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  • LaGrange (Georgia, United States)
    city, seat (1828) of Troup county, western Georgia, U.S. It lies just east of West Point Lake (impounded on the Chattahoochee River), about 50 miles (80 km) north of Columbus. The site was settled in 1826, and the town soon developed as an important trading centre in a cotton-growing area; it was named for the French estate of the M...
  • Lagrange, Joseph-Louis, comte de l’Empire (French mathematician)
    Italian French mathematician who made great contributions to number theory and to analytic and celestial mechanics. His most important book, Mécanique analytique (1788; “Analytic Mechanics”), was the basis for all later work in this field....
  • Lagrange, Marie-Joseph (French theologian)
    French theologian and outstanding Roman Catholic biblical scholar....
  • Lagrange planetary equations (astronomy)
    ...equations that result by equating the mass times the acceleration of a body to the sum of all the forces acting on the body (Newton’s second law). These equations are sometimes called the Lagrange planetary equations after their derivation by the great Italian-French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange (1736–1813). As long as the forces are conservative and do not depend on the......
  • Lagrange’s equations (mathematics)
    Elegant and powerful methods have also been devised for solving dynamic problems with constraints. One of the best known is called Lagrange’s equations. The Lagrangian L is defined as L = T − V, where T is the kinetic energy and V the potential energy of the system in question. Generally speaking, the potential energy of a system depends on t...
  • Lagrange’s theorem on finite groups (mathematics)
    ... and the product (hnu) is invariant for all the spaces between the lens surfaces, including the object and image spaces, for any lens system of any degree of complexity. This theorem has been named after the French scientist Joseph-Louis Lagrange, although it is sometimes called the Smith-Helmholtz theorem, after Robert Smith, an English scientist, and Hermann Helmholtz,......
  • Lagrangia, Giuseppe Luigi (French mathematician)
    Italian French mathematician who made great contributions to number theory and to analytic and celestial mechanics. His most important book, Mécanique analytique (1788; “Analytic Mechanics”), was the basis for all later work in this field....
  • Lagrangian (physics)
    quantity that characterizes the state of a physical system. In mechanics, the Lagrangian function is just the kinetic energy (energy of motion) minus the potential energy (energy of position)....
  • Lagrangian equilibrium point (astronomy)
    in astronomy, a point in space at which a small body, under the gravitational influence of two large ones, will remain approximately at rest relative to them. The existence of such points was deduced by the French mathematician and astronomer Joseph-Louis Lagrange in 1772. In 1906 the first examples were discovered: these were minor planets moving in Jupiter’s orbit, under the influence of...
  • Lagrangian function (physics)
    quantity that characterizes the state of a physical system. In mechanics, the Lagrangian function is just the kinetic energy (energy of motion) minus the potential energy (energy of position)....
  • Lagrangian point (astronomy)
    in astronomy, a point in space at which a small body, under the gravitational influence of two large ones, will remain approximately at rest relative to them. The existence of such points was deduced by the French mathematician and astronomer Joseph-Louis Lagrange in 1772. In 1906 the first examples were discovered: these were minor planets moving in Jupiter’s orbit, under the influence of...
  • lágrimas de Angélica, Las (work by Barahona de Soto)
    Spanish poet who is remembered for his Primera parte de la Angélica (1586; “The First Part of the Angelica”), more commonly known as Las lágrimas de Angélica (“The Tears of Angelica”), a continuation of the Angelica and Medoro episode in Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando furioso....
  • lagting (Scandinavian political assembly)
    in medieval Scandinavia, the local, provincial, and, in Iceland, national assemblies of freemen that formed the fundamental unit of government and law. Meeting at fixed intervals, the things, in which democratic practices were influenced by male heads of households, legislated at all levels, elected royal nominees, and settled all legal questions. They were presided over by the local chief...
