Widor, Charles Marie, 1845-1937, French organist and composer. He was organist at St. Sulpice from 1869 until his retirement in 1934. In 1891 he succeeded César Franck as professor of organ at the Paris Conservatory and later also became professor of composition there. Chief among his compositions are 10 symphonies for organ. He composed operas, chamber music, orchestral suites, and piano concertos as well. In 1904 he wrote a supplement to Berlioz's treatise on orchestration. He also made, with Albert Schweitzer, an edition of the organ works of Bach.

Voltaire, François Marie Arouet de, 1694-1778, French philosopher and author, whose original name was Arouet. One of the towering geniuses in literary and intellectual history, Voltaire personifies the Enlightenment.

Voltaire's Life and Works

Early Life

The son of a notary, he was born at Paris and was educated at the Jesuit Collège Louis-le-Grand. Because of insults to the regent, Philippe II d'Orléans, wrongly ascribed to him, Voltaire was sent to the Bastille (1717) for 11 months. There he rewrote his first tragedy, Œdipe (1718), and began an epic poem on Henry IV, the Henriade. It was at this time that he began to call himself Voltaire. Œdipe won him fame and a pension from the regent. Voltaire acquired an independent fortune through speculation; he was often noted for his generosity but also displayed a shrewd business acumen throughout his life and became a millionaire.

In 1726 a young nobleman, the chevalier de Rohan, resenting a witticism made at his expense by Voltaire, had Voltaire beaten. Far from obtaining justice, Voltaire was imprisoned in the Bastille through the influence of the powerful Rohan family, and he was released only upon his promise to go to England. The episode left an indelible impression on Voltaire: for the rest of his life he exerted himself to his utmost in struggling against judicial arbitrariness. During his more than two years (1726-28) in England, Voltaire met, through his friend Lord Bolingbroke, the literary men of the period. He was impressed by the greater freedom of thought in England and deeply influenced by Newton and Locke. Voltaire's Letters concerning the English Nation (1733, in English), which appeared (1734) in French as Lettres philosophiques, may be said to have initiated the vogue of English philosophy and science that characterized the literature of the Enlightenment. The book was formally banned in France.

Work in England and Cirey

While in England, Voltaire wrote the first of his historical works, a history of Charles XII of Sweden, which remains a classic in biography. Returning to France in 1729, he produced several tragedies, among them Brutus (1730) and Zaïre (1732). In 1733 he met Mme Du Châtelet, whose intellectual interests, especially in science, accorded with his own. They took up residence together at Cirey, in Lorraine, under the Marquis Du Châtelet's tolerant eye. The connection with Émilie Du Châtelet lasted until her death in 1749.

At Cirey, Voltaire worked on physics and chemistry experiments and began his long correspondence with Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia (later Frederick II). In addition, he wrote Éléments de la philosophie de Newton (1736), which was partially responsible for bringing awareness of Newtonian physics to the Continent; a burlesque treatment of the Joan of Arc legends, La Pucelle (1755); and the dramas Mahomet (1742), Mérope (1743), and Sémiramis (1748). Through the influence of Mme de Pompadour, Voltaire was made royal historiographer, a gentleman of the king's bedchamber, and a member of the French Academy.

Berlin and Geneva

Voltaire first visited Berlin in 1743, and after Mme Du Châtelet's death he accepted Frederick II's invitation to live at his court. His relations with Frederick, a man whose unbending nature matched his own, were generally stormy. Voltaire's interference in the quarrel between Maupertuis and König led to renewed coldness on the part of Frederick, and in 1753 Voltaire hastily left Prussia. At a distance, the two men later became reconciled, and their correspondence was resumed. Unwelcome in France, Voltaire settled in Geneva, where he acquired the property "Les Délices"; he also acquired another house near Lausanne. The Genevese authorities soon objected to Voltaire's holding private theatrical performances at his home and still more to the article "Genève" written for Diderot's Encyclopédie, on Voltaire's instigation, by Alembert. The article, which declared that the Calvinist pastors of Geneva had seen the light and ceased to believe in organized religion, stirred up a violent controversy.

The Ferney Years and Candide

Voltaire purchased (1758) an estate, Ferney (see Ferney-Voltaire), just over the French border, where he lived until shortly before his death. He conducted an extensive correspondence with most of the outstanding men and women of his time; received hosts of visitors who came to do homage to the "patriarch of Ferney"; employed himself in seeking justice for victims of religious or political persecution and in campaigning against the practice of torture; contributed to the Encyclopédie; and managed his estate, taking an active interest in improving the condition of his tenants.

Voltaire also edited the works of Corneille, wrote commentaries on Racine, and turned out a stream of anonymous novels and pamphlets in which he attacked the established institutions of his time with unremitting virulence. Ironically, it is one of these disavowed works, Candide (1759), that is most widely read today. It is the masterpiece among his "philosophical romances," which also include the inimitable short tale Jeannot et Colin (1764), perhaps the quintessence of Voltaire's style. In Candide Voltaire attacked the philosophical optimism made fashionable by Leibniz. Its conclusion, "Let us cultivate our garden" (instead of speculating on unanswerable problems), expresses succinctly Voltaire's practical philosophy of common sense.

The Final Chapter

In 1778, his 84th year, Voltaire attended the first performance of his tragedy Irène, in Paris. His journey and his reception were a triumph and apotheosis, but the emotion was too much for him and he died in Paris soon afterward. In order to obtain Christian burial he had signed a partial retraction of his writings. This was considered insufficient by the church, but he refused to sign a more general retraction. To a friend he gave the following written declaration: "I die adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting persecution." An abbot secretly conveyed Voltaire's corpse to an abbey in Champagne, where he was buried. His remains were brought back to Paris in 1791 and buried in the Panthéon.

Voltaire's Style

Voltaire attained the most subtly comical effects through an imperceptible turn of a phrase; his sentences flow with facility; his expressions are always felicitous and unlabored; his irony is as devastating as its touch is light. Brevity and lucidity characterize all his writings. The Dictionnaire philosophique (1764) is a compendium of Voltaire's thought on the most varied subjects. In his serious poetic works, the perfection of his style is usually combined with a coldness that has robbed them of lasting appeal, although they tower above those of other 18th-century imitators of Racine. Voltaire was significant in helping to introduce to the theater authentic costumes, and he labored successfully for the improvement of the social status of actors.

Voltaire's Philosophy

In his philosophy, based on skepticism and rationalism, he was indebted to Locke as well as to Montaigne and Bayle. Despite Voltaire's passion for clarity and reason, he frequently contradicted himself. Thus he would maintain in one place that man's nature was as unchangeable as that of animals and would express elsewhere his belief in progress and the gradual humanization of society through the action of the arts, sciences, and commerce. In politics he advocated reform but had a horror of the ignorance and potential fanaticism of people and the violence of revolution.

In religion Voltaire felt that Christianity was a good thing for chambermaids and tailors to believe in, but for the use of the elite he advocated a simple deism. He opposed the atheism and materialism of Helvétius and Holbach. His line, "If God did not exist, he would have to be invented," has become proverbial. His celebrated slogan, Écrasez l'infâme! [crush the infamous thing!], has been interpreted as addressed either against the church or against the ancien régime in general.

Voltaire's influence in the popularization of the science and philosophy of his age was incalculably great. Perhaps his most lasting and original intellectual contribution was made in the field of history. His Siècle de Louis XIV (1751) embodies in part the ideas of his historical masterpiece, Essai sur l'histoire générale et sur les mɶurs et l'esprit des nations (7 vol., 1756; tr. 1759), the first attempt at writing a history of the world as a whole; Voltaire laid as much emphasis on culture and commerce as on politics and war, and he avoided national parochialism.

Vogüé, Eugène Marie Melchior, vicomte de, 1848-1910, French critic. He fought in the Franco-Prussian War and was imprisoned for six months at Magdeburg. He served (1876-82) in the embassy at St. Petersburg and became interested in Russian literature. Preferring romanticism to naturalism, Vogüé wrote a series of essays, Le Roman russe (1886, tr. The Russian Novel, 1913), which introduced Russian novelists to France and had a wide influence on French literary thought.

Vien, Joseph-Marie, 1716-1809, French neoclassical painter. A protégé of the comte de Caylus, he won the Prix de Rome and studied in Italy. He was appointed director of the French Academy in Rome in 1775. He is best known as Jacques-Louis David's teacher. His own works, primarily allegories and anecdotes, reflect the ideas of Winckelmann. Marchande d'amours (Fontainebleau) is one of Vien's best-known paintings; it typifies a rococo adaptation of a classical motif.

Ursins, Marie Anne de la Trémoille, princesse des, 1642-1722, French noblewoman and unofficial diplomat. After the death of her first husband, she married (1675) Duke Flavio Orsini, whose name was gallicized into Ursins. She soon separated from her husband. In 1698 she solicited papal approval for the choice of a French prince, Philip of Anjou (later King Philip V), to succeed King Charles II on the throne of Spain. She arranged the marriage of Philip V with María Luisa of Savoy, whose lady-in-waiting she became in 1701. Until the queen's death (1714) Mme des Ursins exerted virtually dictatorial power at the court of Madrid. She defied Philip's grandfather, King Louis XIV of France, insisting on a Spanish policy of independence from France. It was largely because of her energy that Philip V kept the throne in the War of the Spanish Succession (see Spanish Succession, War of the) despite both his enemies and allies. When María Luisa died, Mme des Ursins advised Philip to marry Elizabeth Farnese, who, when queen, had her expelled (1714) from Spain. Ill-received in France, she went to the Netherlands and later to Rome. Her correspondence has been published.

Tussaud, Marie, 1760-1850, Anglo-French modeler in wax, b. Strasbourg, France, as Marie Grosholtz or Grosholz. She learned her art from her uncle, Philippe Curtius, a proprietor of wax museums in Paris. Tussaud was imprisoned during the Reign of Terror, and many heads of famous persons were brought to her for modeling. She inherited Curtius's collections in 1794. In 1802 she immigrated to England, where in London in 1835 she established a museum that remains a principal tourist attraction, now known as Madame Tussauds.

Tharp, Marie, 1920-2006, American oceanographer and cartographer. A geologist (Univ. of Michigan, M.A., 1944) with experience in mapping, she came to Columbia as a geology research assistant in 1948, retiring in 1983. Painstakingly converting oceanographic soundings to physiographic maps of the North Atlantic Ocean floor, Tharp, working with Bruce Heezen, identified (1952) the Mid-Atlantic ridge and rift valley; when Heezen's group confirmed that seismic activity along the ridge was centered on the rift, it provided solid evidence of seafloor spreading and plate tectonics. Tharp and Heezen's work mapping the oceans ultimately led to the discovery of a 40,000 mi (64,000 km) panoceanic underwater ridge, made visible in their World Ocean Floor map published (1977) by the Office of Naval Research.

