Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Mendès-France, Pierre pyĕr măNdĕsˈ-fräNs [key], 1907–82, French statesman. A lawyer and economist, he entered (1932) the chamber of deputies as a Radical Socialist. In World War II he was a pi...

(Encyclopedia) Périer, Casimir Pierre käzēmērˈ pyĕr pĕryāˈ [key], 1777–1832, French statesman. He was a member of a wealthy bourgeois family. His father, Claude Périer, a manufacturer and financier of Gr...

(Encyclopedia) Lamarck, Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de zhäN bätēstˈ pyĕr äNtwänˈdə mônāˈ, shəvälyāˈ də lämärkˈ [key], 1744–1829, French naturalist. He is noted for his stud...

(Encyclopedia) Choderlos de Laclos: see Laclos, Pierre Ambroise François Choderlos de. ...

(Encyclopedia) Henry, Pierre Georges, 1927–2017, French composer noted for his contributions to electronic music. He studied with Nadia Boulanger and Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Conservatory, where he met Pierre...

(Encyclopedia) Fontaine, Pierre François Léonard pyĕr fräNswäˈ lāōnärˈ fôNtĕnˈ [key], 1762–1853, French architect. He was known chiefly for the work which, beginning in 1794, he did jointly with Charl...

(Encyclopedia) Lemonnier, Pierre Charles pyĕr shärl ləmônyāˈ [key], 1715–99, French astronomer. For many years he was professor of physics at the Collège de France. He studied the moon and the influence of ...

(Encyclopedia) Bignon, Louis Pierre Édouard lwē pyĕr ādwärˈ bēnyôNˈ [key], 1771–1841, French diplomat and historian. He held diplomatic posts under Napoleon, was acting minister of foreign affairs during ...

(Encyclopedia) Janssen, Pierre Jules César pyĕr zhül sāzärˈ zhäNsĕnˈ [key], 1824–1907, French astronomer. In 1857–58, in Peru, he worked on the determination of the magnetic equator; in the Azores (1867...

(Encyclopedia) Étaix, Pierre, 1928–2016, French film actor and director. He excelled at highly physical slapstick comedy, influenced by his background as a circus and cabaret performer, and by Buster Keaton and C...