  • Lagu, Joseph (Sudanese rebel leader)
    In 1971 the southern Sudanese rebels, who had theretofore consisted of several independent commands, were united under General Joseph Lagu, who combined under his authority both the fighting units of the Anya Nya and its political wing, the Southern Sudan Liberation Movement (SSLM). Thereafter throughout 1971 the SSLM, representing General Lagu, maintained a dialogue with the Sudanese......
  • Laguerre polynomial (mathematics)
    ...differential equations are the spherical harmonics (of which the Legendre polynomials are a special case), the Tchebychev polynomials, the Hermite polynomials, the Jacobi polynomials, the Laguerre polynomials, the Whittaker functions, and the parabolic cylinder functions. As with the Bessel functions, one can study their infinite series, recursion formulas, generating functions,......
  • Laguna (people)
    ...of what are now the U.S. states of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah intersect. The descendents of the Ancestral Pueblo comprise the modern Pueblo tribes, including the Hopi, Zuni, Acoma, and Laguna. As farmers, Ancestral Pueblo peoples and their nomadic neighbours were often mutually hostile; this is the source of the term Anasazi, a Navajo word meaning “ancestors of the......
  • Laguna Beach (California, United States)
    city, Orange county, southwestern California, U.S. Lying along the Pacific Ocean, Laguna Beach is about 50 miles (80 km) south of Los Angeles. Part of the Mexican land grant (1837) called Rancho San Joaquin, it was named Lagona, a corruption of the Spanish word meaning “lagoon,” for the two lagoons at the head of Laguna Canyon. Founded in 1887 as...
  • Laguna Blanca National Park (park, Argentina)
    ...and Limay rivers, which form the Negro River at the extreme eastern corner of the province. In addition to part of Nahuel Huapí National Park, the province has the Lanín and Laguna Blanca national parks....
  • Laguna de Caratasca (lagoon, Honduras)
    lagoon in northeastern Honduras. The country’s largest lagoon, Caratasca extends inland from the Caribbean Sea for approximately 25 miles (40 km) and measures up to 55 miles (88 km) from northwest to southeast. It is linked to the Caribbean by a 3-mile (5-kilometre) channel, on the bank of which stands the village of Caratasca. Many islands, the largest of which is Tans...
  • Laguna de los Cerros (archaeological site, Mexico)
    San Lorenzo is not the only Olmec centre known for the Early Formative. Laguna de los Cerros, just south of the Cerro Cintepec in Veracruz, appears to have been a large Olmec site with outstanding sculptures. La Venta, just east of the Tabasco border, was another contemporary site, but it reached its height after San Lorenzo had gone into decline....
  • Laguna de Tamiahua (lagoon, Mexico)
    long coastal lagoon in Veracruz state, eastern Mexico. An inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, it extends approximately 65 miles (105 km) southward from Tampico. A long, narrow, sandy peninsula from which Cape Rojo projects eastward shelters the 12-mile- (19-km-) wide lagoon from the Gulf. The mouth of the lagoon, the Corazones, is at its southern end, where the lagoo...
  • Laguna District (district, Mexico)
    agricultural area comprising adjoining portions of western Coahuila and eastern Durango states, northern Mexico. The district, which contains approximately 312,000 acres (126,000 hectares) of irrigable land, was named for the shallow lagoons that were formed on the plains....
  • Laguna Project (irrigation project, Mexico)
    ...is irrigated, which has brought large-scale commercial production to the North and Northwest. Cotton has become the major crop in the areas developed by irrigation projects since the 1930s. The Laguna Project near Torreón was the country’s first attempt at providing water to the arid North, and huge cooperative ejidos were formed to farm cot...
  • Laguna Woman (work by Silko)
    ...she entered law school but abandoned her legal studies to do graduate work in English and pursue a writing career. Her first publications were several short stories and the poetry collection Laguna Woman (1974)....
  • Lagunaria patersoni (plant)
    (Lagunaria patersoni), plant of the mallow family (Malvaceae), native to Australia and grown in warm temperate regions as an ornamental. Because of its shapely growth and regularly spaced branches, it is sometimes grown along avenues. The tree grows to about 15 m (50 feet) in height and has alternate oval or oblong leaves. The pale pink flowers are about 6 cm (2.5 inches) across....
