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Vionnet, Madeleine

(Encyclopedia)Vionnet, Madeleine, 1876–1975, French fashion designer. She worked for Parisian and London dressmakers and designed for the Callot Soeurs and Jacques Doucet houses before opening her own studio in 1...

Blondel, François

(Encyclopedia)Blondel, François fräNswäˈ blôNdĕlˈ [key], 1617–86, French architect. In 1672 he became director of the Academy of Architecture. Blondel's writings, which exerted great influence, include Cou...

Frank, Joachim

(Encyclopedia)Frank, Joachim, 1940–, German-American physicist and biochemist, b. Siegen, Germany, Ph.D., Technical Univ. of Munich 1970. He became a U.S. citizen in 1997. Following several postdoctoral appointme...

diminishing returns, law of

(Encyclopedia)diminishing returns, law of, in economics, law stating that if one factor of production is increased while the others remain constant, the overall returns will relatively decrease after a certain poin...

Edgerton, Harold

(Encyclopedia)Edgerton, Harold, 1903–90, American inventor and educator, b. Fremont, Nebr. He was educated at the Univ. of Nebraska and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (D.Sc., 1931), and taught at the l...

Rodríguez, Martín

(Encyclopedia)Rodríguez, Martín rôᵺrēˈgās [key], 1771–1844, Argentine general, governor of Buenos Aires prov. (1820–24). With Juan Martín de Pueyrredón, he organized a force to expel the British invad...

Balladur, Édouard

(Encyclopedia)Balladur, Édouard ādwärˈ bälädürˈ [key], 1929–, French political leader, b. Turkey. He moved to France as a child and grew up in Marseille. A Gaullist and member of the Rally for the Republi...

Carpentier, Alejo

(Encyclopedia)Carpentier, Alejo älāˈhō kärpĕntyārˈ [key], 1904–80, Cuban novelist and musicologist. As a political exile in Paris between 1928 and 1939, Carpentier was strongly influenced by Antonin Artau...

European Commission

(Encyclopedia)European Commission (EC), institution of the European Union (EU) invested with executive powers; it also is the main EU institution that initiates legislation. Located in Brussels, Belgium, it was fou...

natural law

(Encyclopedia)natural law, theory that some laws are basic and fundamental to human nature and are discoverable by human reason without reference to specific legislative enactments or judicial decisions. Natural la...