Sévigné, Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de, 1626-96, French woman of letters. Her correspondence of more than 1,500 letters is a monument of French literature. After her husband's death (1651) she devoted herself to her two children. To her daughter, the comtesse de Grignan, who lived in Provence, the marquise wrote long letters on personal, literary, and social news, full of witty comment. These letters constitute the greater part of the Sévigné correspondence. Her writing is distinguished by the unaffected elegance of her style and the acuteness of her observation. But the letters are also of great interest for the revelation of the personality of their author, a principled, intelligent, and delightful woman, and for their chronicle of her times. She counted among her friends Turenne, La Rochefoucauld, and Mme de La Fayette. The first edition of her letters appeared posthumously in 1725; a later definitive collection was published in 1953-57 (3 vol.). Among English translations of her letters is the partial edition by Richard Aldington (1937). Edward FitzGerald compiled a useful Dictionary of Madame de Sévigné (1914).

Stopes, Marie Carmichael, 1880-1958, English paleobotanist and eugenicist, b. Edinburgh, D.Sc. Univ. of London, Ph.D. Univ. of Munich. She lectured on paleobotany at the universities of London and Manchester. In 1921, with Humphrey Verdon Roe, her second husband, she founded the first birth-control clinic in the British Empire. Her activities in this field gave impetus to similar movements elsewhere. Her many works include books on eugenics, birth control, and paleobotany.

Savary, Anne Jean Marie René, 1774-1833, French general in the Napoleonic Wars. He presided (1804) at the trial of the duc d'Enghien and was created (1808) duke of Rovigo. In 1808 he lured King Ferdinand VII of Spain into France, thus preparing the way for Napoleon's takeover there. Succeeding (1810) Joseph Fouché as minister of police, Savary did not approach his predecessor's skill and efficiency. After the Bourbon restoration he was condemned to death, but he escaped and in 1819 was allowed to return to France. After the Revolution of 1830 he commanded an expedition to Algeria.

Sault Sainte Marie Canals, two ship canals bypassing the rapids on the St. Marys River between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, at the cities of Sault Ste Marie, Mich. and Ont. The Canadian canal (1.4 mi/2.3 km long and 60 ft/18 m wide), which has one lock, was opened in 1895. It follows the route of the first canal constructed around the rapids (1797-98) by a fur company. The U.S. canal (1.6 mi/2.6 km long and 80 ft/24 m wide) was constructed (1853-55) by the state of Michigan and has since been reconstructed by the federal government to accommodate larger vessels; it has four locks. Although closed by ice during the winter, the toll-free canals are among the country's busiest and are a vital link in the Great Lakes Waterway. Most of the ships pass through the larger and deeper U.S. canal. The waterways are popularly called the Soo Canals.

Sault Sainte Marie, city (1991 pop. 81,476), S Ont., Canada, on the St. Marys River opposite Sault Ste Marie, Mich. A bridge connects the two cities. Sault Ste Marie is an important port and manufacturing center. Iron and steel, lumber, pulp and paper products, and chemicals are made there; information technology and telematics are also economically important. The city is a tourist center and the gateway to hunting and fishing resorts in nearby lake and forest regions. A fur-trading post was built on the site in 1783, and a canal and lock to bypass the St. Marys rapids was constructed by 1898. Americans destroyed the post and lock during the War of 1812; a new lock was opened in 1895. There are two forest research stations.

Sault Sainte Marie, city (1990 pop. 14,689), seat of Chippewa co., N Mich., Upper Peninsula, a port of entry on the St. Marys River opposite Sault Ste Marie, Ont.; inc. as a city 1887. A variety of light manufactured goods are produced, but the city's economy is principally based on tourism and lake shipping. The famous "Soo" locks on the St. Marys River draw visitors who watch heavily laden ocean vessels and Great Lakes freighters pass through the intricate system that links lakes Superior and Huron. Particularly impressive is the 21-ft (6.4-m) lift to the level of Lake Superior. The region was first explored (1615) by Etienne Brulé, and Father Jacques Marquette established a Jesuit mission there in 1668. French occupation ended in 1763. The British remained in control until 1783, when the area was ceded to the United States. Fort Brady was built in 1822. The discovery of great mineral deposits in the northwest stimulated the construction (1853-55) of the Sault Ste Marie Canal to facilitate the flow of ore; the locks have since been enlarged. An international bridge connects Sault Ste Marie with its Canadian counterpart. Lake Superior State Univ. in the city occupies the historic site of Fort Brady.

Roland de la Platière, Jean Marie, 1734-93, French revolutionary. An inspector general of commerce at Rouen and Amiens, he went to Paris in 1791 and published the Financier patriote. Largely through the influence of his wife, Jeanne Manon Roland de la Platière, Roland rose to power with the Girondists and became (1792) minister of the interior. King Louis XVI dismissed him in July, 1792, but he was restored to office after the overthrow of the monarchy (Aug. 10, 1792). Accused of royalism in 1793, he resigned and fled Paris. When he learned that his wife had been executed, he committed suicide.

Robespierre, Maximilien Marie Isidore, 1758-94, one of the leading figures of the French Revolution.

Early Life

A poor youth, he was enabled to study law in Paris through a scholarship. He won admiration for his abilities, but his austerity and dedication isolated him from easy companionship. Returning to his native Arras, he practiced law and gained some reputation. He soon came under the influence of Jean Jacques Rousseau's theories of democracy and deism, and Robespierre's emphasis on virtue—which in his mind meant civic morality—later earned him the epithet "the Incorruptible."

Robespierre was elected to the States-General of 1789, and his influence in the Jacobin Club grew steadily until he became its leader (see Jacobins). In the National Constituent Assembly (June, 1789-Sept., 1791), he unsuccessfully championed democratic elections and successfully backed the law that made members of the Constituent Assembly ineligible to sit in the Legislative Assembly, which succeeded it.

In the spring of 1792 Robespierre opposed the war proposals of the Girondists, and his opposition made him lose popularity. This was only temporary, however, and he was elected to the insurrectionary Commune of Paris set up on Aug. 10, 1792. As a deputy from Paris in the National Convention, he played an important part in the struggle for power between the Girondists and the Mountain, as the Jacobins in the assembly were known. He demanded the execution of the king and was instrumental in finally purging (May-June, 1793) the Girondists.

Reign of Terror

On July 27, 1793, Robespierre was elected to the Committee of Public Safety, where his power and prestige grew. The dangers of foreign invasion and the urgent need to maintain order and unity led the committee to inaugurate the Reign of Terror. Although it was a collective effort, the name of Robespierre is always associated with it because of his prominence on the committee. Robespierre opposed both the extreme left, under Jacques Hébert, and the moderates, led by Georges Danton and Camille Desmoulins. Each group was in turn arrested and guillotined (Mar.-Apr., 1794). By this time, however, Robespierre's position was becoming precarious; he was faced by divisions within the Committee of Public Safety and by opposition from the Plain in the Convention. The establishment of a new civic religion, partly to combat the atheism of the Hébertists, also provoked criticism.

The Terror Ends

The law of 22 Prairial (June 10) gave the Revolutionary Tribunal greater powers just when military successes convinced the moderates in the Convention that emergency measures were no longer necessary. In answer to a speech by Robespierre that seemed to threaten further purges, former terrorists and ultrarevolutionaries joined the Plain in a dramatic rising within the Convention on 9 Thermidor (July 27, 1794). Robespierre was placed under arrest and was summarily tried and guillotined the next morning (July 28). Robespierre's character and influence have been the subject of great controversy. However, his integrity and devoted republicanism are beyond debate.

Rambert, Dame Marie, 1888-1982, a founder of the English ballet, b. Warsaw as Miriam Rambam. Trained by Jacques Dalcroze in eurythmics, Rambert joined the Diaghilev Ballet Russe as an instructor in 1913. She danced with the company after studying ballet with Enrico Cecchetti. In 1920 she opened her own school in London; her Ballet Rambert became the first permanent school and company in England when, in 1930, she founded the Ballet Club at the Mercury Theatre. Rambert discovered and fostered the talents of many great dancers and major choreographers, including Frederick Ashton and Antony Tudor.

Raffet, Denis Auguste Marie, 1804-60, French lithographer and illustrator; student of Charlet and of Gros. He attained an individual style in his series depicting Napoleon I and his soldiers. His most notable work was a series of lithographs (1850) of the French siege of Rome. An excellent draftsman, Raffet illustrated numerous works, among them the Histoire de la révolution française of Adolphe Thiers.

Portalis, Jean Étienne Marie, 1746-1807, French statesman and lawyer. A moderate, he was suspected of royalist sympathies during the French Revolution but was made a councilor of state and director of ecclesiastic affairs by Napoleon Bonaparte (later French Emperor Napoleon I). Portalis had an important part in making the Concordat of 1801 and in drawing up the Code Napoléon.

Orléans, Henri Philippe Marie, prince d', 1867-1901, French explorer and author, b. England; son of Robert, duke of Chartres. After a journey (1889) from Siberia to Siam, by way of Tibet, and a visit (1892) to SE Africa, he left (1895) Hanoi to complete the earlier work of M. J. F. Garnier on the Mekong River in Indochina. He traveled as far as the Brahmaputra, established the fact that the Thanlwin (Salween) originates in Tibet (now in China), and also discovered the source of the Ayeyarwady. His accounts of his travels include Around Tonkin and Siam (1894, tr. 1894) and From Tonkin to India (1897, tr. 1898).

Noailles, Louis Marie Antoine, vicomte de, 1756-1804, French general and statesman. During the American Revolution he fought with the marquis de Lafayette at Yorktown. As a member of the States-General he proposed (Aug. 4, 1789) the abolition of all titles and feudal privileges. When the French Revolution grew more radical, he emigrated to the United States. He later accepted a command under the vicomte de Rochambeau in Santo Domingo and was mortally wounded in battle.

Montpensier, Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, duchesse de, 1627-93, French princess, called Mademoiselle and La Grande Mademoiselle; daughter of Gaston d'Orléans, the brother of Louis XIII. She took an active part on the rebel side in the Fronde of the Princes; in 1652 she relieved the city of Orléans at the head of her troops and opened the gates of Paris to Louis II de Bourbon, prince de Condé, and his army. Exiled with her father (1652), she returned to court in 1657. She fell in love with the duc de Lauzun; the king's permission for their marriage was granted only to be revoked (1670). Shortly thereafter, Lauzun was imprisoned (1671). Mademoiselle bought his release in 1681 and apparently married him, but they soon separated. Mademoiselle spent the rest of her life in pious works and the composition of her memoirs.

Mignet, François Auguste Marie, 1796-1884, French historian and journalist. With his lifelong friend, Adolphe Thiers, Mignet edited the National, a powerful liberal daily, and helped to overthrow Charles X in the July Revolution of 1830. As a historian, Mignet is best known for L'Histoire de la Révolution française (1824; many later editions and translations). A moderate, Mignet deplored the violence of the Terror but defended the French Revolution as the necessary product of economic and social conditions. He also made significant contributions to the history of the 16th cent., including works on Spanish history.

Medici, Marie de': see Marie de' Medici.

Marie-Galante: see Guadeloupe.