  • Lagurus lagurus (rodent)
    ...short legs and stumpy tails, a bluntly rounded muzzle, small eyes, and small ears that are nearly hidden in their long, dense, soft fur. The wood lemming (Myopus schisticolor) and steppe lemming (Lagurus lagurus) are the smallest, measuring 8 to 12 cm (3.1 to 4.7 inches) in body length and weighing 20 to 30 grams (0.7 to 1.0 ounce). The other species are larger,......
  • Lagurus ovatus (plant)
    (species Lagurus ovatus), annual grass of the family Poaceae, native to shores of the Mediterranean region, naturalized in Australia, and cultivated as an ornamental in North America. The oval flower cluster is soft, hairy, and long-lasting. Grayish green hare’s-tail grass, about 30–60 cm (1–2 feet) tall, with narrow, soft, flat leaf blades, is grown for use in dried b...
  • Lagutin, Boris Nikolayevich (Soviet athlete)
    Soviet boxer who won medals in three consecutive Olympic Games, including gold medals in 1964 and 1968....
  • LAH (Nazi army unit)
    The special SS unit that Dietrich founded in 1932 evolved into the Leibstandarte-SS Adolf Hitler (LAH), which served as Hitler’s personal army and later became a division in the Waffen-SS. As a reward for the role played by the LAH in the violent purge of Ernst Röhm and other high-ranking SA officers in June 1934, Dietrich was promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer (general). An abl...
  • Lahaina (Hawaii, United States)
    city, Maui county, on the northwest coast of Maui island, Hawaii, U.S. Extending for 2 miles (3 km) along the leeward (southern) shore, the city is backed by volcanic peaks culminating in Puu Kukui (5,788 feet [1,764 metres]) and sheltered by thick groves of coconut palms....
  • Lahamu (Mesopotamian mythology)
    in Mesopotamian mythology, twin deities, the first gods to be born from the chaos that was created by the merging of Apsu (the watery deep beneath the earth) and Tiamat (the personification of the salt waters); this is described in the Babylonian mythological text Enuma elish (c. 12th century bc)....
  • lahar (volcanic mudflow)
    mudflow of volcanic material. Lahars may carry all sizes of material from ash to large boulders and produce deposits of volcanic conglomerate. Lahars may be the result of heavy rain on loose ash material such as deposits of nuées ardentes (dense clouds of gases charged with incandescent dust, discharging volcanic sand in avalanche fashion); or they may result from the mi...
  • Lahaul and Spiti (India)
    mudflow of volcanic material. Lahars may carry all sizes of material from ash to large boulders and produce deposits of volcanic conglomerate. Lahars may be the result of heavy rain on loose ash material such as deposits of nuées ardentes (dense clouds of gases charged with incandescent dust, discharging volcanic sand in avalanche fashion); or they may result from the mi...
  • Lāhawr (Pakistan)
    second largest city of Pakistan and the capital of Punjab province. It lies 811 miles (1,305 km) northeast of Karāchi in the upper Indus plain on the Rāvi River, a tributary of the Indus....
  • LaHaye, Tim (American minister)
    ...main intellectual centres. Television, which provided direct access to the public, assisted the careers of a number of fundamentalist religious leaders; in addition to Falwell, they included Tim LaHaye, head of a pastorate in San Diego and coauthor of a popular series of novels based on the Revelation to John....
  • Lahbabi, Mohammed Aziz (Moroccan writer and philosopher)
    Moroccan novelist, poet, and philosopher whose works are marked by a humanist perspective that stresses the importance of dialogue and of the universal....
  • Lahej (Yemen)
    town, southwestern Yemen. Situated on the Wadi Tibban in the coastal plain, some 30 miles (45 km) north of Aden, it is the centre of an agricultural area. Its sparse rainfall occurs chiefly in the winter season....
