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Maginot Line

(Encyclopedia)Maginot Line măzhˈĭnō, Fr. mäzhēnōˈ [key], system of fortifications along the eastern frontier of France, extending from the Swiss border to the Belgian. It was named for André Maginot, who w...

Lang Lang

(Encyclopedia)Lang Lang, 1982–, Chinese virtuoso pianist. A child prodigy, he studied at the Central Music Conservatory, Beijing, and the Curtis Institute, Philadelphia. Noted for the romantic, emotive nature of ...

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...

Forssmann, Werner

(Encyclopedia)Forssmann, Werner vĕrˈnər fôrsˈmän [key], 1904–79, German physician and physiologist, M.D. Univ. of Berlin (1929). In the late 1920s, he developed the technique of cardiac catheterization, whe...

Vienne, town, France

(Encyclopedia)Vienne, town (1990 pop. 30,386), Isère dept., SE France, on the Rhône River. It is a farm trade center with textile, metallurgical, and footwear industries. The capital of the Allobroges, Vienne (th...

Taft, Robert Alphonso

(Encyclopedia)Taft, Robert Alphonso, 1889–1953, American politician, b. Cincinnati, Ohio; son of William Howard Taft. He practiced law in Ohio and served (1921–26, 1931–32) in the state legislature. Elected t...

Langland, William

(Encyclopedia)Langland, William, c.1332–c.1400, putative author of Piers Plowman. He was born probably at Ledbury near the Welsh marshes and may have gone to school at Great Malvern Priory. Although he took minor...

Bultmann, Rudolf Karl

(Encyclopedia)Bultmann, Rudolf Karl bo͝oltˈmän [key], 1884–1976, German existentialist theologian, educated at the universities of Tübingen, Berlin, and Marburg. He taught at the universities of Breslau and G...

Bourbaki, Nicolas

(Encyclopedia)Bourbaki, Nicolas, pseudonym under which a group of 20th cent. mathematicians has written a series of treatises on pure mathematics. The mathematicians have all been associated with the Ecole Normale ...

Debray, Jules Régis

(Encyclopedia)Debray, Jules Régis zhül rāzhēsˈ dəbrāˈ [key], 1940–, French journalist and government official. He went to Cuba, taught philosophy at the Univ. of Havana, and, after lengthy conversations w...