Marie, Alexandre Thomas, 1795-1870, French minister of public works. He served in the revolutionary provisional government of 1848 and in the executive committee that replaced it (Apr., 1848). Supposedly to fulfill the plan of Louis Blanc for social workshops, Marie opened national workshops, but they proved impracticable and costly. It is thought that he deliberately discredited the plan. The abandonment of the program led to the workers' rebellion of the June Days of 1848. After 1848, Marie actively opposed Louis Napoleon (later Napoleon III).

Marie de' Medici, 1573-1642, queen of France, second wife of King Henry IV and daughter of Francesco de' Medici, grand duke of Tuscany. She was married to Henry in 1600. After his assassination (1610) she became regent for her son Louis XIII. She reversed the policies set by her husband; the duc de Sully was replaced by her favorite, Concini, and the carefully hoarded treasury surplus was dissipated in court extravagance and in pensions to the discontented nobles. In foreign affairs she abandoned the traditional anti-Hapsburg policy. A new Franco-Spanish alliance was formed by the marriage of Louis to Anne of Austria, daughter of King Philip III of Spain, and was further cemented by the marriage of the French princess Elizabeth to the future Philip IV of Spain. Having remained in power for three years beyond the king's majority, Marie was forced into exile after the murder of Concini (1617). In 1619 her partisans rose in revolt, but she was reconciled to her son in 1622. After the rise to power of her former favorite, Cardinal Richelieu, she attempted (1630) to regain influence by urging the king to dismiss his minister of state; instead Louis forced his mother into a new exile at Compiègne, whence she fled to the Netherlands (1631), never to return to France. She was the mother of Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles I of England. The marriage of Marie and Henry IV was the subject of a celebrated series of paintings by Peter Paul Rubens.

Marie de l'Incarnation, 1599-1672, French missionary. Her name was originally Marie Guyard. She was married in her youth and bore a son; when her son was 12 years old, her husband being dead, she entered the Ursuline order. At her entreaty, the authorities gave her and another nun permission to go to New France to work among the Native Americans. In 1639 she arrived in Quebec, where she was soon head of an Ursuline convent. She administered her house with great success and worked among the Native Americans with notable results. Her letters are valuable sources of French Canadian history. She wrote devotional works and catechisms, not only in French but in Native American languages.

Marie de France, fl. 1155-90, poet. Born in France, she spent her adult life in England in aristocratic circles and wrote in Anglo-Norman. She is best known for some dozen lais; several are of Celtic origin, and some are Arthurian.

Marie Louise, 1791-1847, empress of the French (1810-15) as consort of Napoleon I and duchess of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla (1816-47), daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Francis II (later Emperor of Austria as Francis I.) She was married (1810) to Napoleon I and was the mother of Napoleon II. When Napoleon I was defeated (1814), she fled to Vienna. Her duchies were awarded to her at the Congress of Vienna; she ruled them ineptly from Parma, with the assistance of her lover, Count Adam Adalbert von Neipperg, whom she married morganatically in 1821. After his death (1829) she married the comte de Bombelles.

Marie Leszczynska, 1703-68, queen of France, wife of Louis XV, and daughter of Stanislaus I of Poland. Married in 1725, she bore 10 children and was the grandmother of Louis XVI. Of retiring disposition, she made no attempt to rival the king's mistresses. Her marriage facilitated French involvement in the War of the Polish Succession.

Marie Caroline, 1752-1814, queen of Naples, consort of Ferdinand IV (later Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies), daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and Maria Theresa, and sister of Queen Marie Antoinette of France. She was married to Ferdinand, son of Charles III of Spain, in 1768. Strongly influenced by her favorites, Sir John Acton and Emma, Lady Hamilton, she sought to eliminate Spanish influence in the kingdom and to establish close ties with Austria and England. Her court was a center of scandal and intrigue. Late in 1798 she and Ferdinand were forced to flee Naples with the advent of the short-lived Parthenopean Republic set up by the French Revolutionary army. The couple was again expelled from Naples in 1806 by Napoleon; they took up residence in Sicily. Marie was subsequently banished because of her intrigues, and she died at Vienna.

Marie Byrd Land, area of W Antarctica, E of the Ross Shelf Ice and the Ross Sea and S of the Amundsen Sea; the Ford Ranges lie in the northwest part. The region was discovered and claimed for the United States by Richard E. Byrd in 1929. Much of this region was explored during the second Byrd expedition (1933-35) and the U.S. Antarctic Service Expedition (1939-41).

Marie Antoinette, 1755-93, queen of France, wife of King Louis XVI and daughter of Austrian Archduchess Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I. She was married in 1770 to the dauphin, who became king in 1774. Her marriage had been made to strengthen France's alliance with its long-time enemy, Austria. The union, however, was not altogether popular, and Marie Antoinette's actions only increased hostility toward her. She constantly sought the advice of the Austrian ambassador and attempted to influence French foreign policy in favor of Austria.

Unhappy in her marriage, which remained unconsummated for seven years, she surrounded herself with a dissolute clique, led by Yolande de Polignac and Marie Thérèse de Lamballe, and threw herself into a life of pleasure and careless extravagance. Her notorious reputation led to scandals such as the Affair of the Diamond Necklace and to rumors concerning her relations with officers of the guard and with Hans Axel Fersen. The famous solution to the bread famine, "Let them eat cake," is unjustly attributed to the queen, but it is certain that Marie Antoinette lacked understanding of economic problems. With the birth of her first son, her life became more sedate.

Although she had contributed to the downfall of A. R. J. Turgot in 1776 and was hostile to Jacques Necker, her influence on the king's decisions during the first two years of the French Revolution (1789-91) has been exaggerated. She was brought with the king from Versailles to Paris (Oct., 1789) and was seized at Varennes when the royal family attempted to escape (1791). Despite her hatred of the Revolution, the apathy of the king forced her to conduct negotiations first with the comte de Mirabeau, then with Antoine Barnave. Simultaneously, however, she secretly urged Austrian intervention; after war was declared, she fully identified the cause of the Bourbon dynasty with that of France.

After the storming of the Tuileries palace (Aug., 1792), she and her husband were removed to the Temple and accused of treason. The king was executed in Jan., 1793. Marie Antoinette's son was taken from her (see Louis XVII), and she was transferred to the Conciergerie. Known derisively as the "Widow Capet," she was tried before the Revolutionary Tribunal (Oct. 14-15, 1793), found guilty, and guillotined (Oct. 16). In her last misfortunes she displayed steadfastness, courage, serenity, and dignity. Her portraits, notably by Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, are well known.

Marie, 1875-1938, queen of Romania, consort of Ferdinand. The daughter of Alfred, duke of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, she was the granddaughter of Czar Alexander II of Russia and of Queen Victoria of England. Marie was instrumental in bringing Romania into the Allied camp in World War I, and she followed the Romanian armies as a Red Cross nurse. Her writings, in English, include novels and collections of fairy tales, as well as her autobiographies (1934 and 1935).

Mangin, Charles Marie Emmanuel, 1866-1925, French general. A graduate of Saint-Cyr, he served in the Sudan under Jean Marchand and in French North Africa. His works on French colonial activities show concern with colonial development and supply a useful exposition of French colonial policy. Mangin, who commanded in World War I and was prominent in the defense of Verdun, supported a costly policy of offensive warfare as opposed to trench warfare. In 1921 he became a member of the supreme war council and inspector general of colonial troops.

MacMahon, Marie Edmé Patrice de, 1808-93, president of the French republic (1873-79), marshal of France. MacMahon, of Irish descent, fought in the Algerian campaign, in the Crimean War, and in the Italian war of 1859. For his victory at Magenta (1859), Napoleon III created him duke of Magenta. He was governor-general (1864-70) of Algeria and a commander in the Franco-Prussian War, taking part in the battle resulting in the great defeat of the French at Sedan (1870). He aided (1871) in the bloody suppression of the Commune of Paris. A monarchist, he was chosen by the monarchist majority in the national assembly to succeed Adolphe Thiers in 1873 as president of France for a seven-year term. MacMahon inaugurated measures designed to repress the republicans but was unwilling to go to the illegal extremes necessary to reestablish a monarchy. This reluctance, as well as dissension among the monarchists, served to preserve the Third Republic, and France received its new constitution in the organic laws of 1875. On May 16 (le Seize Mai), 1877, MacMahon precipitated a crisis by forcing the republican premier, Jules Simon, to resign, although Simon had the support of the newly elected (1876) chamber of deputies, which had a republican majority. MacMahon appointed a royalist cabinet, dissolved the chamber of deputies, and ordered new elections; this was the only time during the Third Republic that the chamber was dissolved. Despite a Republican victory in the elections in Oct., 1877, MacMahon again named a royalist ministry. He was finally forced (December) to accept a ministry that had the approval of the chamber of deputies. This incident established the principle of ministerial responsibility to the chamber rather than to the president, thus limiting presidential power in the Third Republic. Involved in continuing conflict with the chamber of deputies, MacMahon resigned in Jan., 1879, before the end of his seven-year term. Jules Grévy succeeded him.

Lesseps, Ferdinand Marie, vicomte de, 1805-94, French diplomat and engineer. He entered the consular service in 1825 and was minister to Spain (1848-49). Later, while serving in Egypt, he conceived the idea of a Suez Canal, and in 1854 he obtained from Said Pasha, viceroy of Egypt, the concession for opening a passage through the Isthmus of Suez. He was the chief figure in organizing the canal company and raised, by popular subscription in France, over half the capital needed. He supervised the actual construction (1859-69) and achieved world renown when the venture proved successful. In 1878 he assumed the presidency of a French company formed to construct the Panama Canal, and work was begun in 1881. Lack of funds forced the project into bankruptcy seven years later, amid charges of corruption. Lesseps was brought to trial for misappropriation of funds and, together with his son, was sentenced to prison by the French government. The sentence, however, was not carried out, and most objective observers, then and since, have held Lesseps to have been guilty only of negligence.

Lehn, Jean-Marie, 1939-, French chemist, Ph.D. Univ. of Strasbourg, 1963. A professor at Louis Pasteur Univ. (1970-78) and the Collège de France (1979-), Lehn did ground-breaking research in the creation of artificial enzymes. Expanding on the work of Charles J. Pedersen, Lehn synthesized a three-dimensional molecule that combined with a neurotransmitter in the brain, opening the possibility of creating artificial enzymes that function better than natural enzymes. He shared the 1987 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Pedersen and Donald J. Cram for the development and application of molecules with highly selective, structure specific interactions, i.e., molecules that can "recognize" each other and choose which other molecules they will form complexes with.

Legendre, Adrien Marie, 1752-1833, French mathematician. He is noted especially for his work on the theory of numbers, on which he wrote an essay (1798) containing the law of quadratic reciprocity as well as several supplements, all later incorporated in a definitive work, Théorie des nombres (1830). The results of his long study of elliptic integrals appeared in Traité des fonctions elliptiques (3 vol., 1825-32). He invented independently of C. F. Gauss, and was the first to state in print (1806), the method of least squares, and he collaborated in drawing up centesimal trigonometric tables. He taught at the École militaire, Paris, and at the École normale and was associated with the bureau of longitudes from 1812. His Éléments de géométrie (1794, tr. 1867) was an influential textbook.