  • Laḥij (Yemen)
    town, southwestern Yemen. Situated on the Wadi Tibban in the coastal plain, some 30 miles (45 km) north of Aden, it is the centre of an agricultural area. Its sparse rainfall occurs chiefly in the winter season....
  • Lahina (Sikh Guru)
    second Sikh Guru and originator of the Punjabi script, Gurmukhi, in which many parts of the Adi Granth, the sacred book of the Sikhs, are written....
  • Lahmiales (order of fungi)
    ...(incertae sedis; not placed in any class)Order LahmialesPathogenic on trees, mainly aspens; example genus is Lahmia.Order MedeolarialesSaprobic; example......
  • Lahmu and Lahamu (Mesopotamian mythology)
    in Mesopotamian mythology, twin deities, the first gods to be born from the chaos that was created by the merging of Apsu (the watery deep beneath the earth) and Tiamat (the personification of the salt waters); this is described in the Babylonian mythological text Enuma elish (c. 12th century bc)....
  • Lahn River (river, Germany)
    river, a right-bank tributary of the Rhine River, rising on the Jagd Berg (2,218 feet [676 m]), a summit of the Rothaar Hills in western Germany. The river, which is 152 miles (245 km) long, first flows eastward and then southward to Giessen, before turning southwestward and, with a winding course, reaching the Rhine at Lahnstein. Small barges are able to navigate to Giessen on the partly canaliz...
  • Lahnda language (Indo-Aryan language)
    language belonging to the western group of Indo-Aryan languages and spoken mainly in the western Punjab, Pakistan. One of the most important of its numerous dialects is Multani. Lahnda has a large number of Persian and Arabic loanwords and shares features with Kashmiri and Sindhi. There is little recorded literature in the language. The Muslims use the Persian form of the Arabic script to write La...
  • Lahontan, Lake (ancient lake, North America)
    ...to Hudson Bay or the Beaufort Sea. Farther south, in the Great Basin, a pluvial (rainy) period of climate during the Pleistocene, matching the ice age in the north, gave rise to the enormous Lakes Lahontan and Bonneville. The Great Salt Lake is a relic of Lake Bonneville, the ancient strandlines of which are up to 1,000 ft (300 m) above the present shoreline. Similarly, present-day Lake......
  • Lahontan, Louis-Armand de Lom d’Arce, baron de (French soldier)
    French soldier and writer who explored parts of what are now Canada and the United States and who prepared valuable accounts of his travels in the New World....
  • Lahore (Pakistan)
    second largest city of Pakistan and the capital of Punjab province. It lies 811 miles (1,305 km) northeast of Karāchi in the upper Indus plain on the Rāvi River, a tributary of the Indus....
  • Lahore Fort (fort, Pakistan)
    ...north, by parklands. A circular road around the rampart provides access to the old city by 13 gates. Notable structures within the old city include the mosque of Wazīr Khān (1634) and Lahore Fort. A walled complex that covers some 36 acres (14.5 hectares), the fort is a splendid example of Mughal architecture; it was partially built by Akbar (reigned 1556–1605) and extended...
  • Lahore Museum (museum, Lahore, Pakistan)
    in Lahore, Pak., archaeological museum opened in 1894 and containing examples of the arts and crafts of the province of Punjab, including sculpture, coins, and Kangra (Pahari) and Mughal paintings and fabrics. Greco-Buddhist sculptures excavated from sites in the Peshāwar district are on display. The central part of the archaeological gallery has a stūpa drum of Sikri, carved with sc...
  • Lahore Resolution (Indian-Pakistani history)
    The first meeting of the league after the outbreak of the war was held in Punjab’s ancient capital of Lahore in March 1940. The famous Lahore Resolution, later known as the Pakistan Resolution, was passed by the largest gathering of league delegates just one day after Jinnah informed his followers that “the problem of India is not of an inter-communal but manifestly of an internation...
