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National Ballet of Canada

(Encyclopedia)National Ballet of Canada, the leading Canadian ballet company. Based in Toronto, it was founded (1951) by Celia Franca (1921–2007) and modeled on Sadler's Wells (now the Royal Ballet). Its repertoi...

La Mettrie, Julien Offray de

(Encyclopedia)La Mettrie, Julien Offray de zhülyăNˈ ôfrāˈ də lä mĕtrēˈ [key], 1709–51, French physician and philosopher. On the basis of personal observation he claimed that psychical activity is purel...

Lavisse, Ernest

(Encyclopedia)Lavisse, Ernest ĕrnĕstˈ lävēsˈ [key], 1842–1922, French historian. He was for many years a professor at the Sorbonne. His early works deal chiefly with the history of Prussia, particularly Fre...

Saint Bernard, two Alpine passes

(Encyclopedia)Saint Bernard, two Alpine passes, both used since antiquity. The Great Saint Bernard (alt. 8,110 ft/2,472 m), on the Italian-Swiss border, links Valais canton, Switzerland, with Valle d'Aosta, Italy. ...

Schleswig, city, Germany

(Encyclopedia)Schleswig, city (1994 pop. 26,857), Schleswig-Holstein, N Germany, on the Schlei, an inlet of the Baltic Sea. The city's economy is based on the production of food products and leather and on fishing....

Shelby, Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Shelby, Isaac, 1750–1826, American frontiersman, b. Washington co. (then part of Frederick co.), Md. Around 1773 he settled in the Holston River country in what is now E Tennessee. In the American R...

Siemens, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Siemens, Sir William, 1823–83, English electrical engineer, b. Germany; brother of Ernst Werner von Siemens. Originally his name was Carl Wilhelm Siemens. After visiting England to introduce an elec...

Conrad the Red

(Encyclopedia)Conrad the Red, d. 955, duke of Lotharingia (Lorraine; 944–53). A Franconian adherent of the German king Otto I (later Holy Roman emperor), he was made duke of Lotharingia and married Otto's daughte...

Cremin, Lawrence Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Cremin, Lawrence Arthur krĕmˈĭn [key], 1925–91, American educator and historian, b. New York City. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia in 1949 and began teaching at Teachers College, Columbia. He...

Christian of Brunswick

(Encyclopedia)Christian of Brunswick or Christian of Halberstadt, 1599–1626, Protestant military leader in the Thirty Years War, titular bishop of Halberstadt (1616–23). One of the first allies of Frederick the...