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Ross Sea

(Encyclopedia)Ross Sea, arm of the Pacific Ocean, Antarctica, between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land. It was discovered in 1841 by Sir James Clark Ross, a British explorer. Ross Island with Mt. Erebus, an active...

Chrétien de Troyes

(Encyclopedia)Chrétien de Troyes or Chrestien de Troyes both: krātyăNˈ də trwä [key], fl. 1170, French poet, author of the first great literary treatments of the Arthurian legend. His narrative romances, comp...

Medici, Francesco de'

(Encyclopedia)Medici, Francesco de' dā mĕˈdĭchē, Ital. māˈdēchē [key], 1541–87, grand duke of Tuscany (1574–87); son and successor of Cosimo I de' Medici. In his reign the decline of the Medici family...

Louis XVII, titular king of France

(Encyclopedia)Louis XVII (Louis Charles), 1785–1795?, titular king of France (1793–95), known in popular legend as the “lost dauphin.” The second son of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, he became ...

Tallchief, Maria

(Encyclopedia)Tallchief, Maria, 1925–2013, American ballerina, b. Fairfax, Okla., as Elizabeth Marie Tall Chief. Tallchief, of Osage descent, was trained both as a pianist and a dancer. Deciding on a career in ba...

Billaud-Varenne, Jean Nicolas

(Encyclopedia)Billaud-Varenne, Jean Nicolas zhäk nēkōläˈ bēyōˈ-värĕnˈ [key], 1756–1819, French revolutionary. A violent antimonarchist in the Convention, the revolutionary national assembly, he and Jea...

Louis XVI, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Louis XVI, 1754–93, king of France (1774–92), third son of the dauphin (Louis) and Marie Josèphe of Saxony, grandson and successor of King Louis XV. In 1770 he married the Austrian archduchess Ma...

radium

(Encyclopedia)radium rāˈdēəm [key] [Lat. radius=ray], radioactive metallic chemical element; symbol Ra; at. no. 88; mass number of most stable isotope 226; m.p. 700℃; b.p. 1,140℃; sp. gr. about 6.0; valence...

Choiseul, Étienne François, duc de

(Encyclopedia)Choiseul, Étienne François, duc de dük də shwäzölˈ [key], 1719–85, French statesman. After successful service in the army he entered the diplomatic service and gained support from Mme de Pom...

Joliot-Curie

(Encyclopedia)Joliot-Curie ērĕnˈ [key], 1897–1956, daughter of Pierre and Marie Curie, were married in 1926. Both were assistants at the Radium Institute in Paris, of which Irène, succeeding her mother, was d...