  • Lahore, Treaty of (Indian history)
    ...the Battle of Sobraon in February 1846. The British feared to annex outright a region full of former soldiers and wished to retain a buffer state against possible attack from the northwest. By the Treaty of Lahore they took Kashmir and its dependencies, with the fertile Jullundur (now Jalandhar) area, reduced the regular army to 20,000 infantry and 12,000 cavalry, and exacted a sizable cash......
  • Lahoud, Émile (president of Lebanon)
    Late the following year, efforts by the National Assembly to select a successor at the end of Lebanese Pres. Émile Lahoud’s nine-year term were stalemated by the continued power struggle between the Hezbollah-led opposition and the Western-backed government. A boycott by the opposition—which continued to seek the veto power it had been denied—prevented the assembly from...
  • Lahti (Finland)
    city, southern Finland. It lies at the southern end of Lake Vesi, northeast of Helsinki. Founded in 1878, it was incorporated in 1905. A developing industrial centre linked to the rest of Finland by major rail, road, and lake routes, it produces most of the nation’s furniture, as well as numerous other wood products, and has glassworks, breweries, and c...
  • Lahu (people)
    peoples living in upland areas of Yunnan, China, eastern Myanmar (Burma), northern Thailand, northern Laos, and Vietnam who speak related dialects of Tibeto-Burman languages. Although there is no indigenous Lahu system of writing, three different romanized Lahu orthographies exist; two of these were developed by Christian missionaries and the other by Chinese linguists. Literacy...
  • Lahu language
    ...(i.e., Tibetan in the widest sense of the word) comprises a number of dialects and languages spoken in Tibet and the Himalayas. Burmic (Burmese in its widest application) includes Yi (Lolo), Hani, Lahu, Lisu, Kachin (Jingpo), Kuki-Chin, the obsolete Xixia (Tangut), and other languages. The Tibetan writing system (which dates from the 7th century) and the Burmese (dating from the 11th century).....
  • Lāhūn, al- (ancient site, Egypt)
    ancient Egyptian site situated just north of the turn of the Baḥr Yūsuf canal into the Fayum in al-Fayyūm muḥāfaẓah (governorate); it was the location of a Middle Kingdom (1938–c. 1600? bc) pyramid and of a workmen’s village of approximately the same date. The pyramid, built by King Seso...
  • Lāhūtī, Abū al-Qāsim (Tajik author)
    ...(1930; The Mountain Villager) and for his autobiography, Yoddoshtho (1949–54; published in English as Bukhara); both Fitrat and Ayni were bilingual in Uzbek and Tajik. Abū al-Qāsim Lāhūtī’s poem Taj va bayraq (1935; Crown and Banner) and Mirzo Tursunzade’s Hasani arobakash (1954; Hasan the Cart ...
  • lai (musical form)
    medieval poetic and musical form, cultivated especially among the trouvères, or poet-musicians, of northern France in the 12th and 13th centuries but also among their slightly earlier, Provençal-language counterparts, the troubadours, and, called Leich, by the German minnesingers. The lai was a long poem having nonunifo...
  • lai (literature)
    a synonym for lai, a medieval Provençal lyric in which the stanzas are nonuniform. The term also refers to a poem in medieval Provençal literature with stanzas in different languages. Derived from Old French and Old Provençal, the word literally means “a quarrel” or “discord.”...
  • Lai, Afong (Chinese photographer)
    Landscapes in places outside the United States and Europe were usually portrayed by European photographers during this period. However, exceptions included the Chinese photographer Afong Lai and the Brazilian photographer Marc Ferrez, both of whom produced excellent views of their native countries. In particular, Lai’s serene compositions reflected the conventions of the long-standing tradi...
  • lai Breton (literature)
    poetic form so called because Breton professional storytellers supposedly recited similar poems, though none are extant. A short, rhymed romance recounting a love story, it includes supernatural elements, mythology transformed by medieval chivalry, and the Celtic idea of faerie, the land of enchantment. Derived from the late 12th-century French lais of Marie de France, it was ad...
