gre...

(Encyclopedia) Mendoza, Pedro González de māndōˈthä [key], 1428–95, Spanish cardinal and archbishop of Toledo. He was the son of the poet Iñigo López de Mendoza, marqués de Santillana. He supported Henry ...

(Encyclopedia) Hostos, Eugenio María de āo͞ohāˈnyō märēˈä dā ōˈstōs [key], 1839–1903, Latin American philosopher, sociologist, writer, and political and educational reformer, b. Puerto Rico, educated...

(Encyclopedia) Marmontel, Jean François zhäN fräNswäˈ märmôNtĕlˈ [key], 1723–99, French critic, dramatist, and story writer, contributor to Diderot's Encyclopédie. Educated by the Jesuits, he taught in J...