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Reclus, Jean Jacques Élisée

(Encyclopedia)Reclus, Jean Jacques Élisée zhäN zhäk ālēzāˈ rəklüˈ [key], 1830–1905, French geographer, b. Gironde, educated mainly in Germany, where he studied under Karl Ritter. Several times he was f...

Nau, Jacques Jean David

(Encyclopedia)Nau, Jacques Jean David zhäk zhäN dävēdˈ nō [key], c.1630–1671, French pirate in the West Indies. He is also called François L'Olonnois. He went to the West Indies in 1650. Expelled in 1653 f...

Bemba Gombo, Jean-Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Bemba Gombo, Jean-Pierre, 1962–, Congolese politician. Born to wealthy parents, he was educated in Brussels and built a business empire in what was then Zaïre. In the early 1990s he was personal as...

Yersin, Alexandre Émile Jean

(Encyclopedia)Yersin, Alexandre Émile Jean älĕksäNˈdrə āmēlˈ zhän yĕrsăNˈ [key], 1863–1943, French bacteriologist, of Swiss descent. He studied with Pasteur and worked on diphtheria antitoxin with P....

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...

Bunau-Varilla, Philippe Jean

(Encyclopedia)Bunau-Varilla, Philippe Jean fēlēpˈ zhäN bünōˈ-värēyäˈ [key], 1859–1940, French engineer, prominent in the Panama Canal controversy. An engineer after 1884 in the original French company ...

Petit, Roland

(Encyclopedia)Petit, Roland rōläNˈ pətēˈ [key], 1924–2011, French dancer and choreographer, b. Villemomble. Petit joined the Paris Opéra company at 15 and in 1948 founded Les Ballets de Paris de Roland Pe...

Gobelins, Manufacture nationale des

(Encyclopedia)Gobelins, Manufacture nationale des mänüfäktürˈ näsēônälˈ dā gôblăNˈ [key], state-controlled tapestry manufactory in Paris. It was founded as a dye works in the mid-15th cent. by Jean Go...

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