A-Z Browse

Previous Next

Lenton, Lisbeth (Australian swimmer)
Australian swimmer who set several world records in the 100-m freestyle....
Lentulov, Aristarkh Vasilyevich (Russian painter)
Russian painter who was one of the foremost representatives of the Moscow School of Art....
Lentulus Crus, Lucius Cornelius (Roman politician)
Roman politician, a leading member of the senatorial party that vigorously opposed Julius Caesar....
Lentulus, Publius Cornelius (Roman politician)
a leading figure in Catiline’s conspiracy (63 bc) to seize control of the Roman government....
Lentulus Spinther, Publius Cornelius (Roman politician)
a leading supporter of the Roman general Pompey the Great during the Civil War (49–45 bc) between Pompey and Julius Caesar; he was a brother of Lentulus Crus....
Lenya, Lotte (Austrian-American actress)
Austrian actress-singer who popularized much of the music of her first husband, the composer Kurt Weill, and appeared frequently in the musical dramas of Weill and his longtime collaborator Bertolt Brecht....
Lenz, Heinrich Friedrich Emil (Russian physicist)
in electromagnetism, statement that an induced electric current flows in a direction such that the current opposes the change that induced it. This law was deduced in 1834 by the Russian physicist Heinrich Friedrich Emil Lenz (1804–65). ...
Lenz, Hermann (German writer)
German writer whose greatest success came in the 1970s with his seven-part Schwäbische Chronik whose main character, based on Lenz, chronicled German life in the 20th century (b. Feb. 26, 1913, Stuttgart, Ger.--d. May 12, 1998, Munich, Ger.)....
Lenz, Jakob Michael Reinhold (German writer)
Russian-born German poet and dramatist of the Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) period, who is considered an important forerunner of 19th-century Naturalism and of 20th-century Expressionistic theatre....
Lenz, Wilhelm von (Russian writer)
It was his biographer Wilhelm von Lenz who first divided Beethoven’s output into three periods, omitting the years of his apprenticeship in Bonn. The first period begins with the completion of the Three Trios for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Opus 1, in 1794, and ends about 1800, the year of the first public performance of the First......
Lenz’s law (physics)
in electromagnetism, statement that an induced electric current flows in a direction such that the current opposes the change that induced it. This law was deduced in 1834 by the Russian physicist Heinrich Friedrich Emil Lenz (1804–65). ...
leo (Mithraism)
The initiates were organized in seven grades: corax, Raven; nymphus, Bridegroom; miles, Soldier; leo, Lion; Perses, Persian; heliodromus, Courier of (and to) the Sun; pater, Father. To each rank belonged a particular mask (Raven, Persian, Lion) or dress (Bridegroom). The rising of the Mithraist in grade prefigured the ascent of the soul after......
Leo (mammal genus)
Cats are noted for purring when content and for snarling, howling, or spitting when in conflict with another of their kind. The so-called “big cats” (genus Panthera), especially the lion, often roar, growl, or shriek. Usually, however, cats are silent. Many cats use “clawing trees,” upon which they leave the marks of their claws as they stan...
Leo (constellation)
in astronomy, zodiacal constellation lying in the northern sky between Cancer and Virgo, at about 10 hours 30 minutes right ascension and 15° north declination. Regulus (Latin for “little king”; also called ...
Leo Africanus (Islamic scholar)
traveler whose writings remained for some 400 years one of Europe’s principal sources of information about Islam....
Leo Armenius (work by Gryphius)
...with a fervent religious strain which, faced with the transitoriness of earthly things and the fight for survival in the ravaged Germany of the time, borders on despair. He wrote five tragedies: Leo Armenius (1646), Catharina von Georgien, Carolus Stuardus, and Cardenio und Celinde (all printed 1657), and Papinianus (1659). These plays deal with the themes of......
Leo de Bagnols (French scholar)
French Jewish mathematician, philosopher, astronomer, and Talmudic scholar....
Leo Hebraeus (French scholar)
French Jewish mathematician, philosopher, astronomer, and Talmudic scholar....
