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Graf, Steffi

(Encyclopedia)Graf, Steffi gräf, grăf [key], 1969–, German tennis player. A powerful baseliner, she drew international attention by winning the 1984 Olympic demonstration event. Graf won her first major title, ...

Dee, John

(Encyclopedia)Dee, John, 1527–1608, English mathematician and occultist. He was educated at Cambridge. Accused of practicing sorcery against Queen Mary I, he was acquitted and later was a favorite of Queen Elizab...

Griffenfeld, Peder Schumacher, Count

(Encyclopedia)Griffenfeld, Peder Schumacher, Count pāˈᵺər sho͞oˈmäkhər, grĭfˈənfĕlt [key], 1635–99, Danish politician. The son of a merchant, he became (1665) secretary to Frederick III. In 1665 Grif...

Speranski, Mikhail Mikhailovich

(Encyclopedia)Speranski, Mikhail Mikhailovich mēkhəyēlˈ mēkhīˈləvĭch spyĭränˈskē [key], 1772–1839, Russian public official, chief adviser to Czar Alexander I (1808–12). The son of a village priest,...

Perse, St.-John

(Encyclopedia)Perse, St.-John, pseud. of Alexis Saint-Léger Léger, 1887–1975, French poet and diplomat, b. West Indies. Léger, an opponent of appeasement of the Nazis, was enormously influential in France's fo...

Lucas van Leyden

(Encyclopedia)Lucas van Leyden lüˈkäs vän līˈdən [key], 1494–1533, Dutch historical and genre painter and engraver. With Lucas, Dutch painting of scenes from daily life may be said to begin. His art is not...

Searle, Ronald William Fordham

(Encyclopedia)Searle, Ronald William Fordham, 1920–2011, British cartoonist, b. Cambridge. He joined the army as World War II broke out, was captured (1942) by the Japanese at Singapore, and was in the forced lab...

Versace, Gianni

(Encyclopedia)Versace, Gianni (Giovanni Maria Versace), 1946–97, Italian fashion designer, b. Reggio Calabria. A dressmaker's son, Versace worked for several Italian designers before opening (1978) his own Milan ...

Vianney, Saint Jean-Baptiste

(Encyclopedia)Vianney, Saint Jean-Baptiste zhäN-bätēstˈ vyänāˈ [key], 1786–1859, French parish priest, popularly known as the Curé d'Ars, b. Dardilly, near Lyons. He came of poor, peasant stock and receiv...

Greene, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Greene, Robert, 1558?–1592, English author. His short romances, written in the manner of Lyly's Euphues, include Pandosto (1588), from which Shakespeare drew the plot for A Winter's Tale, and Menaph...