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Lassalle, Ferdinand

(Encyclopedia)Lassalle, Ferdinand fĕrˈdēnänt läsälˈ [key], 1825–64, German socialist. The son of a Jewish merchant, he studied at the universities of Breslau and Berlin, where he became a philosophical Heg...

Spoleto

(Encyclopedia)Spoleto spōlĕˈtō [key], city (1991 pop. 37,763), Umbria, central Italy. It is a light industrial and tourist center. An Umbrian and later an Etruscan town, the city flourished after being taken (2...

Davis, Viola

(Encyclopedia) Davis, Viola, 1965-, African-American actress and producer, b. St. Matthews, S.C., Rhode Island College (B.A., 1988), Juilliard (1993, acting; honorary...

Lagerfeld, Karl

(Encyclopedia)Lagerfeld, Karl, 1938–2019, German fashion designer, b. Hamburg as Karl Otto Lagerfeldt, immigrated with his family to Paris in 1952. He won a fashion award at 16, designed for couturiers Pierre Bal...

Babenberg

(Encyclopedia)Babenberg bäˈbənbĕrk [key], ruling house of Austria (976–1246). It possibly descended from, or succeeded, a powerful Franconian family of the 9th cent. from whose castle the city of Bamberg prob...

Vischer, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Vischer, Peter fĭshˈər [key], the elder, c.1455–1529, German sculptor, foremost of the bronze founders in Germany. Beginning as the assistant of his father, Hermann Vischer, Peter set up his own...

India-Pakistan Wars

(Encyclopedia)India-Pakistan Wars, name given to the series of conflicts between India and Pakistan since 1947, when the Indian subcontinent was partitioned and the two countries became independent of Great Britain...

Los Angeles Philharmonic

(Encyclopedia)Los Angeles Philharmonic, founded in 1919 by William Andrews Clark, Jr. After his death the Southern California Symphony Association was formed in 1934 to sponsor the orchestra. It was housed in Philh...

Meitner, Lise

(Encyclopedia)Meitner, Lise lēˈzə mītˈnər [key], 1878–1968, Austrian-Swedish physicist and mathematician. She was professor at the Univ. of Berlin (1926–33). A refugee from Germany after 1938, she became ...

Brücke, Die

(Encyclopedia)Brücke, Die [Ger.,=the bridge], German expressionist art movement, lasting from 1905 to 1913. Influenced by the art of Jugendstil (the German equivalent of art nouveau), Van Gogh, and the primitive s...