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Capella, Martianus

(Encyclopedia)Capella, Martianus märshēāˈnəs kəpĕlˈə [key], fl. 5th cent.?, Latin writer, b. Carthage. His one famous work, The Marriage of Mercury and Philology, also called the Satyricon and Disciplinae,...

Charlotte, grand duchess of Luxembourg

(Encyclopedia)Charlotte, 1896–1985, grand duchess of Luxembourg (1919–64). The second daughter of Duke William of Nassau-Weilburg and a Portuguese princess, Marie Anne of Braganza, she succeeded her sister, Mar...

Casimir-Perier, Jean Paul Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Casimir-Perier, Jean Paul Pierre zhäN pōl pyĕr käzēmērˈ-pĕryāˈ [key], 1847–1907, French president (June, 1894–Jan., 1895). He held several cabinet posts before serving as premier in 1893...

Spitteler, Carl Friedrich Georg

(Encyclopedia)Spitteler, Carl Friedrich Georg kärl frēˈdrĭkh gāˈôrkh shpĭtˈələr [key], 1845–1924, Swiss poet, whose pseudonym was Carl Felix Tandem. He was awarded the 1919 Nobel Prize in Literature. H...

Ferdinand, emperor of Austria

(Encyclopedia)Ferdinand, 1793–1875, emperor of Austria (1835–48), son and successor of Emperor Francis I (who also, as Francis II, had been the last Holy Roman emperor). A well-meaning monarch in his lucid mome...

Eustace, Alan

(Encyclopedia)Eustace, Alan (Robert Alan Eustace), 1956–, American computer scientist and adventurer, b. Pine Hills, Fla., Ph.D. Univ. of Central Florida, 1984. He worked for Digital Equipment Corp., Compaq, Hewl...

Dufay, Guillaume

(Encyclopedia)Dufay, Guillaume gēyōmˈ düfāˈ [key], c.1400–1474, principal composer at the Burgundian court. After his early training in the cathedral choir at Cambrai, he sang in the papal chapel in Rome (1...

Biot, Jean Baptiste

(Encyclopedia)Biot, Jean Baptiste zhäN bätēstˈ byō [key], 1774–1862, French physicist, grad. École Polytechnique (1797). He taught mathematics at Beauvais before becoming (1800) professor of mathematical ph...

Niépce, Joseph Nicéphore

(Encyclopedia)Niépce, Joseph Nicéphore zhôzĕfˈ nēsāfôrˈ nyĕps [key], 1765–1833, French chemist who originated a process of photography (see photography, still). In 1826 he produced the first known photo...

Ross, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Ross, Sir John, 1777–1856, British arctic explorer and rear admiral. In 1818 he went in search of the Northwest Passage but turned back after exploring Baffin Bay. Financed by Sir Felix Booth, he co...