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Bauhin, Gaspard

(Encyclopedia)Bauhin, Gaspard gäspärˈ bōăNˈ [key], 1560–1624, Swiss botanist and doctor of medicine, of French descent. His early classification of plants by genus and species in his chief work, the Pinax t...

acquired characteristics

(Encyclopedia)acquired characteristics, modifications produced in an individual plant or animal as a result of mutilation, disease, use and disuse, or any distinctly environmental influence. Some examples are docki...

Bettel, Xavier

(Encyclopedia)Bettel, Xavier, 1973–, Luxembourg political leader. A lawyer, he entered politics in 1999 as a member of both Luxembourg City's communal council and the Chamber of Deputies. In 2011 he was elected m...

Royal Opera

(Encyclopedia)Royal Opera, one of the principal British opera companies, based at the Royal Opera House (which it shares with the Royal Ballet) in Covent Garden, London. Formed in 1946 as the Covent Garden Opera Co...

Saxe-Meiningen

(Encyclopedia)Saxe-Meiningen săks-mīnˈĭng-ən [key], Ger. Sachsen-Meiningen, former duchy, Thuringia, central Germany. The capital was Meiningen. A possession of the Ernestine branch of the house of Wettin, it ...

Bentley, Eric

(Encyclopedia)Bentley, Eric (Eric Russell Bentley), 1916–2020, American critic, editor, and translator, b. Bolton, England, grad. Oxford, 1938, Ph.D. Yale, 1941. He became a U.S. citizen in 1948. A highly regarde...

Wilson, Colin

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Colin, 1931–2013, English writer, b. Leicester. Born into a working-class family and largely self-educated, Wilson in many of his books exhorts humankind to expand its powers and realize its...

David, Jacques-Louis

(Encyclopedia)David, Jacques-Louis zhäk-lwēˈ dävēdˈ [key], 1748–1825, French painter. David was the virtual art dictator of France for a generation. Extending beyond painting, his influence determined the c...

Santer, Jacques

(Encyclopedia)Santer, Jacques (Jean Jacques Santer) zhäN zhäk säNtĕrˈ [key], 1937–, Luxembourg political leader and European statesman. A lawyer and economist, he entered politics as a member of the Christia...

Daniel, Antoine

(Encyclopedia)Daniel, Antoine (Saint Antony Daniel) äNtwänˈ dänyĕlˈ [key], 1600–1648, French missionary in the New World, a Jesuit priest. He came in 1632 to Canada and in 1634 went with Father Jean Brébeu...