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Wyss, Johann David

(Encyclopedia)Wyss, Johann David yōˈhän däˈvĭt vēs [key], 1743–1818, Swiss author. His Swiss Family Robinson (1813, tr. 1814), an internationally popular classic for children, relates the adventures of a s...

Schnabel, Johann Gottfried

(Encyclopedia)Schnabel, Johann Gottfried shnäˈbəl [key], b. 1692, d. after 1742, German author, whose pseudonym was Gisander. He fought in the War of the Spanish Succession. Schnabel's popular novel Die Insel F...

Bach, Johann Christian

(Encyclopedia)Bach, Johann Christian bäkh [key], 1735–82, German musician and composer; son of J. S. Bach. He went to Italy in 1754, became a Roman Catholic, and composed church music and operas. In 1760 he bec...

Merck, Johann Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Merck, Johann Heinrich yōˈhän hīnˈrĭkh mĕrk [key], 1741–91, German critic. He was the counselor of many young writers, including Goethe, whose genius he was first to recognize. ...

Blumenbach, Johann Friedrich

(Encyclopedia)Blumenbach, Johann Friedrich yōhänˈ frēˈdrĭkh blo͞oˈmənbäkh [key], 1752–1840, German naturalist and anthropologist. He introduced and developed the science of comparative anatomy in German...

Tetzel, Johann

(Encyclopedia)Tetzel, Johann yōˈhän tĕtˈsəl [key], c.1465–1519, German preacher, b. Pirna, Germany. He joined the Dominicans. He became a well-known preacher and was made inquisitor general of Poland at the...

Lavater, Johann Kaspar

(Encyclopedia)Lavater, Johann Kaspar yōˈhän käsˈpär läˈvätər, läväˈtər [key], 1741–1801, Swiss theologian and mystic. He wrote several books on metaphysics, but he is chiefly remembered for his work...

Graevius, Johann Georg

(Encyclopedia)Graevius, Johann Georg yōˈhän gāˈôrk grāˈvēo͝os [key], 1632–1703, German antiquary. His German name was Gräve or Greffe. He was historiographer to William III of England and is remembered...

Roos, Johann Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Roos, Johann Heinrich yōˈhän hīnˈrĭkh rōs [key], 1631–85, German painter and etcher. He specialized in depicting animals and landscapes and was court painter to Elector Palatine Charles Louis...

Dillenius, Johann Jakob

(Encyclopedia)Dillenius, Johann Jakob dĭlāˈnēəs [key], 1687–1747, English botanist, of German birth. He published catalogs of the plants of Eltham, Kent, and of Geissen, Germany, and a work on mosses that pl...