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Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von

(Encyclopedia)Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von y´hän vôlf´gäng fn gö´t [key], 1749–1832, German poet, dramatist, novelist, and scientist, b. Frankfurt. One of the great masters of world literature, his ge...

Döbereiner, Johann Wolfgang

(Encyclopedia)Döbereiner, Johann Wolfgang y´hän vôlf´gäng dö´brnr [key], 1780–1849, German chemist. From 1810 he was professor of the Univ. of Jena. He is known especially for his discovery of sim...

Jordan, Camille

(Encyclopedia)Jordan, Camille käm´y zhôrdäN´ [key], 1771–1821, French writer and political figure. A moderate supporter of the French Revolution, he fled France during the Reign of Terror and again after...

Herder, Johann Gottfried von

(Encyclopedia)Herder, Johann Gottfried von y´hän gôt´frt fn hr´dr [key], 1744–1803, German philosopher, critic, and clergyman, b. East Prussia. Herder was an enormously influential literary critic ...

Eckermann, Johann Peter

(Encyclopedia)Eckermann, Johann Peter yhän´ p´tr k´rmän [key], 1792–1854, German scholar and author. He assisted Goethe in various literary labors, was professor of English and German at the Univ. ...

Sickingen, Franz von

(Encyclopedia)Sickingen, Franz von fränts fn z´kngn [key], 1481–1523, German knight. Placed under the ban of the Holy Roman Empire because of his profitable forays along the Rhine, he served King Franci...

Selten, Reinhard

(Encyclopedia)Selten, Reinhard (Reinhard Justus Reginald Selten), 1930–2016, German mathematician and economist, b. Breslau, Germany (now Wrocaw, Poland), Ph.D. Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-Univ., Frankfurt, 1961. He...

Merck, Johann Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Merck, Johann Heinrich y´hän hn´rkh mrk [key], 1741–91, German critic. He was the counselor of many young writers, including Goethe, whose genius he was first to recognize. ...

Lamont, Johann von

(Encyclopedia)Lamont, Johann von y´hän fn lä´mônt [key], 1805–79, Scottish-German astronomer and magnetician, b. Scotland. In 1817 he went to Ratisbon to study at the seminary. He remained in Germany to ...

Günther, Johann Christian

(Encyclopedia)Günther, Johann Christian y´hän krs´tyän gün´tr [key], 1695–1723, German lyric poet. The young Goethe was inspired by the naturalness and vigor of Günther's verse. Amonghis remembered...