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Lacaille, Nicolas Louis de

(Encyclopedia)Lacaille, Nicolas Louis de nēkôläˈ lwē də läkäˈyə [key], 1713–62, French astronomer. As a result of his success in making meridional measurements in France under the patronage of the duke ...

Maupeou, René Nicolas de

(Encyclopedia)Maupeou, René Nicolas de rənāˈ nēkôläˈ də mōpo͞oˈ [key], 1714–92, chancellor of France (1768–74). He was president of the parlement of Paris before he succeeded his father as chancello...

Chamfort, Sébastien Roch Nicolas

(Encyclopedia)Chamfort, Sébastien Roch Nicolas sābästyăNˈ rōk nēkōläˈ shäNfôrˈ [key], 1740–94, French writer. He is remembered only for his maxims and epigrams. His acute observations on literature, ...

Carnot, Lazare Nicolas Marguerite

(Encyclopedia)Carnot, Lazare Nicolas Marguerite kärnōˈ [key], 1753–1823, French revolutionary, known as the organizer of victory for his role in the French Revolutionary Wars. A military engineer by training,...

Carnot, Nicolas Léonard Sadi

(Encyclopedia)Carnot, Nicolas Léonard Sadi kärnōˈ [key], 1796–1832, French physicist, a founder of modern thermodynamics; son of Lazare N. M. Carnot. His famous work on the motive power of heat (Réflexions ...

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...

Forbin, Claude, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Forbin, Claude, comte de klōd kôNt də fôrbăNˈ [key], 1656–1733, French naval commander. He fought in the Antilles (1680) and in Abraham Duquesne's Algerian campaign (1682–83) and from 1685 t...

Cohen-Tannoudji, Claude Nessim

(Encyclopedia)Cohen-Tannoudji, Claude Nessim, 1933–, French physicist, b. Algeria, Ph.D. École Normale Supérieure, Paris, 1962. He has continued his research at the École Normale Supérieure, and was a profess...

Van Tyne, Claude Halstead

(Encyclopedia)Van Tyne, Claude Halstead, 1869–1930, American historian, b. Tecumseh, Mich. An assistant professor at the Univ. of Michigan (1903–6) and a professor there from 1906 to his death, he became head o...

Vaugelas, Claude Favre de

(Encyclopedia)Vaugelas, Claude Favre de klōd fäˈvrə də vōzhəläˈ [key], 1585–1650, French grammarian. He set up, in his Remarques sur la langue française (1647), the usage of cultured people as the stand...

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