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Necker, Suzanne (Curchod)

(Encyclopedia)Necker, Suzanne (Curchod) nĕkĕrˈ [key], 1739–94, French writer; wife of Jacques Necker and mother of Mme de Staël. Her salon was frequented by celebrated Frenchmen and foreign visitors. A hospi...

Meigs, Return Jonathan

(Encyclopedia)Meigs, Return Jonathan mĕgz [key], 1740–1823, American Revolutionary army officer, b. Middletown, Conn. He accompanied Benedict Arnold on the Quebec expedition, where he was taken prisoner and late...

Kotzebue, August von

(Encyclopedia)Kotzebue, August von ouˈgo͝ost fən kôtˈsəbo͞o [key], 1761–1819, German dramatist and politician. He wrote some 200 plays, including Menschenhass und Reue (1789, tr. The Stranger, 1798), Die S...

Jervis, John, earl of St. Vincent

(Encyclopedia)Jervis, John, earl of St. Vincent järˈvĭs, jûrˈ– [key], 1735–1823, British admiral. His most famous action as commander of the Mediterranean fleet was his defeat in 1797 of 27 Spanish ships o...

Wythe, George

(Encyclopedia)Wythe, George wĭth [key], 1726–1806, American lawyer, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Elizabeth City co., Va. Admitted to the bar in 1746, Wythe was a member (1754–55, 1758–68) an...

Pinckney, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Pinckney, Charles, 1757–1824, American statesman, governor of South Carolina (1789–92, 1796–98, 1806–8), b. Charleston, S.C.; cousin of Charles C. Pinckney and Thomas Pinckney. He fought in th...

Fechner, Gustav Theodor

(Encyclopedia)Fechner, Gustav Theodor go͝osˈtäf tāˈōdōr fĕkhˈnər [key], 1801–87, German philosopher and physicist, founder of psychophysics, educated at Dresden and Leipzig. He became professor of physi...

Gaines, Edmund Pendleton

(Encyclopedia)Gaines, Edmund Pendleton, 1777–1849, U.S. army officer, b. Culpeper co., Va.; brother of George Strother Gaines. He spent his boyhood in Tennessee and at the age of 22 joined the U.S. army. He surve...

Bode, Johann Elert

(Encyclopedia)Bode, Johann Elert yōˈhän āˈlĕrt bōˈdə [key], 1747–1826, German astronomer. From 1772 to 1825 he was astronomer of the Academy of Science, Berlin, and from 1786, director of the Berlin Obse...

Bayard, James Asheton, 1767–1815, U.S. Representative and Senator from Delaware

(Encyclopedia)Bayard, James Asheton bīˈərd [key], 1767–1815, U.S. representative (1797–1803) and senator (1805–13) from Delaware, b. Philadelphia. Admitted to the bar in 1787, he began practice at Wilmingt...