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Ammann, Othmar Hermann

(Encyclopedia)Ammann, Othmar Hermann ôtˈmär, ŏˈmŏn [key], 1879–1965, American civil engineer, b. Switzerland, grad. Federal Polytechnic Institute, Zürich, 1902. He came to the United States in 1904 and was...

Gatschet, Albert Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Gatschet, Albert Samuel găˈchĭt [key], 1832–1907, American ethnologist, b. Switzerland. He was trained as a linguist in the universities of Bern and Berlin, and after his arrival in the United St...

Hotman, François

(Encyclopedia)Hotman, François fräNswäˈ ôtmäN [key], 1524–90, French jurist. Converted (1547) to Protestantism and implicated (1560) in the conspiracy of Amboise (see Amboise, conspiracy of), he spent large...

Ekkehard

(Encyclopedia)Ekkehard ĕkˈəhärt [key], name of several medieval German authors, monks of the monastery of St. Gall, which is in present-day Switzerland. Ekkehard I wrote the famous Latin epic Waltharius (c.930)...

Elizabeth, empress of Austria and queen of Hungary

(Encyclopedia)Elizabeth, 1837–98, empress of Austria and queen of Hungary. A Bavarian princess, she was married (1854) to her cousin, Emperor Francis Joseph. Despite her exceptional beauty, intelligence, and kind...

Jones, Brian

(Encyclopedia)Jones, Brian, 1947–, British balloonist, b. Bristol. A former Royal Air Force pilot, he entered the world of ballooning in the 1980s, and in 1997 became an organizer for the attempt of the British-b...

Sternheim, Carl

(Encyclopedia)Sternheim, Carl kärl shtĕrnˈhīm [key], 1878–1943, German dramatist. In his successful comedy Die Hose (1911, tr. A Pair of Drawers, 1927) and in his later works he satirized as corrupt the manne...

Baudouin

(Encyclopedia)Baudouin bōdo͞oăNˈ [key], 1930–93, king of the Belgians (1951–93), son of Leopold III. He joined his father in exile (1945–50) in Switzerland. After their return to Belgium his father's unpo...

Simplon

(Encyclopedia)Simplon sĭmˈplŏn [key], pass, 6,590 ft (2,009 m) high, in the Lepontine Alps, Valais canton, S Switzerland. It is crossed by the Simplon Road built (1800–1806) by Napoleon I. The Simplon Railway ...

W and Z particles

(Encyclopedia)W and Z particles, elementary particles that mediate, or carry, the fundamental force associated with weak interactions. The discovery of the W and Z particles at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland, in the...