Leconte de Lisle, Charles Marie, 1818-94, French poet. His first two books of poetry, Poèmes antiques (1852) and Poèmes et poésies (1855), were immediately successful. It was, however, Poésies barbares (1862; later enlarged as Poèmes barbares, 1872) that established him as the leading figure of the group later to be known as the Parnassians. Anti-Christian and a pessimist, Leconte de Lisle saw death as the only existing reality and drew his inspiration from antiquity. Later works include Les Erinnyes (1872), a verse drama; and Poèmes tragiques (1884). He was elected to the French Academy.

Leclair, Jean-Marie, 1697-1764, French violinist and composer. Leclair studied in Italy, and his music was strongly influenced by Italian models, especially Vivaldi, although it has its own distinct character. He composed much violin music and an opera. Leclair was murdered, possibly by his estranged wife.

Le Pen, Jean-Marie, 1928-, French politician. He graduated from law school, was elected (1956) a parliamentary deputy, and criticized President de Gaulle's Algerian policy. Since 1972 he has led the extremely right-wing National Front. His views against immigration and his support for national defense have aroused strong feelings in France, and he has been convicted and fined for remarks that minimized aspects of the Holocaust and the Nazi occupation of France. Although his party won a number of seats in the National Assembly during the late 1980s, the party was unsuccessful in the 1988 elections. Still, his presidential campaign in 1988 was supported by four million voters. He became a member of the European parliament in 1984. He was stripped of his seat in 2000 as a result of his 1998 conviction for assaulting a rival politician, but it was later restored by the courts pending an appeal, which he lost in 2003. In the first round of the 2002 presidential election Le Pen edged out Premier Lionel Jospin to finish second behind President Jacques Chirac, but in the subsequent runoff Le Pen garnered only 18% of the vote. Le Pen placed fourth in the 2007 presidential election.

Laurencin, Marie, 1885-1956, French painter and print maker. She studied under Carrière and was influenced by the fauvist and cubist movements. By 1918 Laurencin had developed her elegant, highly personal style, which became extremely popular and which altered very little subsequently. It is characterized by extreme simplification of form, flat and decorative surface, and delicate pastel colors (e.g., The Assembly, 1910).

Lamballe, Marie Thérèse Louise de Savoie-Carignan, princesse de, 1749-92, devoted friend and favorite of Queen Marie Antoinette of France. Extremely unpopular, she was killed by a mob during the French Revolution in the September massacres (1792), and her head was displayed on a pike under the queen's windows.

Lamartine, Alphonse Marie Louis de, 1790-1869, French poet, novelist, and statesman. After a trip to Italy and a brief period in the army, Lamartine began to write and achieved immediate success with his first publication, Méditations poétiques (1820). This group of 24 poems, including the famous "Le Lac," expressed his own feelings—religious, melancholic, or amorous—as he came in contact with nature and the land. He drew from tradition, from Ronsard as well as from the 18th cent., while adding something new in the form of a very personal lyricism expressed in a verse that was intended to be musical. This musicality was developed in Harmonies (1830). His religious orthodoxy becomes a kind of pantheism in Jocelyn (1836) and La Chute d'un ange (1838). In politics, Lamartine held aloof from all parties; his idealism made him embrace the principles of democracy, social justice, and international peace. His Histoire des Girondins (1847), a glorification of the Girondists, was immensely popular, and after the February Revolution of 1848 Lamartine briefly headed the provisional government and was a member of the executive committee that replaced it. His moderation soon cost him the support of both the right and the left wings of the revolutionists. He competed unsuccessfully for the presidency with Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (later Napoleon III). Lamartine left politics and devoted himself entirely to writing, spending much of the remainder of his life in a hopeless effort to repay the fantastic debts he had accumulated in his youth. His later prose works include the novel Graziella (1849, tr. 1876) and Les Confidences (1852).

Lafayette, or La Fayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, marquis de, 1757-1834, French general and political leader. He was born of a distinguished family and early entered the army. Enthusiastic over the news of the American Revolution, he evaded all obstacles set in his way by the officially neutral French government and left France to join George Washington's army. He arrived (1777) in Philadelphia, where Congress appointed him a major general. He quickly won the close friendship of Washington, was wounded at Brandywine, shared the hardships of Valley Forge, and obtained a divisional command. After a trip to France (1779-80), where he negotiated for French aid, he distinguished himself in the Yorktown campaign. Returning to France in 1782, Lafayette was a member of the Assembly of Notables (1787) and the States-General (1789). Elected vice president of the National Assembly, he was made commander of the militia (later named the National Guard) the day after the fall of the Bastille (July, 1789). In this key position he sought to exploit his immense popularity and to maintain order by acting as moderator between the contending factions. However, he did not have the confidence of the court, and he lost all influence and popularity when he gave the order to fire into a crowd that had gathered (July 17, 1791) on the Champs de Mars to draft a petition for dethronement of the king. He took command (1792) of the army of the center, formed in preparation for war against Austria. After a brief visit to Paris (June, 1792), when he attempted to defend the monarchy, he returned to the front. He was, however, relieved of his command and ordered to return to Paris. Lafayette left his army, fled (Aug., 1792) across the border, and was captured and imprisoned in Austria. Finally liberated (1797) by Napoleon, he returned (1799) to France, where he lived in retirement during the First Empire. As member of the chamber of deputies in the Restoration, he joined the liberal party. In 1824-25 he visited the United States, where he was given an unparalleled welcome. Lafayette took part in the July Revolution (1830) as a leader of the moderates. His prestige was largely responsible for the installation of Louis Philippe as king of the French. Lafayette's unswerving courage, integrity, and idealism made him a popular symbol of the bond between France and the United States. His direct descendants, the Chambrun family, are honorary U.S. citizens. The modern French flag was created by Lafayette in July, 1789, by combining the royal white with the blue and red of Paris. For selected writings, see Stanley J. Izderda et al., Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution (4 vol., 1977-81).

La Fayette, Marie Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, comtesse de, 1634-92, French novelist of the classical period, whose chief work, La Princesse de Clèves (1678), is the first great French novel. The psychological realism of this story of a woman's renunciation of an illicit love, treated with chaste simplicity and quiet wit, has given the novel enduring appeal. Mme de La Fayette's friendship with the duc de La Rochefoucauld has led to unfounded theories that he appears in her novel as the unhappy lover and that he collaborated on the work.

La Condamine, Charles Marie de, 1701-74, French traveler and mathematical geographer. He was one of a group sent to Peru in 1735 to measure the length of an arc of one degree of the meridian at the equator. While in South America he made the first scientific exploration of the Amazon region. His journal was published in 1751.

Jacquard, Joseph Marie, 1752-1834, French inventor, whose loom is of the greatest importance in modern mechanical figure weaving. After several years of experimentation, he received a bronze medal for his model exhibited at the Industrial Exposition at Paris (1801). In 1806 his perfected loom was bought by the state and declared public property, and he was granted an annuity of 3,000 francs and a royalty on all looms sold. The Jacquard loom, the first machine to weave in patterns, has had countless adaptations in the modern textile industry.

Hérault de Séchelles, Marie Jean, 1759-94, French revolutionary. A lawyer, he became a favorite of Queen Marie Antoinette, but nevertheless joined the revolutionary cause in 1789. A member of the Legislative Assembly and of the Convention and the Committee of Public Safety, he was prominent in shaping the war measures of 1792 and in establishing the revolutionary tribunal that was to be the main instrument of the Reign of Terror. Ironically, he was also chief author of the republican constitution of 1793, which was superseded by the dictatorship of the Terror. He was guillotined in Mar., 1794.

Hugo, Victor Marie, Vicomte, 1802-85, French poet, dramatist, and novelist, b. Besançon. His father was a general under Napoleon. As a child he was taken to Italy and Spain and at a very early age had published his first book of poems, resolving "to be Chateaubriand or nothing." The preface to his drama Cromwell (1827) placed him at the head of the romanticists; he remained the greatest exponent of the school and was considered by many the greatest poet of his day. His principal poetic works are Les Orientales (1829), Les Feuilles d'automne (1831), Les Chants du crépuscule (1835), Les Voix intérieures (1837), Les Rayons et les ombres (1840), Les Châtiments (1853), Les Contemplations (1856), and La Légende des siècles (1859). The production of his poetic drama Hernani (tr. 1830), which broke with conventions of the French theater, caused a riot between the classicists and the romanticists. The drama was the basis of Verdi's opera Ernani; Verdi also made use of Hugo's play Le Roi s'amuse (1832) for Rigoletto. Other plays include Marion Delorme (1831, tr. 1872), Ruy Blas (1838, tr. 1850), and Les Burgraves (1843), the failure of which spelled the end of the romantic drama. The tragic deaths in that year of Hugo's daughter and her husband were reflected in a moving series of poems of childhood, including The Art of Being a Grandfather (1877). Hugo's two greatest novels are Notre Dame de Paris (1831, tr. 1833) and Les Misérables (1862, tr. 1862), which are epic in scope and portray the sufferings of humanity with great compassion and power. His other important novels include Les Travailleurs de la mer (1866, tr. Toilers of the Sea, 1866), and Quatre-vingt-treize (1874, tr. Ninety-three, 1874). He began his political career as a supporter of the duke of Reichstadt, Napoleon's son; later Hugo espoused the cause of Louis Philippe's son, and then for a short time of Louis Bonaparte. Because he afterward opposed Napoleon III, Hugo was banished and went first to Brussels, then to the isle of Jersey, and later (1855) to Guernsey, where he lived until 1870, refusing an amnesty. In 1870 he returned to Paris in triumph. He was elected to the national assembly and the senate. His last years were marked by public veneration and acclaim, and he was buried in the Panthéon. Critics are divided as to his relative greatness, but he was a towering figure in 19th-century French literature.

Gérando, Joseph Marie de, 1772-1842, French philosopher and political figure. Joining the insurrection in Lyons against the French Revolutionary government, he was captured and condemned to death (1793) but escaped abroad. Under the empire of Napoleon I, he held administrative offices in France, Italy, and Spain. A member of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences from 1832, he was made a peer in 1837. A major philanthropist, he did much for the education of the working classes and of deaf-mutes. His philosophical writings are partly based on the system of Étienne Bonnot de Condillac.

Guyon, Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte, 1648-1717, French mystic and author of writings dealing largely with quietism. Confined by the government (1688) in a convent because of her heretical opinions and her correspondence with Miguel de Molinos, she was released through the efforts of Mme de Maintenon. François Fénelon, who became her disciple, defended her in a famous controversy with Bossuet. She was later condemned and imprisoned (1695-1702) in the Bastille. Her collected works appeared (1767-91) in 40 volumes.

