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Bombelli, Rafael

(Encyclopedia)Bombelli, Rafael, 1526–1572, Italian mathematician and engineer, b. Bologna. When a marsh reclamation project (c.1550–1560) in the Tuscan Appenines on which he was an engineer was suspended, he pe...

Scarlatti, Alessandro

(Encyclopedia)Scarlatti, Alessandro älĕs-sänˈdrō skärlätˈtē [key], 1660–1725, Italian composer. He may have studied with Carissimi in Rome, where his first opera was produced in 1679. In 1684 he went to ...

Sforza

(Encyclopedia)Sforza sfôrˈtsä [key], Italian family that ruled the duchy of Milan from 1450 to 1535. Rising from peasant origins, the Sforzas became condottieri and used this military position to become rulers i...

Matamoros, Mariano

(Encyclopedia)Matamoros, Mariano märyäˈnō mätämōˈrōs [key], d. 1814, Mexican revolutionist in the war against Spain. He was, like Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla and José María Morelos y Pavón, a priest with ...

Marschner, Heinrich August

(Encyclopedia)Marschner, Heinrich August hīnˈrĭkh ouˈgo͝ost märshˈnər [key], 1795–1861, German opera composer. Marschner's first opera, Heinrich IV und d'Aubigné, was produced by Carl Maria von Weber in ...

Hebbel, Christian Friedrich

(Encyclopedia)Hebbel, Christian Friedrich krĭsˈtyän frēˈdrĭkh hĕbˈəl [key], 1813–63, German tragic dramatist. Born poor, he was largely self-educated. Hegel's historical theories influenced his work, whi...

James, Thomas, English navigator and explorer

(Encyclopedia)James, Thomas, 1593?–1635?, English navigator and explorer (1631) of James Bay. Financed by Bristol merchants, he sailed in command of the Henrietta Maria in the spring of 1631 to find the Northwest...

Rojas Pinilla, Gustavo

(Encyclopedia)Rojas Pinilla, Gustavo go͞ostäˈvō rōˈhäs pēnēˈyä [key], 1900–1975, president of Colombia (1953–57). As head of the armed forces he led the coup that ousted President Laureano Gómez in ...

Romero, Saint Óscar

(Encyclopedia)Romero, Saint Óscar (Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez), 1917–80, Salvadoran bishop and human rights advocate. He studied at the Gregorian Univ. in Rome and was ordained in 1942. Returning to El Sa...

Prada, Miuccia

(Encyclopedia)Prada, Miuccia, 1949–, Italian fashion designer, b. Milan as Maria Bianchi. She studied political science (Ph.D. Univ. of Milan, 1973) and then studied and performed mime at Milan's Teatro Piccolo. ...