Leo, Heinrich (Prussian historian)
Prussian conservative historian....
Leo I (Roman emperor)
Eastern Roman emperor from ad 457 to 474....
Leo I (king of Armenia)
king of Armenia (reigned 1199–1219), who rallied the Armenians after their dispersion by the Seljuq Turks and consolidated the kingdom in Cilicia, southeastern Asia Minor. Through his friendly relations with the German emperors Frederick I Barbarossa...
Leo I, Saint (pope)
pope from 440 to 461, master exponent of papal supremacy. His pontificate—which saw the disintegration of the Roman Empire in the West and the formation in the East of theological differences that were to split Christendom—was devoted to safeguarding orthodoxy and to securing the unity of the Western church under papal supremacy....
Leo II (Roman emperor)
Roman emperor of the East, grandson of Leo I, and son of Zeno. His grandfather, growing ill, felt compelled to name a successor but, deciding that his son-in-law Zeno, an Isaurian, was unpopular, made his grandson co-emperor, as Caesar and then Augustus, at the young age of five (or six). After his grandfather’s death (Feb. 3, 474), Leo II became emperor, and his father was made co-emperor ...
Leo II, Saint (pope)
pope from 682 to 683. He promoted church music (he was an accomplished singer), opposed heresy, and maintained good relations with Constantinople....
Leo II the Great (king of Armenia)
Armenia was more closely involved in Latin politics, partly as a result of marriage alliances with the house of Antioch-Tripoli. King Leo II of Armenia joined the Crusaders at Cyprus and Acre. Desirous of a royal crown, he approached both pope and emperor, and in 1198, with papal approval, royal insignia were bestowed by Archbishop Conrad of Mainz, in the name of Henry VI. At the same time, the......
Leo III (Byzantine emperor)
Byzantine emperor (717–741), who founded the Isaurian, or Syrian, dynasty, successfully resisted Arab invasions, and engendered a century of conflict within the empire by banning the use of religious images (icons)....
Leo III, Saint (pope)
pope from 795 to 816....
Leo IV (Byzantine emperor)
Byzantine emperor whose reign marked a transition between the period of Iconoclasm and the restoration of the icons....
Leo IV, Saint (pope)
pope from 847 to 855....
Leo IX, Saint (pope)
head of the medieval Latin church (1049–54), during whose reign the papacy became the focal point of western Europe and the great East-West Schism of 1054 became inevitable....
Leo, Leonardo Ortensio Salvatore de (Italian composer)
composer who was noted for his comic operas and who was instrumental in forming the Neapolitan style of opera composition....
Leo, Melissa (American actress)
composer who was noted for his comic operas and who was instrumental in forming the Neapolitan style of opera composition.......
Leo, Melissa Chessington (American actress)
composer who was noted for his comic operas and who was instrumental in forming the Neapolitan style of opera composition..........
Leo Minor (astronomy)
constellation in the northern sky at about 10 hours right ascension and 35° north in declination. Its brightest star is 46 Leonis Minoris (sometimes called Praecipua, from the Latin for “Chief”), with a magnitude of 3.8. Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius formed L...
Leo onca (cat)
largest New World member of the cat family (Felidae), once found from the U.S.-Mexican border southward to Patagonia, Argentina. Its preferred habitats are usually swamps and wooded regions, but jaguars also live in scrublands and deserts. The jaguar is virtually extinct in the northern part of its original range and survives in reduced numbers only in remote areas of Central an...
Leo pardus (mammal)
large cat closely related to the lion, tiger, and jaguar. The name leopard was originally given to the cat now called cheetah—the so-called hunting leopard—which was once thought to be a cross between the lion and the pard. The term pard was eventually replaced by...
LEO system
...path introduces a noticeable delay, on the order of a quarter-second, in two-way voice conversations. One viable alternative to geostationary satellites would be a larger system of satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). Orbiting less than 1,600 km (1,000 miles) above the Earth, LEO satellites are not geostationary and therefore cannot provide constant coverage of specific areas on the Earth.......