  • Lai de l’ombre (work by Renart)
    ...about the adventures of Guillaume and Aelis, betrothed children who flee to France; Guillaume de Dôle, the story of a calumniated bride who cunningly defends her reputation; and the Lai de l’ombre, about a knight who presses a ring on his lady and, when she refuses it, throws it to her reflection in a well—a gesture that persuades her to accept him. Renart...
  • Lai, Francis (French composer)
    ...Screenplay: Ring Lardner, Jr., for M*A*S*HCinematography: Freddie Young for Ryan’s DaughterArt Direction: Urie McCleary and Gil Parrondo for PattonOriginal Score: Francis Lai for Love StoryOriginal Song Score: The Beatles for Let It BeSong Original for the Picture: “For All We Know” from......
  • LAIA (international organization)
    organization that was established by the Treaty of Montevideo (August 1980) and became operational in March 1981. It seeks economic cooperation among its members. Original members were Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay...
  • Laibach (Slovenia)
    capital city and economic, political, and cultural centre of Slovenia, located on the Ljubljanica River. The city lies in central Slovenia in a natural depression surrounded by high peaks of the Julian Alps....
  • Laibach, Congress of (European history)
    (Jan. 26–May 12, 1821), meeting of the Holy Alliance powers (all European rulers except those of Britain, the Ottoman Empire, and the papacy) at Laibach (now Ljubljana, Slovenia) that set the conditions for Austrian intervention in and occupation of the Two Sicilies in action against the Neapolitan revolution (July 1820). As such, it was a triumph for a...
  • laibon (African ritual leader)
    ...plains and open plateaus north and south of the string of Rift Valley lakes west of Mount Kenya. From 1830 onward their various subtribes were engaged, under the auspices of their rival laibons, or ritual leaders—among whom Mbatian, who succeeded his father, Subet, in 1866, was the most famous—in a succession of internecine conflicts largely over cattle and....
  • Laidlaw, Patrick P. (British scientist)
    ...confined exclusively or largely to humans, however, posed the formidable problem of finding a susceptible animal host. In 1933 the British investigators Wilson Smith, Christopher H. Andrewes, and Patrick P. Laidlaw were able to transmit influenza to ferrets, and the influenza virus was subsequently adapted to mice. In 1941 the American scientist George K. Hirst found that influenza virus......
  • Laidoner, Johan (Estonian patriot)
    Estonian soldier and patriot who led the Estonian liberation army in 1918 and supported the authoritarian regime of Konstantin Päts in the 1930s....
  • Lā‘ie (Hawaii, United States)
    town, Honolulu county, on Laie Bay, northeastern Oahu island, Hawaii, U.S. The land was acquired by Mormon missionaries in 1864 and settled by a colony of Hawaiian Mormons. The impressive white Laie Temple, where the highest rites of the Mormon church can be performed, was built in 1919 on the site of an ancient Hawaiian “city of refu...
  • Laie (Hawaii, United States)
    town, Honolulu county, on Laie Bay, northeastern Oahu island, Hawaii, U.S. The land was acquired by Mormon missionaries in 1864 and settled by a colony of Hawaiian Mormons. The impressive white Laie Temple, where the highest rites of the Mormon church can be performed, was built in 1919 on the site of an ancient Hawaiian “city of refu...
  • Laighin (ancient kingdom, Ireland)
    ...tuatha, known as the Five Fifths (Cuíg Cuígí), occurred about the beginning of the Christian era. These were Ulster (Ulaidh), Meath (Midhe), Leinster (Laighin), Munster (Mumhain), and Connaught (Connacht)....
  • Laighton, Celia (American poet)
    American poet whose work centred thematically on the islands and ocean of her youth....
  • Laigin (province, Ireland)
    the southeastern province of Ireland, comprising the counties of Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Offaly, Longford, Louth, Meath, Laoighis, Westmeath, Wexford, and ...
