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Céline, Louis Ferdinand

(Encyclopedia)Céline, Louis Ferdinand lwē fĕrdēnNˈ sālēnˈ [key], 1894–1961, French author, whose real name was Louis Ferdinand Destouches. Céline wrote grim, scatological, and blackly funny novels. His f...

Blanqui, Louis Auguste

(Encyclopedia)Blanqui, Louis Auguste lwē ôgüstˈ [key], 1805–81, French revolutionary and radical thinker. While a student in Paris, he joined (1824) a branch of the Carbonari, a revolutionary secret society; ...

Berlioz, Louis-Hector

(Encyclopedia)Berlioz, Louis-Hector lwē ĕktôrˈ bĕrlyôzˈ [key], 1803–69, French romantic composer. He abandoned medical study to enter the Paris Conservatory as a composition student. In 1830 his Symphonie ...

Berthier, Louis Alexandre

(Encyclopedia)Berthier, Louis Alexandre lwē älĕksäNˈdrə bĕrtyāˈ [key], 1753–1815, marshal of France. He served in the American Revolution and in the French Revolutionary Wars, distinguishing himself unde...

Rabanus Maurus Magnentius

(Encyclopedia)Rabanus Maurus Magnentius rəbāˈnəs môˈrəs măgnĕnˈshəs [key], c.780–856, German scholar and theologian. His name appears also as Hrabanus and Rhabanus. A student under Alcuin, he was later...

Bourne, Randolph Silliman

(Encyclopedia)Bourne, Randolph Silliman bôrn [key], 1886–1918, American author and social critic, b. Bloomfield, N.J., grad. Columbia Univ., 1912. His critical examination of the American way of life established...

Langevin, Sir Hector Louis

(Encyclopedia)Langevin, Sir Hector Louis ĕktôrˈ lwē läNzhəvăNˈ [key], 1826–1906, Canadian legislator, b. Quebec. A lawyer, he served in the Legislative Assembly (1857–67) and its successor, the House of...

Lacaille, Nicolas Louis de

(Encyclopedia)Lacaille, Nicolas Louis de nēkôläˈ lwē də läkäˈyə [key], 1713–62, French astronomer. As a result of his success in making meridional measurements in France under the patronage of the duke ...

LaFontaine, Sir Louis Hippolyte

(Encyclopedia)LaFontaine, Sir Louis Hippolyte ləwēˈ ēpôlētˈ läfôNtĕnˈ [key], 1807–64, Canadian political leader, b. Lower Canada (now Quebec). A lawyer, he entered (1830) the Legislative Assembly of Lo...

Lagrange, Joseph Louis, Comte

(Encyclopedia)Lagrange, Joseph Louis, Comte zhôzĕfˈ lwē kôNt lägräNzhˈ [key], 1736–1813, French mathematician and astronomer, b. Turin, of French and Italian descent. Before the age of 20 he was professor...