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Blondel, François

(Encyclopedia)Blondel, François fräNswäˈ blôNdĕlˈ [key], 1617–86, French architect. In 1672 he became director of the Academy of Architecture. Blondel's writings, which exerted great influence, include Cou...

Nordhoff, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Nordhoff, Charles nôrdˈhŏf [key], 1830–1901, American journalist and author, b. Westphalia. In 1835 he emigrated with his family to Cincinnati. His service (1844–47) in the navy, and later on w...

L'Enfant, Pierre Charles

(Encyclopedia)L'Enfant, Pierre Charles pyĕr shärl läNfäNˈ [key], 1754–1825, American soldier, engineer, and architect. Born in France, he volunteered as a private in the American Revolution. He won Gen. Wash...

Los Angeles Opera Company

(Encyclopedia)Los Angeles Opera Company, also known as LA Opera, founded 1986; it performs at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Los Angeles Music Center. It grew out of the Los Angeles Civic Grand Opera Associat...

Ma, Yo-Yo

(Encyclopedia)Ma, Yo-Yo mä [key], 1955–, American cellist, b. Paris. The son of musicologist Hiao-Tsun Ma, who left China in the 1930s, he was a musical prodigy, giving a public recital in Paris at the age of si...

Musial, Stanley Frank

(Encyclopedia)Musial, Stanley Frank myo͞oˈzēəl [key], 1920–2013, American baseball player, b. Donora, Pa. At 17 he signed with the St. Louis Cardinals of the National League. After three years in the minor le...

Namath, Joe

(Encyclopedia)Namath, Joe (Joseph William Namath) nāˈməth [key], 1943–, American football player, b. Beaver Falls, Pa. Namath's brilliance as a quarterback at the Univ. of Alabama earned him a three-year no-cu...

Laughlin, Robert Betts

(Encyclopedia)Laughlin, Robert Betts, 1950–, American physicist, b. Visalia, Calif., Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1979. Laughlin was a researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 198...

Lemieux, Mario

(Encyclopedia)Lemieux, Mario ləmyöˈ [key], 1965–, Canadian ice hockey player, b. Montreal. A star for the Pittsburgh Penguins, he was the team's first pick in the 1984 National Hockey League (NHL) draft and wa...

McGraw, John Joseph

(Encyclopedia)McGraw, John Joseph məgrôˈ [key], 1873–1934, American baseball manager, b. Cortland co., N.Y. He began playing professional baseball in 1890 and was (1891–1900) the star third baseman of the re...