Leo the Armenian (Byzantine emperor)
Byzantine emperor responsible for inaugurating the second Iconoclastic period in the Byzantine Empire....
Leo the Deacon (Byzantine historian)
...eclipses are recorded in Byzantine history, beginning in the 6th century. By far the most vivid account relates to the solar eclipse of Dec. 22, 968. This was penned by the contemporary chronicler Leo the Deacon:At the winter solstice there was an eclipse of the Sun such as has never happened before.…It occurred on the 22nd day of the month of December, at the 4th hour of......
Leo the Great (pope)
pope from 440 to 461, master exponent of papal supremacy. His pontificate—which saw the disintegration of the Roman Empire in the West and the formation in the East of theological differences that were to split Christendom—was devoted to safeguarding orthodoxy and to securing the unity of the Western church under papal supremacy....
Leo the Isaurian (Byzantine emperor)
Byzantine emperor (717–741), who founded the Isaurian, or Syrian, dynasty, successfully resisted Arab invasions, and engendered a century of conflict within the empire by banning the use of religious images (icons)....
Leo the Khazar (Byzantine emperor)
Byzantine emperor whose reign marked a transition between the period of Iconoclasm and the restoration of the icons....
Leo the Philosopher (Byzantine emperor)
Byzantine coemperor from 870 and emperor from 886 to 912, whose imperial laws, written in Greek, became the legal code of the Byzantine Empire....
Leo the Wise (Byzantine emperor)
Byzantine coemperor from 870 and emperor from 886 to 912, whose imperial laws, written in Greek, became the legal code of the Byzantine Empire....
Leo Thrax Magnus (Roman emperor)
Eastern Roman emperor from ad 457 to 474....
Leo Tolstoy Museum (museum, Moscow, Russia)
...of the period and in other cases because of their associations. Among the latter are the memorial museums, such as the cottage of Tu Fu at Ch’eng-tu, in the Chinese province of Szechwan, and the Leo Tolstoy Museum, Moscow (both of which can also be regarded as literature museums), or Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home in Virginia....
Leo uncia (mammal)
long-haired cat, family Felidae, grouped with the lion, tiger, and others as one of the big, or roaring, cats. The snow leopard inhabits the mountains of central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, ranging from an elevation of about 1,800 metres (about 6,000 feet) in the winter to about 5,500 metres (18,000 feet) in the summer. Its soft coat, consisting of a dense, insulating undercoat and a thick o...
Leo V (pope)
pope from August to September 903. Elected while a priest to succeed Pope Benedict IV, Leo assumed the pontificate in a dark period of papal history. He was deposed and imprisoned by the antipope Christopher. Leo was perhaps murdered, either by Christopher or his successor, Pope ...
Leo V (Byzantine emperor)
Byzantine emperor responsible for inaugurating the second Iconoclastic period in the Byzantine Empire....
Leo VI (pope)
pope from May to December 928. He was Pope John VIII’s prime minister and later a cardinal priest when elected by the senatrix Marozia, then head of the powerful Roman Crescentii family...
Leo VI (Byzantine emperor)
Byzantine coemperor from 870 and emperor from 886 to 912, whose imperial laws, written in Greek, became the legal code of the Byzantine Empire....
Leo VII (pope)
pope from 936 to 939. Leo was probably a Benedictine monk when he succeeded John XI, who had been imprisoned by Duke Alberic II of Spoleto. In 936 he invited Abbot St. Odo of Cluny (then one of the most influential abbeys in western Europe) to help him settle the struggle between Hugh of Provence, king of Italy, and Alberic ...
Leo VIII (pope)
pope, or antipope, from 963 to 965. The legitimacy of his election has long been debated....
Leo X (pope)
one of the leading Renaissance popes (reigned 1513–21). He made Rome a cultural centre and a political power, but he depleted the papal treasury, and, by failing to take the developing Reformation seriously, he contributed to the dissolution of the Western church. Leo excommunicated Martin ...