Garnier, Marie Joseph François, 1839-73, French explorer and naval officer, usually known as Francis Garnier. He served (1860-62) against Annam and China, then in the administration of Cochin China. In 1866-68 he accompanied Doudart de Lagrée's expedition through Cambodia, Laos, and Yunnan. The route followed, largely unknown to European geographers, was accurately mapped. On the death of the leader en route, Garnier led the party down the Chang (Yangtze) River to Shanghai. After taking part in the defense of Paris against the Prussians (1870-71), which he described in Le Siège de Paris (1871), he returned to East Asia. In the Tonkin expedition of 1873 he captured Hanoi but was killed there. He wrote Voyage d'exploration en Indo-Chine (1873).

Fréron, Louis Marie Stanislas, 1754-1802, French revolutionary; son of Élie Fréron. After the outbreak (1789) of the French Revolution, he founded a radical journal, Orateur du peuple. Fréron was a member of the Convention, took part in the Reign of Terror, and helped to bring about the downfall of Maximilien Robespierre in the Thermidorian reaction (July, 1794), of which he was a leader. He died as a member of the French expedition to Haiti.

Franchet d'Esperey, Louis Félix Marie François, 1856-1942, marshal of France. He commanded the French 5th army in the battle of the Marne in 1914, the eastern army in 1916, and the northern army in 1917. In June, 1918, he took command at Thessaloníki, where the Allies were stalled. There, he brilliantly accomplished the defeat of the Bulgarian armies and led the Allies to victory in the Balkans. He was made a marshal of France in 1921 and was elected to the French Academy in 1934.

Evert, Christine Marie, 1954-, American tennis player, b. Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Noted for her poise on the court, her strong, two-handed backhand, and her nearly flawless baseline game, she won at least one Grand Slam title every year from 1974 to 1986. She won seven French Open titles (1974, 1975, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1986), six U.S. Open titles (1975-77, 1978, 1980, 1982), three Wimbledon titles (1974, 1976, 1981), and two Australian Open titles (1982, 1984).

Ebner-Eschenbach, Marie, Baronin von, 1830-1916, Austrian writer. She began writing lyrics and plays with small success, but in middle age achieved fame as a writer of Novellen. Her popular works, in the style of "poetic realism," include the novel Das Gemeindekind (1887, tr. The Child of the Parish, 1893) and Komtesse Muschi (1885, tr. The Two Countesses, 1893).

Duhem, Pierre Maurice Marie, 1861-1916, French physicist and philosopher and historian of science. After studying at the École Normale Supérieure he taught at Lille (1887-1893), Rennes (1893-1894), and Bordeaux (1894-1916). His extension and application of the thermodynamic potential to topics in chemistry ranks him among the founders of modern physical chemistry. His Traité d'énergétique générale (2 vol., 1911) aimed at a generalized, abstract thermodynamics that subsumed classical mechanics. His major philosophical work, La théorie physique: Son objet, sa structure (1906; tr. The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory, 1954), depreciates pictorial models in favor of an axiomatic approach, according to which a physical theory is not an explanation, but a system of mathematical propositions that represents experimental laws. As a historian Duhem discovered important currents of medieval thought in physics, cosmology, and astronomy, which he saw as precursors of the 17th-century scientific revolution. He set forth this material, hitherto almost unknown, in Études sur Léonard de Vinci (3 vol., 1906-13) and Le Système du monde (10 vol., 1913-59).

Duchesne, Louis Marie Olivier, 1843-1922, French Roman Catholic ecclesiastic, educator, church historian, and archaeologist. He made a scientific expedition to Mt. Athos, Greece, and to Asia Minor (1874-76). His thesis, tude sur Liber pontificalis, earned (1877) him the professorship of church history at the Catholic Institute, Paris, which he held for eight years. He founded the Bulletin critique (1880), which presented his views on theology, history, and philology and edited and published an edition of Liber pontificalis (2 vol., 1886-92). Appointed to the directorship of the French school of archaeology at Rome, he there became president of the papal commission to deliberate revising the breviary (1902). Among his works are Christian Worship: Its Origin and Evolution (tr. 1903, 5th ed. 1949, repr. 1956), and Early History of the Christian Church (3 vol., tr. 1910-24, repr. 1957-60).

Du Deffand, Marie de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise, 1697-1780, French woman of letters, whose salon was frequented (1753-80) by the leaders of the Enlightenment. She is widely considered the most brilliant woman of her era. Her letters (1766-80) to Horace Walpole, whom she loved deeply, are typical of her brilliant, witty correspondence.

Dressler, Marie, 1869-1934, American actress, b. Coburg, Ont., Canada. She appeared on stage and in vaudeville before making her first film, Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914). Although she gained fame as a large, good-natured comedienne, she gave a strong performance as a disreputable old alcoholic in Anna Christie (1930). Her other films include Min and Bill (1931), Tugboat Annie (1932), and Dinner at Eight (1933).

Daubenton, Louis Jean Marie, 1716-1800, French naturalist. He was a professor at the Collège de France from 1778; his work touched many fields—comparative anatomy, plant physiology, mineralogy, and experimental agriculture. He is known for his work on the anatomy of mammals in Buffon's Histoire naturelle and is credited with introducing the Merino sheep into France.

Cousin-Montauban, Charles Guillaume Marie: see Palikao, Charles Guillaume Cousin-Montauban, comte de.

Couperus, Louis Marie Anne, 1863-1923, Dutch novelist. In his early works he emphasized with graceful irony the determining forces of human history and environment; this fatalism characterizes all his novels. Couperus is best known for the realistic family saga De Boeken der kleine Zielen (4 vol., 1901-03, tr. The Book of the Small Souls, 4 vol., 1914-18). Other works include symbolic fairy tales and verse.

Cornu, Marie Alfred, 1841-1902, French physicist. From 1867 he was professor at the École polytechnique, Paris. He measured the velocity of light and made important contributions to spectrum analysis, astronomy, and optics. Cornu's spiral, a curve for calculating light intensities in Fresnel diffraction, is named for him.

Cormenin, Louis Marie de La Haye, vicomte de, 1788-1868, French politician, jurist, and pamphleteer. He held minor offices under Napoleon, and after 1828 he sat almost continuously in the chamber of deputies. Under the pseudonym Timon he wrote numerous pamphlets against the government of Louis Philippe and in favor of liberal reforms. After the 1848 Revolution, Cormenin was influential in drawing up the new republican constitution. His works include the legal compilation Questions de droit administratif (1822), Le Livre des orateurs (1836), and Entretiens de village (1846).

Corelli, Marie, pseud. of Mary Mackay, 1855-1924, English novelist. Her popular, highly moralistic books, written in flamboyant, pretentious prose, include A Romance of Two Worlds (1886), Thelma (1887), Barabbas (1893), and The Sorrows of Satan (1895). She was Queen Victoria's favorite novelist.

Condorcet, Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas Caritat, marquis de, 1743-94, French mathematician, philosopher, and political leader, educated at Reims and Paris. He became a member of the Academy of Sciences in 1769 and of the French Academy in 1782. His work on the theory of probability (1785) was a valuable contribution to mathematics. Condorcet took part in the French Revolution, but, opposing the extremes of the Jacobins, he was condemned and died in prison. His best-known work is Esquisse d'un tableau historique des progrès de l'esprit humain (1795; tr. Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind, 1955). In that work Condorcet traced human development through nine epochs to the French Revolution and predicted in the 10th epoch the ultimate perfection of man.

Collot d'Herbois, Jean Marie, 1750-96, French revolutionary, originally an actor and playwright. Although a member of his Jacobin club, he favored a constitutional monarch. His Almanach du Père Gérard (1791) was criticized for its royalist tinge, although its patriotism won a competition sponsored by the Jacobins. He was a member of the revolutionary Commune of Paris and his politics became increasingly militant. Elected to the National Convention (Sept., 1792), he became identified as a supporter of Jacques René Hébert and favored the elimination of the Girondists. In Sept., 1793, he was appointed to the Committee of Public Safety, which suppressed the counterrevolutionary attempts at Lyons in a blood bath. Although he turned against Robespierre on 9 Thermidor (July 27, 1794), he fell in the Thermidorian reaction and was deported to French Guiana.

Chénier, Marie Joseph, 1764-1811, French poet and dramatist, b. Constantinople; brother of André Chénier. A member of the Convention, the Council of Five Hundred, and the Tribunate during the French Revolution, he wrote a number of political and historical plays, notably Charles IX (1789). Besides the comprehensive Tableau historique de l'état et des progrès de la littérature française depuis 1789 (1816), he is famous for his songs of the Revolutionary period, particularly the Chant du départ.

Chevreuse, Marie de Rohan-Montbazon, duchesse de, 1600-1679, French beauty and politician, an intimate of the French queen, Anne of Austria. Her continuous intrigues in opposition to King Louis XIII's minister, Cardinal Richelieu, caused her to be banished repeatedly from the court and to be exiled. She proved to be even more dangerous abroad because of her intrigues with France's enemies, notably Duke Charles IV of Lorraine. In the Fronde she at first served as a link with Spain against Cardinal Mazarin, Richelieu's successor, but subsequently she became Mazarin's ally.

Chaumonot, Joseph Marie, 1611-93, French Jesuit missionary to the New World. He arrived in 1639 in Quebec. He worked first with Brébeuf among the Huron near Georgian Bay until the time of the massacres and destruction by the Iroquois (1649); he escaped and led 400 Huron to the reservation appointed for them on the Île d'Orléans at Quebec. He next went into central New York to preach to the Iroquois (1655-58) and then returned to Quebec, where he remained. His autobiography is important, and his Huron grammar is unique.

Chambord, Henri Charles Ferdinand Marie Dieudonné, comte de, 1820-83, Bourbon claimant to the French throne, posthumous son of Charles Ferdinand, duc de Berry. His original title was duke of Bordeaux. His grandfather, Charles X, abdicated in his favor during the Revolution of 1830, and he is known to the legitimists as Henry V, although he never held the throne. He accompanied Charles into exile and spent most of the rest of his life at Frohsdorf, Austria. In 1832 his mother, Caroline de Berry, unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow Louis Philippe. Efforts to reconcile his claims with those of the Orleanist pretender, Louis Philippe Albert d'Orléans (see under Orléans, family), after the February Revolution of 1848, met with little success. In 1871, after the fall of the Second Empire, Chambord's prospects improved, and in 1873 the Orleanist pretender relinquished his claims in Chambord's favor. However, his stubborn adherence to the Bourbon flag in preference to the national flag, destroyed his chance of recognition. He died without issue, and his claims passed to the house of Bourbon-Orléans.

Caylus, Marie Marguerite, comtesse de, 1673-1729, French writer and actress. A noted beauty and wit, she was lauded for her performance at Saint-Cyr in Racine's Esther. Her Souvenirs (1770), edited by Voltaire, describe the court of Louis XIV with vivacity and taste.

Carěme, Marie Antoine, 1784-1833, celebrated French cook and gastronomist. He was chef for Talleyrand, Czar Alexander I, George IV, and Baron Rothschild. His writings on the culinary art include L'Art de la cuisine française (5 vol., 1833-34).

