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Curie

(Encyclopedia)Curie kürēˈ [key], family of French scientists. Pierre Curie, 1859–1906, scientist, and his wife, Marie Sklodowska Curie, 1867–1934, chemist and physicist, b. Warsaw, are known for their work o...

Charles VII, king of France

(Encyclopedia)Charles VII (Charles the Well Served), 1403–61, king of France (1422–61), son and successor of Charles VI. His reign saw the end of the Hundred Years War. Although excluded from the throne by the ...

Jacobins

(Encyclopedia)Jacobins jăkˈəbĭnz [key], political club of the French Revolution. Formed in 1789 by the Breton deputies to the States-General, it was reconstituted as the Society of Friends of the Constitution a...

oceanography

(Encyclopedia)oceanography, study of the seas and oceans. The major divisions of oceanography include the geological study of the ocean floor (see plate tectonics) and features; physical oceanography, which is conc...

French art

(Encyclopedia)French art, the artistic production of the region that constitutes the historic nation of France. See also French architecture. The innovations of postimpressionism, combined with the influence of C...

Ai Weiwei

(Encyclopedia)Ai Weiwei īˈ wāwā [key], 1957–, Chinese artist, architect, filmmaker, and political activist. He is the son of poet Ai Ch'ing, who was internally exiled (1958–76) to work camps with his family...

Heidegger, Martin

(Encyclopedia)Heidegger, Martin märˈtēn hīˈdĕger [key], 1889–1976, German philosopher. As a student at Freiburg, Heidegger was influenced by the neo-Kantianism of Heinrich Rickert and the phenomenology of E...

Geneva, canton and city, Switzerland

(Encyclopedia)Geneva jənēˈvə [key], Fr. Genève, canton, 109 sq mi (282 sq km), SW Switzerland, surroun...

Mackinac

(Encyclopedia)Mackinac măkˈĭnôˌ [key], historic region of the Old Northwest (see Northwest Territory), a shortening of Michilimackinac. The name, in the past, was variously applied to different areas: to Macki...

Swiss literature

(Encyclopedia)Swiss literature. The literature of Switzerland is written in German, French, Italian, and Romansh, with German predominating. The extensive literature in Romansh dialect (see Rhaeto-Romanic) is littl...