Leo XI (pope)
pope from April 1–27, 1605. Pope Gregory XIII made him bishop of Pistoia, Italy, in 1573, archbishop of Florence in 1574, and cardinal in 1583. Elected to succeed Clement VIII on April 1, 1605, he died within the month....
Leo XII (pope)
pope from 1823 to 1829....
Leo XIII (pope)
head of the Roman Catholic Church (1878–1903) who brought a new spirit to the papacy, manifested in more conciliatory positions toward civil governments, by care taken that the church not be opposed to scientific progress and by an awareness of the pastoral and social needs of the times....
Leoben (Austria)
town, southeast-central Austria, on the Mur River, northwest of Graz. An ancient settlement, it was reestablished as a town by Ottokar II of Bohemia about 1263. Medieval buildings include the Maria am Waasen Church (12th century, rebuilt 15th century) with magnificent Gothic stained-glass windows, the parish church (1660–65), and the ...
Leoben, Peace of (Europe [1797])
...Revolution. Napoleon, determined to destroy the Venetian oligarchy, claimed as a pretext that Venice was hostile to him and a menace to his line of retreat during his Austrian campaign of 1797. The Peace of Leoben left Venice without an ally, and Ludovico Manin, the last doge, was deposed on May 12, 1797. A provisional democratic municipality was set up in place of the republican government,......
Leochares (Greek sculptor)
Greek sculptor to whom the Apollo Belvedere (Roman copy, Vatican Museum) is often attributed. About 353–c. 350 bc Leochares worked with Scopas on the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Most of his attributions are from ancient records. The base of a statu...
Leodegar, Saint (French bishop)
...in 675, Ebroïn escaped, succeeded by duplicity in luring the new mayor of the palace to his death, and eventually restored Theuderic III. Shortly afterward he accused his rival in Burgundy, St. Leodegar (or Léger), bishop of Autun, of complicity in Childeric’s murder; the bishop’s tongue and lips were cut off before he was finally executed....
Leodocia (California, United States)
city, seat (1857) of Tehama county, northern California, U.S. It lies along the Sacramento River, 115 miles (185 km) north-northwest of Sacramento. Settled in the 1840s, it was known as Leodocia until sometime before 1854, when it was renamed for the reddish sand and low bluffs on which it stands. In the 1850s it was a supply centre for the ...
Leofric (earl of Mercia)
Anglo-Saxon earl of Mercia (from 1023 or soon thereafter), one of the three great earls of 11th-century England, who took a leading part in public affairs. On the death of King Canute in 1035, Leofric supported the claim of Canute’s son Harold to the throne against that of Hardecanute; and, during the quarrel between Edward the Confessor and Earl Godwin...
Léogâne (Haiti)
city and port on the Gulf of Gonâve, southwestern Haiti, lying approximately 20 miles (32 km) west of Port-au-Prince on the north shore of the country’s southern peninsula. A former French colonial town, Léogâne has long been the centre of a predominantly agricultural region. The city was near the epicentre of the Haiti ear...
Leominster (England, United Kingdom)
town (“parish”), unitary authority and historic county of Herefordshire, west-central England, situated on the River Lugg, a tributary of the Wye. A religious house was founded on the site in 660, and the parish church of Saints Peter and Paul was the forme...
Leominster (Massachusetts, United States)
city, Worcester county, north-central Massachusetts, U.S. It lies on the Nashua River, just southeast of Fitchburg and about 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Boston. The site, purchased from the Nashua Indians in 1701, was originally part of Lancaster. It was separately incorporated as a town in 1740 and named for Leominster, England. Combs wer...
León (Spain)
city, capital of León provincia (province) in Castile-León comunidad autónoma (autonomous community), northwestern Spain. It lies on the northwestern part of the northern Meseta Central (plateau), at the confluence of the Bernesga and Tor...
León (province, Spain)
provincia (province) in the Castile-León comunidad autónoma (autonomous community), northwestern Spain, consisting of the northern part of the former kingdom of León. In the north are the lofty Cantabrian Mountain...