Brinvilliers, Marie Madeleine d'Aubray, marquise de: see Poison Affair.

Brackenridge, Henry Marie, 1786-1871, American writer, b. Pittsburgh; son of Hugh Henry Brackenridge. Admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1806, he moved to St. Louis, where he was a lawyer and journalist. Among his writings are Views of Louisiana (1814), part of which was one of the sources of Washington Irving's Astoria, and a pamphlet South America (1817), which puts forth a policy similar to the Monroe Doctrine. Sent to South America to study political conditions, he recounted his experiences in Voyage to South America (1819). His Recollections of Persons and Places in the West (1834) is a valuable historical source.

Bichat, Marie François Xavier, 1771-1802, French anatomist and physiologist. He studied the tissues, giving them that name and classifying them into 21 types; this work was the basis of modern histology. He wrote Traité des membranes (1800), Recherches physiologiques sur la vie et sur la mort (1800), Traité d'anatomie descriptive (1801-3, in 5 vol.), and Anatomie générale (1801).

Beyle, Marie Henri: see Stendhal.

Barnave, Antoine Pierre Joseph Marie, 1761-93, French revolutionary. A member of the States-General of 1789 from Grenoble, he was a brilliant speaker and leader of the Jacobins. After Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette fled to Varennes in 1791, Barnave believed that the king might finally be persuaded to accept a constitutional government, thereby avoiding the impending political anarchy. He began a correspondence with Marie Antoinette, encouraging her to convert the monarchy to the Revolution; this correspondence was later used as evidence of Barnave's treasonous activities. In July, 1791, he spoke in the assembly in favor of the restoration of the king as a constitutional monarch and appealed for an end to the Revolution. He retired to Grenoble, and was tried for treason and guillotined (1793). His history of the French Revolution, written during his imprisonment, is considered a major work that tried to put the Revolution into a broader political and social framework.

Bancroft, Marie Effie Wilton, Lady, 1839-1921, English actress and manager. She made her debut (1856) at the Lyceum Theatre, London, and in 1865 became joint manager of the Prince of Wales's Theatre, London, with Sir Squire Bancroft, 1841-1926, whose entire name was Squire Bancroft White Butterfield. They were married in 1867. With their production of Caste in the same year, the Bancrofts, as co-stars, began an association with its author, Tom Robertson, that was to prove most successful. Their presentations of his plays, which were more true to life than the current melodramas, and their utilization of the reforms of Mme Vestris introduced realism to the 19th-century English stage. They continued their work at the Haymarket theater in London (1880-85). The Bancrofts appeared together until 1886, when Mrs. Bancroft retired. Squire Bancroft was knighted in 1895.

Angoulěme, Marie Thérèse Charlotte, duchesse d', 1778-1851, wife of Louis Antoine d'Angoulěme; daughter of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. She was imprisoned (1792-95) during the French Revolution. Energetic and ambitious, she exerted considerable political influence after the restoration of the French monarchy during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X. She died in Frohsdorf, Austria.

Ampère, André Marie, 1775-1836, French physicist, mathematician, and natural philosopher. He was professor of mathematics at the École Polytechnique, Paris, and later at the Collège de France. Known for his contributions to electrodynamics, including the formulation of Ampère's law, he confirmed and amplified the work of Oersted on the relationship of electricity and magnetism, and he invented the astatic needle. The ampere was named for him. His writings include Recueil d'observations électro-dynamiques (1822) and Essai sur la philosophie des sciences (2 vol., 1834-43, vol. 1 repr. 1838).

(born Nov. 22, 1890, Lille, France—died Nov. 9, 1970, Colombey-les-Deux-Églises) French soldier, statesman, and architect of France's Fifth Republic. He joined the army in 1913 and fought with distinction in World War I. He was promoted to the staff of the supreme war council in 1925. In 1940 he was promoted to brigadier general and served briefly as undersecretary of state for defense under Paul Reynaud. After the fall of France to the Germans, he left for England and started the Free French movement. Devoted to France and dedicated to its liberation, he moved to Algiers in 1943 and became president of the French Committee of National Liberation, at first jointly with Henri-Honoré Giraud. After the liberation of Paris, he returned and headed two provisional governments, then resigned in 1946. He opposed the Fourth Republic, and in 1947 he formed the Rally of the French People (RPF), but severed his connections with it in 1953. He retired from public life and wrote his memoirs. When an insurrection in Algeria threatened to bring civil war to France, he returned to power in 1958, as prime minister with powers to reform the constitution. That same year he was elected president of the new Fifth Republic, which ensured a strong presidency. He ended the Algerian War and transformed France's African territories into 12 independent states. He withdrew France from NATO, and his policy of neutrality during the Vietnam War was seen by many as anti-Americanism. He began a policy of détente with Iron Curtain countries and traveled widely to form a bond with French-speaking countries. After the civil unrest of May 1968 by students and workers, he was defeated in a referendum on constitutional amendments and resigned in 1969.

Learn more about de Gaulle, Charles (-André-Marie-Joseph) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born March 30, 1844, Metz, France—died Jan. 8, 1896, Paris) French lyric poet. After entering the civil service, he was first associated with the Parnassian poets, contributing to the first volume of the anthology Le Parnasse contemporain (1866). His early collections, Poèmes saturniens (1866), Fêtes galantes (1869), La Bonne chanson (1870), and Romances sans paroles (1874), show the intense lyricism and musicality that would mark all his verse. His marriage was shattered by his infatuation with Arthur Rimbaud, and the two scandalized Paris with their behaviour in 1872–73. While in prison in Belgium (1873–75) for shooting Rimbaud when the latter threatened to leave him, he converted to Catholicism and probably composed the famous “Art poétique,” adopted in 1882 by the poets of the Symbolist movement. Sagesse (1880) expresses his religious faith and his emotional odyssey. He later taught French and English; he spent his late years in poverty, but just before his death he was sponsored for a major international lecture tour. His Les Poètes maudits (1884; “The Accursed Poets”) consists of short biographical studies of six poets, including Stéphane Mallarmé and Rimbaud. He is regarded as the third great member (with Charles Baudelaire and Mallarmé) of the so-called Decadents.

Learn more about Verlaine, Paul (-Marie) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Marie Grosholtz

(born Dec. 1, 1761, Strasbourg, France—died April 16, 1850, London, Eng.) French British founder of Madame Tussaud's museum of wax figures in London. From 1780 until the French Revolution, she served as art tutor to Louis XVI's sister. During the Reign of Terror she made death masks from heads—frequently those of her friends—freshly severed by the guillotine. In 1802 she moved to Britain with her collection of wax models. Her museum contains a variety of historical figures, including the original models she made of her great contemporaries, including Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin. By the turn of the 21st century, branches of her museum were located throughout the world.

Learn more about Tussaud, Marie with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Nov. 24, 1864, Albi, France—died Sept. 9, 1901, Malromé) French painter and graphic artist. Born to an old aristocratic family, he developed his interest in art during lengthy convalescence after both his legs were fractured in separate accidents (1878, 1879) that left them permanently stunted and made walking difficult. In 1881 he resolved to become an artist; after taking instruction, he established a studio in the Montmartre district of Paris in 1884 and began his lifelong association with the area's cafés, cabarets, entertainers, and artists. He captured the effect of the movement of dancers, circus performers, and other entertainers by simplifying outlines and juxtaposing intense colours; the result was an art throbbing with life and energy. His lithographs were among his most powerful works, and his memorable posters helped define the possibilities of the genre. His pieces are often sharply satirical, but he was also capable of great sympathy, seen most poignantly in his studies of prostitutes (e.g., At the Salon, 1896). His extraordinary style helped set the course of avant-garde art for decades to come. A heavy drinker, he died at 36.

Learn more about Toulouse-Lautrec (-Monfa), Henri (-Marie-Raymond) de with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born May 1, 1881, Sarcenat, France—died April 10, 1955, New York, N.Y., U.S.) French philosopher and paleontologist. Ordained a Jesuit priest in 1911, he taught geology from 1918 at the Institut Catholique in Paris. In 1929 he directed the excavations at the Peking man site at Zhoukoudian. This and other geological work won him high honours, though it came to be disapproved of by the Jesuit order. His philosophy was strongly informed by his scientific work, which he believed helped prove the existence of God. He is known for his theory that mankind is evolving, mentally and socially, toward a final spiritual unity that he called the Omega point. Though his major philosophical works, The Divine Milieu (1957) and The Phenomenon of Man (1955), were written in the 1920s and '30s, their publication in his lifetime was forbidden by the Jesuits.

Learn more about Teilhard de Chardin, (Marie-Joseph-) Pierre with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Jan. 9, 1908, Paris, France—died April 14, 1986, Paris) French writer and feminist. As a student at the Sorbonne, she met Jean-Paul Sartre, with whom she formed a lifelong intellectual and romantic bond. She is known primarily for her treatise The Second Sex (1949), a scholarly and passionate plea for the abolition of what she called the myth of the “eternal feminine”; the book became a classic of feminist literature. She also wrote four admired volumes of autobiography (1958–72), philosophical works that explore themes of existentialism, and fiction, notably The Mandarins (1954, Prix Goncourt). The Coming of Age (1970) is a bitter reflection on society's indifference to the elderly.

Learn more about Beauvoir, Simone (Lucie-Ernestine-Marie-Bertrand) de with a free trial on Britannica.com.

City (pop., 2000: 16,542), eastern Upper Peninsula, Michigan, U.S. Located on the rapids of the St. Marys River between Lakes Superior and Huron, it is linked to its Canadian twin city, Sault Sainte Marie, Ont. (pop., 2001: 74,566), by road and rail bridges. The U.S. and Canada each operate a part of the Sault Sainte Marie Canals, or Soo Canals, a hub of the Saint Lawrence Seaway. The first U.S. canal went into operation in 1855; it has since been replaced and is now divided into the northern canal (completed 1919) and the southern canal (completed 1896). The Canadian canal, which has one lock, was completed in 1895.

Learn more about Sault Sainte Marie with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Cyvia Rambam

(born Feb. 20, 1888, Warsaw, Pol., Russian Empire—died June 12, 1982, London, Eng.) Polish-born English ballet producer and director. She studied with the musician Émile Jaques-Dalcroze and taught his technique, eurythmics, to the Paris-based Ballets Russes, influencing Vaslav Nijinsky's avant-garde choreography. At the outbreak of World War I, she moved to London, where she studied ballet with Enrico Cecchetti (1850–1928); in 1920 she founded a ballet school that used his methods. In 1930 she helped found the Camargo Society and established the Ballet Club (later Ballet Rambert). As director of Ballet Rambert, she favoured experimentation, encouraging young choreographers such as Frederick Ashton and supporting new dancers and stage designers. Her troupe, renamed the Rambert Dance Company in 1987, has continued to perform.

