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San Quentin

(Encyclopedia)San Quentin săn kwĕnˈtən [key], peninsula extending into San Francisco Bay, W Calif., N of San Francisco. The state prison there was begun in 1852. San Quentin is the western terminus of the Richm...

Laura

(Encyclopedia)Laura, subject of the love poems of Petrarch. She is thought to be Laura de Noves (1308?–1348), wife of Hugo de Sade, but this has not been proved. ...

Ponchielli, Amilcare

(Encyclopedia)Ponchielli, Amilcare ämēlkäˈrā pōngkyĕlˈlē [key], 1834–86, Italian composer of several very successful operas. Only La Gioconda (1876), with libretto by Boito after Hugo's Angelo, is still ...

San Cristóbal, city, Dominican Republic

(Encyclopedia)San Cristóbal sän krēstōˈbäl [key], city (1993 pop. 88,376), S Dominican Republic, on a Caribbean coastal plain. The city was founded in the late 16th cent. The first Dominican constitution was ...

Bonnat, Léon Joseph Florentin

(Encyclopedia)Bonnat, Léon Joseph Florentin lāôNˈ zhôzĕfˈ flôräNtăNˈ bônäˈ [key], 1833–c.1922, French portrait and historical painter. He is best known for his portraits of famous men, including Thi...

Kubelík, Jan

(Encyclopedia)Kubelík, Jan yän ko͞oˈbəlĭk [key], 1880–1940, Czech violinist. Kubelík studied with Otakar Ševčik at the Prague Conservatory. He made his debut in Vienna in 1898 and was thereafter internat...

Mörike, Eduard

(Encyclopedia)Mörike, Eduard āˈdo͞oärt möˈrĭkə [key], 1804–75, German writer and clergyman, a leader of the Swabian school. Over 50 of his rich and varied lyrics, among them “Schlafendes Jesuskind” [...

Leoni, Raúl

(Encyclopedia)Leoni, Raúl räo͞olˈ lāōˈnē [key], 1905–72, president of Venezuela (1964–69). As a student (1921) he was jailed for political activity and during the next 37 years was several times exiled....

Vásquez, Horacio

(Encyclopedia)Vásquez, Horacio ōräˈsyō väˈskās [key], 1860–1936, president of the Dominican Republic (1899–1903, 1903–7, 1924–30). A dominating figure in the nation, even when out of office, Vásque...

Boyd, Louise Arner

(Encyclopedia)Boyd, Louise Arner, 1887–1972, American arctic explorer, b. San Rafael, Calif. She led a series of scientific explorations on the east coast of Greenland. The expedition of 1933, sponsored by the Am...