León (Nicaragua)
city situated in western Nicaragua. The city of León was founded on the edge of Lake Managua in 1524, but after an earthquake it was moved in 1610 to the site of the old Indian capital and shrine of Sutiaba. León was the capital of the Spanish provi...
Leon (medieval kingdom, Spain)
medieval Spanish kingdom. Leon proper included the cities of León, Salamanca, and Zamora—the adjacent areas of Vallodolid and Palencia being disputed with Castile, originally its eastern frontier. The kings of Leon ruled Galicia, Asturias, and much of the county of Portugal before Portugal gained independence about 1139....
León (Mexico)
city, northwestern Guanajuato estado (“state”), central Mexico. It stands in a fertile plain on the Turbio River, 6,182 feet (1,884 metres) above sea level. Although León was first settled in 1552, it was not formally founded until 1576 and was given city status in...
León (medieval kingdom, Spain)
medieval Spanish kingdom. Leon proper included the cities of León, Salamanca, and Zamora—the adjacent areas of Vallodolid and Palencia being disputed with Castile, originally its eastern frontier. The kings of Leon ruled Galicia, Asturias, and much of the county of Portugal before Portugal gained independence about 1139....
Leon, Daniel De (American socialist)
American socialist, one of the founders of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). He was one of the chief propagandists for socialism in the early American labour movement, but his uncompromising tactics were often divisive....
León de los Aldamas (Mexico)
city, northwestern Guanajuato estado (“state”), central Mexico. It stands in a fertile plain on the Turbio River, 6,182 feet (1,884 metres) above sea level. Although León was first settled in 1552, it was not formally founded until 1576 and was given city status in...
León de Nicaragua (president of Nicaragua)
prominent diplomat and politician, president of Nicaragua (1917–21)....
León, Fuero de (Spanish municipal franchise)
The oldest in the west is the Fuero de León (c. 1020), which contains laws applicable to the kingdom in general and to the city of León in particular. The oldest Aragonese fuero was believed to be that of Sorbrarbe (late 11th or early 12th century), though some modern scholars treat it as suspect. The Navarrese fueros were modeled on those of Aragon....
Léon, Isla de (Spain)
city, Cádiz provincia (province), in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Andalusia, southwestern Spain. It is situated on a rocky island surrounded by salt marshes...
León, Juan Ponce de (Spanish explorer)
Spanish explorer who founded the oldest settlement in Puerto Rico and later discovered Florida (1513) while searching for the mythical fountain of youth....
León, Luis de (Spanish poet)
mystic and poet who contributed greatly to Spanish Renaissance literature....
“Léon Morin, prêtre” (film by Melville)
The stylized decor of Melville’s later, more commercial works is strongly reminiscent of the Hollywood products of the 1930s. Léon Morin, prêtre (1961; “Leon Morin, Priest”) was his first major commercial production. It was followed by a series of highly stylized, Hollywood-inspired gangster films: Le Doulos (1962; Doulos—The Finger Man...
Leon Morin, Priest (film by Melville)
The stylized decor of Melville’s later, more commercial works is strongly reminiscent of the Hollywood products of the 1930s. Léon Morin, prêtre (1961; “Leon Morin, Priest”) was his first major commercial production. It was followed by a series of highly stylized, Hollywood-inspired gangster films: Le Doulos (1962; Doulos—The Finger Man...
Leon of Modena (Italian rabbi and writer)
Italian rabbi, preacher, poet, scholar, gambling addict, and polemicist who wrote an important attack on the Sefer ha-Zohar, the chief text of the Kabbala, the influential body of Jewish mystical teachings....
Leon, Tony (South African politician)
...14, 2004, which led to the inauguration of Pres. Thabo Mbeki for a second term. The ANC received 69.8% of the vote, compared with 66.35% in 1999. The Democratic Alliance (DA), led by Tony Leon, continued as the official opposition, with 12.3% of the vote, up from 9.56% in 1999. Mangosutho Buthelezi’s Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) obtained 6.97% of the vot...
León Toral, José de (Mexican assassin)
...reelection” was modified to mean “no successive reelection.” Obregón was the successful presidential candidate in 1928, but, as president-elect, he was assassinated by José de León Toral, a religious fanatic....
