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Don Juan

(Encyclopedia)Don Juan dŏn wän, jo͞oˈən, Span. dōn hwän [key], legendary profligate. He has a counterpart in the legends of many peoples, but the Spanish version of the great libertine has become the most un...

mansard roof

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Mansard roof mansard roof mănˈsärd [key], type of roof, so named because it was frequently used by the French architect François Mansart. It was not devised by him but was used early in th...

La Trémoille, Georges de

(Encyclopedia)La Trémoille or La Trimouille, Georges de zhôrzh də lä trāmoiˈyə or trēmo͞oˈyə [key], c.1385–1446, favorite of King Charles VII of France, sometime chamberlain to John the Fearless of Bur...

Balthus

(Encyclopedia)Balthus bôlˈthəs, bălˈ– [key], 1908–2001, Polish-French painter, b. Paris as Count Balthasar Klossowski de Rola. Balthus is sometimes regarded as one of the most important figurative painters...

Stoddart, James Fraser

(Encyclopedia)Stoddart, James Fraser, 1942–, British chemist, Ph.D. Univ. of Edinburgh, 1966. He began his career at Sheffield Univ., England, in 1970, then moved to Birmingham Univ., England, in 1990, the Univ. ...

Beauvais

(Encyclopedia)Beauvais bōvāˈ [key], town, capital of Oise dept., N France. Tractors, ceramic tiles, text...

Beeckman, Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Beeckman, Isaac bākˈmən [key], 1588–1637, Dutch physicist. An early proponent of mathematical reasoning and experimental verification in natural philosophy, he contributed to the modern conceptio...

San Francisco Symphony

(Encyclopedia)San Francisco Symphony, orchestra founded 1911. It has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall since 1980. Henry Hadley, the original music director, was followed by Alfred Hertz (1915–30), ...

pyroclastic flow

(Encyclopedia)pyroclastic flow, turbulent, fluidized mixture of rock, volcanic ash, and hot gas that moves like an avalanche away from a volcanic eruption. A pyroclastic flow may contain a mix of rock fragments ran...

Vienne, town, France

(Encyclopedia)Vienne, town (1990 pop. 30,386), Isère dept., SE France, on the Rhône River. It is a farm trade center with textile, metallurgical, and footwear industries. The capital of the Allobroges, Vienne (th...