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Richelieu, Armand Emmanuel du Plessis, duc de

(Encyclopedia)Richelieu, Armand Emmanuel du Plessis, duc de ärmäNˈ ĕmänüĕlˈ dü plĕsēˈ dük də rēshəlyöˈ [key], 1766–1822, French statesman. An émigré from the French Revolution, he served Russi...

Saint Jean

(Encyclopedia)Saint Jean săN zhäN [key], city (1991 pop. 37,607), S Que., Canada, on the Richelieu River, SE of Montreal. It is an industrial center with textile and hosiery mills and manufactures such as sewing ...

Nicolet, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Nicolet, Jean zhäN nēkôlāˈ [key], 1598?–1642, French explorer in the Old Northwest. He came to New France with Samuel de Champlain in 1618. In 1634, under the direction of Champlain, he took a ...

Cousin, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Cousin, Jean zhäN ko͞ozăNˈ [key], c.1490–c.1560, celebrated French painter, designer, and sculptor. To him have been attributed the designs for the windows of various churches of Sens and Paris ...

Picard, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Picard, Jean, 1620–82, French astronomer, noted for having made the first accurate measurement of a degree of the earth's meridian. The figures he established were of great value to Newton in his ca...

Le Sage, Alain René

(Encyclopedia)Le Sage, Alain René älăNˈ rənāˈ ləsäzhˈ [key], 1668–1747, French novelist and dramatist. His masterpiece, Gil Blas de Santillane (1715–35, tr. by Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Gil B...

Chalgrin, Jean François

(Encyclopedia)Chalgrin, Jean François zhäN fräNswäˈ shälgrăNˈ [key], 1739–1811, French architect. He studied under Servandoni and in Italy as a winner of the Grand Prix de Rome (1758). He rebuilt (1777) p...

D'Alembert's principle

(Encyclopedia)D'Alembert's principle dălˈəmbârzˌ [key], in mechanics, principle permitting the reduction of a problem in dynamics to one in statics. This is accomplished by introducing a fictitious force equal...

Étaix, Pierre

(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...

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