Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de zhôrzh lwē ləklĕrkˈ kôNt də büfôNˈ [key], 1707–88, French naturalist and author. From 1739 he was keeper of the Jardin du Roi (later the Jardin des ...

(Encyclopedia) Maintenon, Françoise d'Aubigné, marquise de fräNswäzˈ dōbēnyāˈ märkēzˈ də măNtənôNˈ [key], 1635–1719, second wife of the French king Louis XIV. Her grandfather was Théodore Agrippa...

(Encyclopedia) Marie de' Medici mĕdˈĭchē [key], 1573–1642, queen of France, second wife of King Henry IV and daughter of Francesco de' Medici, grand duke of Tuscany. She was married to Henry in 1600. After his...

(Encyclopedia) Goncourt, Edmond Louis Antoine Huot de zhül älfrĕdˈ [key], 1830–70, French authors. Brothers, they were known, for their close association in art and literature, as “les deux Goncourt.” They...

(Encyclopedia) Nurse, Sir Paul Maxime, 1949–, British biochemist, Ph.D. Univ. of East Anglia, 1973. Nurse was associated with the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now Cancer Research UK London Research Institute) fo...

(Encyclopedia) Brazza, Pierre Paul François Camille Savorgnan de pyĕr pōl fräNswäˈ kämēˈyə sävôrnyäNˈ də bräzäˈ [key], 1852–1905, Franco-Italian empire builder. He was born Pietro Paolo Savorgnan...

(Encyclopedia) Franchet d'Esperey, Louis Félix Marie François lwē fālēksˈ märēˈ fräNswäˈ fräNshāˈ dāpərāˈ [key], 1856–1942, marshal of France. He commanded the French 5th army in the battle of t...

(Encyclopedia) Caulaincourt, Armand Augustin Louis, marquis de ärmäNˈ ōgüstăNˈ lwē märkēˈ də kōlăNko͞orˈ [key], b. 1772 or 1773, d. 1827, French diplomat and general, created duke of Vicenza by Napol...

(Encyclopedia) Ryan, Paul Davis, 1972–, U.S. politician, b. Janesville, Wis., grad. Miami Univ. (B.S. 1992), Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (2015–19). A politically active, conservative Republican,...