Learn more about Rambert, Dame Marie with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born March 30, 1844, Metz, France—died Jan. 8, 1896, Paris) French lyric poet. After entering the civil service, he was first associated with the Parnassian poets, contributing to the first volume of the anthology Le Parnasse contemporain (1866). His early collections, Poèmes saturniens (1866), Fêtes galantes (1869), La Bonne chanson (1870), and Romances sans paroles (1874), show the intense lyricism and musicality that would mark all his verse. His marriage was shattered by his infatuation with Arthur Rimbaud, and the two scandalized Paris with their behaviour in 1872–73. While in prison in Belgium (1873–75) for shooting Rimbaud when the latter threatened to leave him, he converted to Catholicism and probably composed the famous “Art poétique,” adopted in 1882 by the poets of the Symbolist movement. Sagesse (1880) expresses his religious faith and his emotional odyssey. He later taught French and English; he spent his late years in poverty, but just before his death he was sponsored for a major international lecture tour. His Les Poètes maudits (1884; “The Accursed Poets”) consists of short biographical studies of six poets, including Stéphane Mallarmé and Rimbaud. He is regarded as the third great member (with Charles Baudelaire and Mallarmé) of the so-called Decadents.

Learn more about Verlaine, Paul (-Marie) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Aug. 6, 1868, Villeneuve-sur-Fère, France—died Feb. 23, 1955, Paris) French poet, playwright, and diplomat. He converted to Catholicism at age 18. His brilliant diplomatic career began in 1892, and he eventually served as ambassador to Japan (1921–27) and the U.S. (1927–33). At the same time he pursued a literary career, expressing in poetry and drama his conception of the grand design of creation. He reached his largest audience through plays such as Break of Noon (1906), The Hostage (1911), Tidings Brought to Mary (1912), and his masterpiece, The Satin Slipper (1929); recurring themes in these works are human and divine love and the search for salvation. He wrote the librettos for Darius Milhaud's opera Christopher Columbus (1930) and Arthur Honegger's oratorio Joan of Arc (1938). His best-known poetic work is the confessional Five Great Odes (1910).

Learn more about Claudel, Paul (-Louis-Charles-Marie) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

later Comte Maeterlinck

(born Aug. 29, 1862, Ghent, Belg.—died May 6, 1949, Nice, France) Belgian playwright and poet. He studied law in Ghent but soon turned to writing poems and plays. His Pelléas et Mélisande (1892), considered the masterpiece of Symbolist drama (see Symbolist movement), was the basis of Claude Debussy's opera (1902). In his Symbolist plays, Maeterlinck used poetic speech, gesture, lighting, setting, and ritual to create images that reflect his protagonists' moods and dilemmas. His other writings include a collection of Symbolist poems (Hothouses, 1899) and plays such as Monna Vanna (1902), The Blue Bird (1908), and The Burgomaster of Stilmonde (1918). He was also noted for his popular treatments of scientific subjects, including The Life of the Bee (1901) and The Intelligence of Flowers (1907). Maeterlinck was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1911.

Learn more about Maeterlinck, Maurice (Polydore-Marie-Bernard) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Marie de Rohan-Montbazon known as Madame de Chevreuse

(born December 1600—died Aug. 12, 1679, Gagny, France) French princess. She participated in several conspiracies against the ministerial government in Louis XIII's reign and the regency for Louis XIV. She was exiled several times for her activities, including participating in a plot against Cardinal de Richelieu, betraying state secrets to Spain, and plotting to assassinate Jules Mazarin.

Learn more about Chevreuse, Marie de Rohan-Montbazon, duchess de with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(flourished 12th century) French poet, the earliest known woman poet of France. She wrote verse narratives on romantic and magical themes and may have inspired the musical lais of the later troubadours. She probably wrote in England and may have based her fables on an English source; her verses were dedicated to a “noble” king, either Henry II of England or his son. She also wrote a collection of fables, the Ysopet.

Learn more about Marie de France with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Marie Grosholtz

(born Dec. 1, 1761, Strasbourg, France—died April 16, 1850, London, Eng.) French British founder of Madame Tussaud's museum of wax figures in London. From 1780 until the French Revolution, she served as art tutor to Louis XVI's sister. During the Reign of Terror she made death masks from heads—frequently those of her friends—freshly severed by the guillotine. In 1802 she moved to Britain with her collection of wax models. Her museum contains a variety of historical figures, including the original models she made of her great contemporaries, including Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin. By the turn of the 21st century, branches of her museum were located throughout the world.

Learn more about Tussaud, Marie with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Leila Marie Koerber

(born Nov. 9, 1868, Cobourg, Ont., Can.—died July 28, 1934, Santa Barbara, Calif., U.S.) Canadian-U.S. actress. She began her acting career as a vaudeville comedian and made her film debut in Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914), in which Charlie Chaplin also appeared. After a period of obscurity, she experienced a career revival with the coming of sound films. In the 1930s she was known for her portrayals of self-sufficient, humorous old women (often costarring with Wallace Beery) in films such as Min and Bill (1931, Academy Award) and Tugboat Annie (1933).

Learn more about Dressler, Marie with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Maria Skłodowska

(born Nov. 7, 1867, Warsaw, Pol., Russian Empire—died July 4, 1934, near Sallanches, France) Polish-born French physical chemist. She studied at the Sorbonne (from 1891). Seeking the presence of radioactivity—recently discovered by Henri Becquerel in uranium—in other matter, she found it in thorium. In 1895 she married fellow physicist Pierre Curie (1859–1906). Together they discovered the elements polonium (which Marie named after her native Poland) and radium, and they distinguished alpha, beta, and gamma radiation. For their work on radioactivity (a term she coined), the Curies shared the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics with Becquerel. Marie thus became the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize. After Pierre's death, Marie was appointed to his professorship and became the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne. In 1911 she won a Nobel Prize for Chemistry for discovering polonium and isolating pure radium, becoming the first person to win two Nobel Prizes. She died of leukemia caused by her long exposure to radioactivity. In 1995 she became the first woman whose own achievements earned her the honour of having her ashes enshrined in the Pantheon in Paris. Seealso Frédéric Joliot-Curie.

Learn more about Curie, Marie with a free trial on Britannica.com.

later Comte Maeterlinck

(born Aug. 29, 1862, Ghent, Belg.—died May 6, 1949, Nice, France) Belgian playwright and poet. He studied law in Ghent but soon turned to writing poems and plays. His Pelléas et Mélisande (1892), considered the masterpiece of Symbolist drama (see Symbolist movement), was the basis of Claude Debussy's opera (1902). In his Symbolist plays, Maeterlinck used poetic speech, gesture, lighting, setting, and ritual to create images that reflect his protagonists' moods and dilemmas. His other writings include a collection of Symbolist poems (Hothouses, 1899) and plays such as Monna Vanna (1902), The Blue Bird (1908), and The Burgomaster of Stilmonde (1918). He was also noted for his popular treatments of scientific subjects, including The Life of the Bee (1901) and The Intelligence of Flowers (1907). Maeterlinck was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1911.

Learn more about Maeterlinck, Maurice (Polydore-Marie-Bernard) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born June 20, 1928, La Trinité, France) French nationalist politician. He was elected in 1956 to the National Assembly as its youngest member. Le Pen helped to found the National Front in 1972, becoming the party's leader later that year. The party emphasized the threat to France posed by immigration, particularly of Arabs from France's former North African colonies. The party also opposed European integration, favoured the reintroduction of capital punishment, and sought prohibitions on the building of additional mosques in France. Le Pen ran several times for the presidency; though he captured less than 1percnt of the vote in 1974, in 1988 and 1995 he won some 15percnt. In the presidential election of 2002 Le Pen finished second in the first round of voting, winning 18percnt, though he was easily defeated in the second round by Jacques Chirac. In the 2007 election he failed to reach the second round. Le Pen was widely regarded as the leader of French neofascism, and his National Front party constituted the main right-wing opposition to the country's mainstream conservative parties from the 1970s through the early 21st century.

Learn more about Le Pen, Jean-Marie with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born April 13, 1901, Paris, France—died Sept. 9, 1981, Paris) French psychoanalyst. A practicing psychiatrist in Paris for much of his career, Lacan emphasized the primacy of language as the mirror of the unconscious mind and introduced the study of language into psychoanalytic theory. His major achievement was his reinterpretation of Sigmund Freud's work in terms of structural linguistics. He became a celebrity in France with Écrits (1966; The Language of the Self) and in the 1970s was a dominant figure in French cultural life as well as a strong influence on American psychoanalytic and literary theory.

Learn more about Lacan, Jacques (-Marie-Émile) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born July 12, 1895, Hamar, Nor.—died Dec. 7, 1962, Oslo) Norwegian soprano. Born to musician parents, she made her operatic debut in 1913. In 1934 she sang Sieglinde in Die Walküre and Gutrune in Götterdämmerung at Bayreuth. Recognized as the greatest Wagnerian soprano of her generation, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1935. With New York as her base, she toured widely until 1941, returning to Norway to be with her husband, a member of Vidkun Quisling's government. Though cleared of charges of collaboration with the Germans, her later U.S. appearances were controversial. She was the first director of the Royal Norwegian Opera (1958–60).

Learn more about Flagstad, Kirsten (Marie) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born April 30, 1909, The Hague, Netherlands—died March 20, 2004, Baarn) Queen of The Netherlands (1948–80). During World War II she took refuge in Ottawa while her husband, Prince Bernhard, remained with Queen Wilhelmina's government, which had relocated to London. Returning to The Netherlands in 1945, Juliana acted as regent during her mother's illness and became queen when Wilhelmina abdicated. In 1980 she abdicated in favour of her daughter Beatrix.

Learn more about Juliana (Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born March 30, 1863, Le Mans, France—died Nov. 22, 1944, Mamers) French politician. Serving several times as minister of finance, he was an early but unsuccessful advocate of a national income tax. He was named premier in 1911 but was forced to resign after negotiating a controversial treaty with Germany over the second of the Moroccan crises. Later his opposition to World War I and friendship with German agents led to conviction on charges of corresponding with the enemy. Granted amnesty in 1924, he was later elected to the Senate and became head of the Commission of Finance (1927–40).

Learn more about Caillaux, Joseph (-Marie-Auguste) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born June 20, 1928, La Trinité, France) French nationalist politician. He was elected in 1956 to the National Assembly as its youngest member. Le Pen helped to found the National Front in 1972, becoming the party's leader later that year. The party emphasized the threat to France posed by immigration, particularly of Arabs from France's former North African colonies. The party also opposed European integration, favoured the reintroduction of capital punishment, and sought prohibitions on the building of additional mosques in France. Le Pen ran several times for the presidency; though he captured less than 1percnt of the vote in 1974, in 1988 and 1995 he won some 15percnt. In the presidential election of 2002 Le Pen finished second in the first round of voting, winning 18percnt, though he was easily defeated in the second round by Jacques Chirac. In the 2007 election he failed to reach the second round. Le Pen was widely regarded as the leader of French neofascism, and his National Front party constituted the main right-wing opposition to the country's mainstream conservative parties from the 1970s through the early 21st century.

