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Androuet du Cerceau

(Encyclopedia)Androuet du Cerceau äNdro͞o-āˈ dü sĕrsōˈ [key], family of French architects active in the 16th and 17th cent. It was founded by Jacques Androuet, c.1520–c.1584, surnamed du Cerceau [Fr.,=cir...

Bienville, Jean Baptiste le Moyne, sieur de

(Encyclopedia)Bienville, Jean Baptiste le Moyne, sieur de zhäN bätēstˈ lə mwän syör də byăNvēlˈ [key], 1680–1768, colonizer and governor of Louisiana, b. Ville Marie (on the site of Montreal), Canada; ...

Amberg

(Encyclopedia)Amberg ämˈbĕrk [key], city, Bavaria, S central Germany, on the Vils River. The large iron mines have been worked since the Middle Ages. Until 1810, Amberg was capital o...

Muffat, Georg

(Encyclopedia)Muffat, Georg gāˈôrk mo͝ofˈät [key], 1645–1704, German organist and composer. Muffat studied in Italy with Arcangelo Corelli and Bernardo Pasquini. He also spent six years in Paris studying Je...

East India Company, French

(Encyclopedia)East India Company, French, 1664–1769, commercial enterprise planned by Jean Baptiste Colbert and chartered by King Louis XIV for the purpose of trading in the Eastern Hemisphere. It failed to found...

Merckx, Eddy

(Encyclopedia)Merckx, Eddy (Édouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx) mûrks [key], 1945–, Belgian bicycle racer. He won the world amateur cycling championship in 1964 and became world professional champion in 1967. H...

overture

(Encyclopedia)overture, instrumental musical composition written as an introduction to an opera, ballet, oratorio, musical, or play. The earliest Italian opera overtures were simply pieces of orchestral music and w...

Lister, Joseph Lister, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Lister, Joseph Lister, 1st Baron, 1827–1912, English surgeon, educated at University College, London. He brought to surgery the principle of antisepsis, an outgrowth of Pasteur's theory that bacteri...

acquired characteristics

(Encyclopedia)acquired characteristics, modifications produced in an individual plant or animal as a result of mutilation, disease, use and disuse, or any distinctly environmental influence. Some examples are docki...

Jean

(Encyclopedia)Jean zhäN [key], 1921–2019, grand duke of Luxembourg (1964–2000); son of Charlotte, grand duchess of Luxembourg, and Felix, prince of Bourbon-Parma. He fought with Great Britain's Irish Guards in...