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Percier, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Percier, Charles shärl pĕrsyāˈ [key], 1764–1838, French architect. He won (1786) the Grand Prix de Rome, and in 1794 he became associated with Pierre François Léonard Fontaine. Napoleon appoin...

Soderbergh, Steven

(Encyclopedia)Soderbergh, Steven (Steven Andrew Soderbergh), 1963–, American film director, b. Atlanta, Ga. After making short films and documentaries, he scored a commercial success with sex, lies, and videotape...

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

(Encyclopedia)Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, founded 1888, one of the world's foremost orchestras. It performs at the Royal Concertbegouw [concert building], Amsterdam, Netherlands, designed by Adolf Leonard van Ge...

Steinmetz, Charles Proteus

(Encyclopedia)Steinmetz, Charles Proteus stīnˈmĕts [key], 1865–1923, American electrical engineer, b. Breslau, Germany, studied at the Univ. of Breslau. Forced to flee Germany because of his socialist activiti...

Duhem, Pierre Maurice Marie

(Encyclopedia)Duhem, Pierre Maurice Marie pyĕr mōrēsˈ märēˈ düĕmˈ [key], 1861–1916, French physicist and philosopher and historian of science. After studying at the École Normale Supérieure he taught ...

Emmet, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Emmet, Robert, 1778–1803, Irish nationalist and revolutionary. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin, but left in 1798 because of his nationalist sympathies. In 1800 he went to France, where with ex...

Gilder, Richard Watson

(Encyclopedia)Gilder, Richard Watson gĭlˈdər [key], 1844–1909, American editor and poet, b. Bordentown, N.J. In 1869 he became an editor of the magazine Hours at Home, which merged with Scribner's Monthly in 1...

National Symphony Orchestra

(Encyclopedia)National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), Washington, D.C., founded in 1931 by Hans Kindler, who conducted the orchestra until 1949. Its first home was Constitution Hall; since 1986 it has been affiliated wi...

Limoges

(Encyclopedia)Limoges lēmôzhˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 136,407), capital of Haute-Vienne dept., W central France, on the Vienne River. It is famous for its ceramics industry, which uses the abundant kaolin in the ...

Vincent de Paul, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Vincent de Paul, Saint, 1580?–1660, French priest renowned for charitable work, b. Gascony. He was ordained in 1600. There are conflicting stories about his capture by pirates and enslavement in Tun...