Leonais (mythological land)
mythical “lost” land supposed once to have connected Cornwall in the west of England with the Scilly Isles lying in the English Channel. The name Lyonnesse first appeared in Sir Thomas Malory’s late 15th-century prose account of th...
Leonard and Gertrude (novel by Pestalozzi)
...theory that education must be “according to nature” and that security in the home is the foundation of man’s happiness. His novel Lienhard und Gertrud (1781–87; Leonard and Gertrude, 1801), written for “the people,” was a literary success as the first realistic representation of rural life in German. It describes how an ideal woman exposes...
Leonard, Benny (American athlete)
American world lightweight (135-lb [61.2-kg]) boxing champion from May 28, 1917, when he knocked out Freddy Welsh in nine rounds in New York City, until Jan. 15, 1925, when he retired. He is regarded as one of the cleverest defensive boxers in the history of professional boxing....
Leonard, Buck (American athlete)
American baseball player who was considered one of the best first basemen in the Negro leagues. He was among the first Negro leaguers to receive election into the Baseball Hall of Fame....
Leonard, Elmore (American author)
American author of popular crime novels known for his use of local colour and his uncanny ear for realistic dialogue....
Leonard, Elmore John, Jr. (American author)
American author of popular crime novels known for his use of local colour and his uncanny ear for realistic dialogue....
Leonard, Frederick C. (American astronomer)
Established in 1933 as the Society for Research on Meteorites, the organization elected its founder, the astronomer Frederick C. Leonard of the University of California at Los Angeles, as its first president. Annual meetings were suspended during World War II; when they reconvened in 1946, the members adopted the name Meteoritical Society. With the advent of the space age, the society grew......
Leonard, Helen Louise (American actress)
American singer and actress in light comedies who represented the feminine ideal of her generation. She was as famous for her flamboyant personal life as for her beauty and voice....
Leonard, Hugh (Irish dramatist)
Nov. 9, 1926Dalkey, County Dublin, Ire.Feb. 12, 2009Dublin, Ire.Irish dramatist who was admired in Ireland as one of the country’s best playwrights, but outside his native land he was best known for the play Da, a bittersweet semiautobiographical exploration of the complex rel...
Leonard, John (American literary critic)
Feb. 25, 1939Washington, D.C.Nov. 5, 2008New York, N.Y.American literary critic who with his stylistically ornate and humorous prose, was regarded as one of the preeminent cultural critics of his time. Though he was a lifelong leftist, Leonard began his journalism career in 1959 at the cons...
Leonard, Lionel Frederick (British playwright)
British playwright and librettist whose lightweight comedies of manners were admired because of their tight construction and epigrammatic wit....
Leonard, Ray Charles (American boxer and television commentator)
American boxer, known for his agility and finesse, who won 36 of 40 professional matches and several national titles. As an amateur, he took an Olympic gold medal in the light-welterweight class at the 1976 Games in Montreal....
Leonard, Samuel Leeson (American zoologist)
Nov. 16, 1905Elizabeth, N.J.Nov. 11/12, 2007Ithaca, N.Y.American zoologist who conducted pioneering hormone research in animals. In the late 1920s he discovered that the female sex hormone estrogen could prevent ovula...
Leonard, Sheldon (American actor and director)
American performer, producer, and director whose career ranged from playing roles as rogues on Jack Benny’s radio show and in such films as Guys and Dolls and It’s a Wonderful Life to producing and directing a number of popular television shows, among them "I Spy" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (b. Feb. 22, 1907--d. Jan. 10, 1997)....
Leonard, Sugar Ray (American boxer and television commentator)
American boxer, known for his agility and finesse, who won 36 of 40 professional matches and several national titles. As an amateur, he took an Olympic gold medal in the light-welterweight class at the 1976 Games in Montreal....
Leonard, Walter Fenner (American athlete)
American baseball player who was considered one of the best first basemen in the Negro leagues. He was among the first Negro leaguers to receive election into the Baseball Hall of Fame....