  • Laika (dog used in Soviet space program)
    ...(230 km), circling the Earth every 96 minutes and remaining in orbit until early 1958 when it fell back and burned in the Earth’s atmosphere. Launched on November 3, 1957, Sputnik 2 carried the dog Laika, the first living creature to be shot into space and orbit the Earth. Eight more Sputnik missions with similar satellites carried out experiments on a variety of animals to test spacecra...
  • Laima (Baltic deity)
    (from Lithuanian laimė, “happiness,” “luck”), in Baltic religion, the goddess of fate, generally associated with the linden tree. Together with Dievs, the sky, and Saule, the sun, Laima determines the length and fortune of human life. In the course of each life she helps arrange marriages, oversees weddings, protects pregnant women, and appears at childbi...
  • Laima-Dalia (Baltic deity)
    (from Lithuanian laimė, “happiness,” “luck”), in Baltic religion, the goddess of fate, generally associated with the linden tree. Together with Dievs, the sky, and Saule, the sun, Laima determines the length and fortune of human life. In the course of each life she helps arrange marriages, oversees weddings, protects pregnant women, and appears at childbi...
  • Laine, Dame Cleo (British singer)
    British singer and actress who mastered a variety of styles but was best known as the “Queen of Jazz.”...
  • Laine, Frankie (American singer)
    American singer who had a string of hit songs in the 1950s but was perhaps best remembered for recording the theme song to the long-running television show Rawhide. Laine’s robust baritone voice was well suited for western theme songs, and his most popular songs included “That’s My Desire,” “Mule Train,” “Cry of the Wild Goose,” and ...
  • Laine, “Papa” Jack (American musician)
    ...to draw on ragtime and European music, whereas black bands also built on their 19th-century ethnic heritage. This distinction is illustrated in the styles of the city’s two most popular musicians, “Papa” Jack Laine and Buddy Bolden. Laine, a drummer who led bands in New Orleans from 1891, is often referred to as the father of white jazz. Specializing first in French and Ger...
  • Laing, Alexander Gordon (Scottish explorer)
    Scottish explorer of western Africa and the first European known to have reached the ancient city of Tombouctou....
  • Laing, Bob (British art director)
    ...John Briley for GandhiAdapted Screenplay: Costa-Gavras and Donald Stewart for MissingCinematography: Ronnie Taylor and Billy Williams for GandhiArt Direction: Stuart Craig and Bob Laing for GandhiOriginal Score: John Williams for E.T. the Extra-TerrestrialOriginal Song Score and Its Adaptation or Adaptation Score: Leslie Bricusse, Henry Mancini for......
  • Laing, R. D. (British psychiatrist)
    British psychiatrist noted for his alternative approach to the treatment of schizophrenia....
  • Laing, Ronald David (British psychiatrist)
    British psychiatrist noted for his alternative approach to the treatment of schizophrenia....
  • Laingiomedusae (cnidarian suborder)
    ...special sensory structures (tentaculocysts). Differ from other hydromedusae by having tentacles inserted above umbrellar margin. Oceanic, mostly warmer waters.Suborder LaingiomedusaeMedusae with features of both Narcomedusae and Trachymedusae. Polyp unknown.Suborder......
  • Lainsitz River (river, Europe)
    river in Niederösterreich Bundesland (“federal state”), Austria, and Jihočeský kraj (region), Czech Republic. The Lužnice rises in the Freiwald forest of Austria as the Lainsitz River. It flows northward, soon crossing into the Czech Republic and passing through the Třeboň lake region to Tábor, at which point it narrows ...
  • Laird, Macgregor (British explorer)
    Scottish explorer, shipbuilder, and merchant who contributed to the knowledge of the Niger River....
  • Laird, William (British manufacturer)
    ...was a hamlet of 106 inhabitants as late as 1810. Its subsequent rapid development began with the establishment of boiler works and a shipyard on Wallasey Pool, a creek of the Mersey, in 1824 by William Laird, a pioneer in the construction of iron ships. Laird also laid out the nucleus of the town on a grid plan. In 1828 proposals were made for the conversion of Wallasey Pool into an......
