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Houston Symphony

(Encyclopedia)Houston Symphony. Founded in 1913 with 33 players, the orchestra reorganized in 1930 and presented its first full season of concerts in 1931. Among its important conductors have been Ernst Hoffmann (1...

Hoppner, John

(Encyclopedia)Hoppner, John, 1758–1810, English portrait painter. He was a protégé of George III, whose illegitimate son he was rumored to be. He imitated, without total success, the style of Sir Joshua Reynold...

Laughlin, Robert Betts

(Encyclopedia)Laughlin, Robert Betts, 1950–, American physicist, b. Visalia, Calif., Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1979. Laughlin was a researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 198...

Lowell, Percival

(Encyclopedia)Lowell, Percival, 1855–1916, American astronomer, b. Boston, grad. Harvard, 1876; brother of Abbott Lawrence Lowell and Amy Lowell. He visited Korea and Japan, where he acted as counselor and foreig...

Viñoly, Rafael

(Encyclopedia)Viñoly, Rafael, 1944–, Uruguayan-American architect, b. Montevideo. Even before receiving his architectural degrees (1968, 1969) from the Univ. of Buenos Aires, he and six associates founded Argent...

Stephen Harding, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Stephen Harding, Saint, c.1060–1134, English monastic reformer. He entered the abbey at Sherborne in his youth; later (c.1077) he went to the Molesme abbey (near Châtillon-sur-Seine) in Burgundy. I...

Johnson, Jack

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, Jack (John Arthur Johnson), 1878–1946, American boxer, b. Galveston, Tex., the son of two ex-slaves. Emerging from the battle royals (dehumanizing fights between blacks for the amusement of...

Mourou, Gérard Albert

(Encyclopedia)Mourou, Gérard Albert, 1944–, French physicist, Ph.D. Pierre and Marie Curie Univ. (now part of Sorbonne Univ.), 1973. Mourou was a professor at the Univ. of Rochester, New York, from 1977 to 1988,...

Mansfield, William Murray, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Mansfield, William Murray, 1st earl of, 1705–93, English jurist. As solicitor general (1742–54) he prosecuted the Scottish rebel lords, Balmerino (Arthur Elphinstone), Kilmarnock, and Lovat. In 17...

Lee, William

(Encyclopedia)Lee, William, 1739–95, American Revolutionary diplomat, b. Westmoreland co., Va.; brother of Arthur Lee, Francis L. Lee, and Richard H. Lee. He opened a business house in London in 1768 and later wa...