Indian emperorBorn: c. 321 B.C. Chandragupta was the founder of the Maurya dynasty, which ruled ancient India for about 140 years. His troops conquered one northern Indian kingdom after another and…
(Encyclopedia) LaFontaine, Sir Louis HippolyteLaFontaine, Sir Louis Hippolyteləwēˈ ēpôlētˈ läfôNtĕnˈ [key], 1807–64, Canadian political leader, b. Lower Canada (now Quebec). A lawyer, he entered (…
(Encyclopedia) Gandhi, IndiraGandhi, Indiraĭndēˈrə gänˈdē [key], 1917–84, Indian political leader; daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru. She served as an aide to her father, who was prime minister (1947–64…
(Encyclopedia) Amherst, Jeffery Amherst, BaronAmherst, Jeffery Amherst, Baronămˈərst [key], 1717–97, British army officer. He served in the War of the Austrian Succession and in the early part of the…
(Encyclopedia) Irish literary renaissance, late 19th- and early 20th-century movement that aimed at reviving ancient Irish folklore, legends, and traditions in new literary works. The movement, also…
(Encyclopedia) Jacob, FrançoisJacob, FrançoisfräNswäˈ zhäkôbˈ [key], 1920–2013, French biologist and geneticist, educated at the Sorbonne. His medical studies were interrupted by World War II. He…
(Encyclopedia) Kafka, FranzKafka, Franzfränts käfˈkä [key], 1883–1924, German-language novelist, b. Prague. Along with Joyce, Kafka is perhaps the most influential of 20th-century writers. From a…
(Encyclopedia) Simon, Claude Eugène Henri, 1913–2005, French novelist. He was born in Antananarivo, Madagascar, and studied at Paris, Oxford, and Cambridge. He fought in World War II both as a…