  • Lairesse, Gérard de (writer)
    Negative remarks from Rembrandt’s critics were in fact almost always counterbalanced by the highest praise. The brilliant artist and writer on art Gérard de Lairesse (1640–1711), who met Rembrandt as a young man and was portrayed by him in 1665, confessed in 1707: “I do not want to deny that once I had a special preference for his manner; but at that time I had hardly b...
  • “Lais, Le” (poem by Villon)
    ...about this time he composed the poem his editors have called Le Petit Testament, which he himself entitled Le Lais (The Legacy). It takes the form of a list of “bequests,” ironically conceived, made to friends and acquaintances before leaving them and the city. To his barber he leaves the......
  • laissez-faire (economics)
    (French: “allow to do”), policy of minimum governmental interference in the economic affairs of individuals and society. The origin of the term is uncertain, but folklore suggests that it is derived from the answer Jean-Baptiste Colbert, controller general of finance under King Louis XIV of France, received when he asked industrialists what the government could do ...
  • laity (religion)
    The second basic practice is the exchange that takes place between monks and laypersons. Like the Buddha himself, the monks embody or represent the higher levels of spiritual achievement, which they make available in various ways to the laity. The laity improve their soteriological condition by giving the monks material gifts that function as sacrificial offerings. Although the exchange is......
  • Laius (Greek mythology)
    Traditionally, Laius, king of Thebes, was warned by an oracle that his son would slay him. Accordingly, when his wife, Jocasta (Iocaste; in Homer, Epicaste), bore a son, he exposed the baby on Mt. Cithaeron, first pinning his ankles together (hence the name Oedipus, meaning Swell-Foot). A shepherd took pity on the infant, who was adopted by King Polybus of Corinth and his wife and was brought......
  • Laja River (river, Mexico)
    river in Guanajuato estado (“state”), north-central Mexico. After rising in the Sierra Madre Occidental near San Felipe (Doctor Hernandez Alvarez), the Laja arches eastward and then southeastward through the central plateau, past the cities of Dolores Hidalgo, San Miguel de Allende, Comonfort, and San Miguel Octopan. It joins the Apaseo River, a tributary of the Lerma River, 3...
  • Lajes (Brazil)
    city, east-central Santa Catarina estado (state), southern Brazil, lying north of the Caveiras River in the Paraná Mountains, at 3,000 feet (900 metres) above sea level. Formed as a municipality in 1800, it was settled chiefly by Germans and in 1866 was elevated to city status. Livestock raising and diversified light industry are now the main economic activities. P...
  • lajnat al-qirāʾah (censorship authority)
    ...of the Persian Gulf. In many other countries where drama was permitted, every aspect of production was subject to the closest scrutiny by censorship authorities (known as lajnat al-qirāʾah). These practical issues aside, modern Arabic drama continued to exist in a cultural milieu in which there was ongoing tension between the perceived tastes...
  • Lajoie, Nap (American athlete)
    American professional baseball player who was one of the game’s best hitters and an outstanding fielder. Lajoie had a .338 career batting average, the 2nd highest ever for a second baseman, with 3,242 hits, the 13th highest total in major league history....
  • Lajoie, Napoleon (American athlete)
    American professional baseball player who was one of the game’s best hitters and an outstanding fielder. Lajoie had a .338 career batting average, the 2nd highest ever for a second baseman, with 3,242 hits, the 13th highest total in major league history....
  • Lajos II (king of Hungary and Bohemia)
    king of Hungary and of Bohemia from 1516, who was the last of the Jagiełło line to rule those countries and the last king to rule all of Hungary before the Turks conquered a large portion of it....
  • Lajos Nagy (king of Hungary)
    king of Hungary from 1342 and of Poland (as Louis) from 1370, who, during much of his long reign, was involved in wars with Venice and Naples....
  • Lajpat Rai, Lala (Indian writer and politician)
    Indian writer and politician, outspoken in his advocacy of a militant anti-British nationalism in the Congress Party and as a leader of the Hindu supremacy movement....
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