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World Economic Forum

(Encyclopedia)World Economic Forum (WEF), independent international organization that seeks to improve the state of the world by encouraging partnerships between the public and private sectors, est. 1971 by the Ger...

Bloch, Felix

(Encyclopedia)Bloch, Felix, 1905–83, American physicist, b. Zürich, Switzerland, Ph.D. Univ. of Leipzig, Germany, 1928. He was a professor at Stanford from 1934 until his retirement in 1971. Bloch and Edward Pur...

Suvorov, Aleksandr Vasilyevich

(Encyclopedia)Suvorov, Aleksandr Vasilyevich əlyĭksänˈ dər vəsēˈlyəvĭch so͞ovôˈrəf [key], 1729–1800, Russian field marshal. Suvorov entered the army as a youth and rose rapidly through the ranks. He...

Swiss literature

(Encyclopedia)Swiss literature. The literature of Switzerland is written in German, French, Italian, and Romansh, with German predominating. The extensive literature in Romansh dialect (see Rhaeto-Romanic) is littl...

Ochino, Bernardino

(Encyclopedia)Ochino, Bernardino bārnärdēˈnō ōkēˈnō [key], 1487–1564, Italian religious reformer. Ochino was a Capuchin friar, a popular preacher, and vicar general of the Capuchins in 1538 and 1541. Inf...

Arnaud, Henri

(Encyclopedia)Arnaud, Henri äNrēˈ ärnōˈ [key], 1641–1721, pastor and leader of the Waldenses. When Victor Amadeus II, duke of Savoy, in league with the French, set out to expel the Waldenses, Arnaud led (16...

Müller, Paul Hermann

(Encyclopedia)Müller, Paul Hermann mŭlˈər [key], 1899–1965, Swiss chemist, Ph.D. Univ. of Basel, 1925. He worked as a research scientist with J. R. Geigy A.G. in Basel, Switzerland. Muller won the 1948 Nobel...

Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth

(Encyclopedia)Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth ko͞oˈblər-rôsˈ [key], 1926–2004, American psychiatrist, b. Switzerland. After studying medicine at the Univ. of Zürich (M.D. 1957), Kübler-Ross became a pioneer in the...

Marignano, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Marignano, battle of märēnyäˈnō [key], 1515, in the Italian Wars, fought by Francis I of France and his Venetian allies against the Swiss Confederates, who then controlled the duchy of Milan. It ...

River Brethren

(Encyclopedia)River Brethren, name used to designate certain Christian bodies originating in 1770, during a revival movement among German settlers in E Pennsylvania. In the 1750s, Mennonite refugees from Switzerlan...