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Dumas, Jean Baptiste André

(Encyclopedia)Dumas, Jean Baptiste André dümäˈ [key], 1800–1884, French organic chemist. He was distinguished for his researches on atomic weights, esters, vapor densities, the oxidation products of alcohols...

Foix, Gaston de

(Encyclopedia)Foix, Gaston de gästôNˈ də fwä [key], 1489–1512, duc de Nemours, French general in the Italian Wars; nephew of King Louis XII. As commander of the French army in Italy in 1512, he proved his ou...

Houdon, Jean-Antoine

(Encyclopedia)Houdon, Jean-Antoine zhäN-äNtwänˈ o͞odôNˈ [key], 1741–1828, French neoclassical sculptor. He studied with Michel Ange Slodtz, Lemoyne, and Pigalle, took the Prix de Rome at the age of 20, and...

Rameau, Jean Philippe

(Encyclopedia)Rameau, Jean Philippe zhäN fēlēpˈ rämōˈ [key], 1683–1764, French composer and theorist. He was organist at the cathedral in Clermont and at Notre Dame de Dijon. In the early part of his caree...

Tallien, Jean Lambert

(Encyclopedia)Tallien, Jean Lambert zhäN läNbĕrˈ tälyăNˈ [key], 1767–1820, French revolutionary. A law clerk and later a printer, he became known through his Jacobin journal, Ami des citoyens. A leader in ...

Chabot, Philippe de

(Encyclopedia)Chabot, Philippe de brēôNˈ [key], 1480–1543, count of Charny and of Buzançois, admiral of France. After a successful campaign (1536) in Savoy and Piedmont, he was, through the intrigues of Anne,...

Orléans, Charles, duc d'

(Encyclopedia)Orléans, Charles, duc d' shärl dük dôrlāäNˈ [key], 1391–1465, French prince and poet; nephew of King Charles VI. After the assassination of his father, Louis d'Orléans, he became (1407) titu...

Racine, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Racine, Jean zhäN räsēnˈ [key], 1639–99, French dramatist. Racine is the prime exemplar of French classicism. The nobility of his Alexandrine verse, the simplicity of his diction, the psychologi...

Jean, Michaëlle

(Encyclopedia)Jean, Michaëlle, 1957–, Canadian journalist, filmmaker, and women's rights activist, b. Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Her family immigrated to Canada in 1968. After studying languages and literature at th...

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