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parachute

(Encyclopedia)parachute, umbrellalike device designed to retard the descent of a falling body by creating drag as it passes through the air. The development of modern aircraft has led to many experiments in the aer...

Longueuil

(Encyclopedia)Longueuil, city (1991 pop. 129,874), S Que., Canada, on the St. Lawrence River opposite Montreal. It is a residential and industrial suburb of Montreal. It annexed Montreal South in 1961, and merged w...

Diaz de la Peña, Narciso Virgilio

(Encyclopedia)Diaz de la Peña, Narciso Virgilio dyäs də lä pānyäˈ [key], 1808–76, French landscape and figure painter of the Barbizon school, b. Bordeaux, of Spanish parents. Mainly self-taught, he was inf...

Basedow, Johann Bernhard

(Encyclopedia)Basedow, Johann Bernhard yōhänˈ bĕrnˈhärt bäˈzədō [key], 1723–90, German educator, b. Hamburg, educated in Hamburg and at the Univ. of Leipzig. Later he taught in Denmark (1753) and German...

Shickshock Mountains

(Encyclopedia)Shickshock Mountains, range of the Appalachian system, E Que., Canada, a continuation of the Notre Dame Mts., extending c.100 mi (160 km) east-west near the north coast of the Gaspé Peninsula. Tablet...

Coppet

(Encyclopedia)Coppet kôpāˈ [key], village, Vaud canton, SW Switzerland, on the Lake of Geneva. It is noted for its château, once the residence of Jacques Necker and his daughter, Mme de Staël. ...

Messmer, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Messmer, Pierre (Pierre Joseph Auguste Messmer) pyĕr mĕsmāˈ [key], 1916–, French political leader. In World War II he fought with the Free French forces before joining General de Gaulle's staff....

enragés

(Encyclopedia)enragés äNräzhāˈ [key], term applied to a small group of Parisian radical extremists in the French Revolution. Rising prices and food shortages provoked them in Feb.–Mar., 1793, to pillage the ...

Henri

(Encyclopedia)Henri, 1955–, grand duke of Luxembourg (2000–), the oldest son of Jean, grand duke of Luxembourg, and Joséphine Charlotte, princess of Belgium. In 1981 Henri married María Teresa Mestre y Batist...

Geneva, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Geneva, Lake, Fr. Lac Léman läk lāmäNˈ [key], crescent-shaped lake, 224 sq mi (580 sq km), c.45 mi (70 km) long, on the Swiss-French border, between the Alps and the Jura mts. About 134 sq. mi. a...