Learn more about Le Pen, Jean-Marie with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born June 23, 1910, Bordeaux, France—died Oct. 3, 1987, Lausanne, Switz.) French playwright. After studying law, he wrote his first play, The Ermine (1932), followed by the successful Traveler Without Luggage (1937). He is best remembered for Antigone (1944), The Lark (1953), and Becket (1959), in which he used techniques such as the play within the play, flashbacks and flash-forwards, and the exchange of roles. A skillful exponent of the well-made play, he rejected naturalism and realism in favour of a return to theatricalism.

Learn more about Anouilh, Jean (-Marie-Lucien-Pierre) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born April 13, 1901, Paris, France—died Sept. 9, 1981, Paris) French psychoanalyst. A practicing psychiatrist in Paris for much of his career, Lacan emphasized the primacy of language as the mirror of the unconscious mind and introduced the study of language into psychoanalytic theory. His major achievement was his reinterpretation of Sigmund Freud's work in terms of structural linguistics. He became a celebrity in France with Écrits (1966; The Language of the Self) and in the 1970s was a dominant figure in French cultural life as well as a strong influence on American psychoanalytic and literary theory.

Learn more about Lacan, Jacques (-Marie-Émile) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born March 27, 1851, Paris, France—died Dec. 1, 1931, Paris) French composer and teacher. Trained in organ and composition, he rejected the prevailing French style as frivolous by comparison with the German musical tradition. He wrote several important stage works, including Fervaal (1895) and The Legend of Saint Christopher (1915), but orchestral works such as Symphony on a French Mountain Air (1886), Summer Day in the Mountains (1905), and Istar (1896) remain better known. In 1894 he cofounded the music academy called the Schola Cantorum in Paris, where many of France's foremost composers and musicians would be trained.

Learn more about Indy, (Paul-Marie-Theodore-) Vincent d' with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born June 12, 1929, Frankfurt am Main, Ger.—died March 1945, Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, near Hannover) German diarist. Frank was a young Jewish girl who kept a record of the two years her family spent in hiding in Amsterdam to escape Nazi persecution. After their discovery by the Gestapo in 1944, the family was transported to concentration camps; Anne died of typhus at Bergen-Belsen. Friends searching the hiding place found her diary, which her father published as The Diary of a Young Girl (1947). Precocious in style and insight, it traces her emotional growth amid adversity and is a classic of war literature.

Learn more about Frank, Anne(lies Marie) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born April 7, 1772, Besançon, France—died Oct. 10, 1837, Paris) French social theorist. He advocated a reconstruction of society based on communal associations of producers known as phalanges (phalanxes). His system became known as Fourierism. He felt that phalanges would distribute wealth more equitably than would capitalism and that they would contribute both to a cooperative lifestyle and to individual self-fulfillment. After inheriting his mother's estate in 1812, he devoted himself to writing and refining his theories. Cooperative settlements based on Fourierism were started in France and the U.S., including Brook Farm.

Learn more about Fourier, (François-Marie-) Charles with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born July 12, 1895, Hamar, Nor.—died Dec. 7, 1962, Oslo) Norwegian soprano. Born to musician parents, she made her operatic debut in 1913. In 1934 she sang Sieglinde in Die Walküre and Gutrune in Götterdämmerung at Bayreuth. Recognized as the greatest Wagnerian soprano of her generation, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1935. With New York as her base, she toured widely until 1941, returning to Norway to be with her husband, a member of Vidkun Quisling's government. Though cleared of charges of collaboration with the Germans, her later U.S. appearances were controversial. She was the first director of the Royal Norwegian Opera (1958–60).

Learn more about Flagstad, Kirsten (Marie) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

formerly Chris Evert Lloyd

(born Dec. 21, 1954, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., U.S.) U.S. tennis player. She became in 1971 the youngest player to reach the semifinals of the U.S. championship. She won the U.S. Open women's singles six times (1975–78, 1980, 1982) and repeatedly won the Wimbledon singles (1974, 1976, 1981), the French Open singles (1974, 1975, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1986), and the Australian Open singles (1982, 1984), for a total of 18 grand-slam h1s. She retired in 1989.

Learn more about Evert, Chris(tine Marie) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Jan. 21, 1848, Paris, France—died Feb. 12, 1933, Mont-de-Marsan) French song composer. He studied music with César Franck while also studying law. His composing career lasted about 16 years; he stopped composing at age 36 for psychological reasons. Highly self-critical, he destroyed an incomplete opera and other works and acknowledged only 13 completed songs, including “L'Invitation au voyage,” “Phidylé,” “Testament,” and “Extase,” as his lifetime oeuvre. Almost all the songs, universally admired, were originally for voice and piano; he later orchestrated eight of them.

Learn more about Duparc, (Marie-Eugène-) Henri with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Leila Marie Koerber

(born Nov. 9, 1868, Cobourg, Ont., Can.—died July 28, 1934, Santa Barbara, Calif., U.S.) Canadian-U.S. actress. She began her acting career as a vaudeville comedian and made her film debut in Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914), in which Charlie Chaplin also appeared. After a period of obscurity, she experienced a career revival with the coming of sound films. In the 1930s she was known for her portrayals of self-sufficient, humorous old women (often costarring with Wallace Beery) in films such as Min and Bill (1931, Academy Award) and Tugboat Annie (1933).

Learn more about Dressler, Marie with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Cyvia Rambam

(born Feb. 20, 1888, Warsaw, Pol., Russian Empire—died June 12, 1982, London, Eng.) Polish-born English ballet producer and director. She studied with the musician Émile Jaques-Dalcroze and taught his technique, eurythmics, to the Paris-based Ballets Russes, influencing Vaslav Nijinsky's avant-garde choreography. At the outbreak of World War I, she moved to London, where she studied ballet with Enrico Cecchetti (1850–1928); in 1920 she founded a ballet school that used his methods. In 1930 she helped found the Camargo Society and established the Ballet Club (later Ballet Rambert). As director of Ballet Rambert, she favoured experimentation, encouraging young choreographers such as Frederick Ashton and supporting new dancers and stage designers. Her troupe, renamed the Rambert Dance Company in 1987, has continued to perform.

Learn more about Rambert, Dame Marie with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Maria Skłodowska

(born Nov. 7, 1867, Warsaw, Pol., Russian Empire—died July 4, 1934, near Sallanches, France) Polish-born French physical chemist. She studied at the Sorbonne (from 1891). Seeking the presence of radioactivity—recently discovered by Henri Becquerel in uranium—in other matter, she found it in thorium. In 1895 she married fellow physicist Pierre Curie (1859–1906). Together they discovered the elements polonium (which Marie named after her native Poland) and radium, and they distinguished alpha, beta, and gamma radiation. For their work on radioactivity (a term she coined), the Curies shared the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics with Becquerel. Marie thus became the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize. After Pierre's death, Marie was appointed to his professorship and became the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne. In 1911 she won a Nobel Prize for Chemistry for discovering polonium and isolating pure radium, becoming the first person to win two Nobel Prizes. She died of leukemia caused by her long exposure to radioactivity. In 1995 she became the first woman whose own achievements earned her the honour of having her ashes enshrined in the Pantheon in Paris. Seealso Frédéric Joliot-Curie.

Learn more about Curie, Marie with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born July 27, 1768, Saint-Saturnin, near Séez, Normandy, France—died July 17, 1793, Paris) French political activist. A noblewoman from Caen, she moved to Paris to work for the Girondin cause in the French Revolution. Horrified at the excesses of the Reign of Terror, she sought an interview with Jean-Paul Marat, one of its leaders. On July 13, 1793, she stabbed him through the heart while he was in his bath. Arrested on the spot, she was convicted by the Revolutionary Tribunal and guillotined.

Learn more about Corday (d'Armont), (Marie-Anne-) Charlotte with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Jan. 19, 1798, Montpellier, France—died Sept. 5, 1857, Paris) French thinker, the philosophical founder of sociology and of positivism. A disciple of Henri de Saint-Simon, he taught at the École Polytechnique (1832–42) but gave free lectures to workingmen. He gave the science of sociology its name and established the new subject on a conceptual (though not empirical) basis, believing that social phenomena could be reduced to laws just as natural phenomena could. His ideas influenced John Stuart Mill (who supported him financially for many years), Émile Durkheim, Herbert Spencer, and Edward Burnett Tylor. His most important works are Cours de philosophie positive (6 vol., 1830–42) and Système de politique positive (4 vol., 1851–54).

Learn more about Comte, (Isidore-) Auguste (-Marie-François-Xavier) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Aug. 6, 1868, Villeneuve-sur-Fère, France—died Feb. 23, 1955, Paris) French poet, playwright, and diplomat. He converted to Catholicism at age 18. His brilliant diplomatic career began in 1892, and he eventually served as ambassador to Japan (1921–27) and the U.S. (1927–33). At the same time he pursued a literary career, expressing in poetry and drama his conception of the grand design of creation. He reached his largest audience through plays such as Break of Noon (1906), The Hostage (1911), Tidings Brought to Mary (1912), and his masterpiece, The Satin Slipper (1929); recurring themes in these works are human and divine love and the search for salvation. He wrote the librettos for Darius Milhaud's opera Christopher Columbus (1930) and Arthur Honegger's oratorio Joan of Arc (1938). His best-known poetic work is the confessional Five Great Odes (1910).

Learn more about Claudel, Paul (-Louis-Charles-Marie) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

formerly Chris Evert Lloyd

(born Dec. 21, 1954, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., U.S.) U.S. tennis player. She became in 1971 the youngest player to reach the semifinals of the U.S. championship. She won the U.S. Open women's singles six times (1975–78, 1980, 1982) and repeatedly won the Wimbledon singles (1974, 1976, 1981), the French Open singles (1974, 1975, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1986), and the Australian Open singles (1982, 1984), for a total of 18 grand-slam h1s. She retired in 1989.

Learn more about Evert, Chris(tine Marie) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Marie de Rohan-Montbazon known as Madame de Chevreuse

(born December 1600—died Aug. 12, 1679, Gagny, France) French princess. She participated in several conspiracies against the ministerial government in Louis XIII's reign and the regency for Louis XIV. She was exiled several times for her activities, including participating in a plot against Cardinal de Richelieu, betraying state secrets to Spain, and plotting to assassinate Jules Mazarin.

Learn more about Chevreuse, Marie de Rohan-Montbazon, duchess de with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Nov. 22, 1890, Lille, France—died Nov. 9, 1970, Colombey-les-Deux-Églises) French soldier, statesman, and architect of France's Fifth Republic. He joined the army in 1913 and fought with distinction in World War I. He was promoted to the staff of the supreme war council in 1925. In 1940 he was promoted to brigadier general and served briefly as undersecretary of state for defense under Paul Reynaud. After the fall of France to the Germans, he left for England and started the Free French movement. Devoted to France and dedicated to its liberation, he moved to Algiers in 1943 and became president of the French Committee of National Liberation, at first jointly with Henri-Honoré Giraud. After the liberation of Paris, he returned and headed two provisional governments, then resigned in 1946. He opposed the Fourth Republic, and in 1947 he formed the Rally of the French People (RPF), but severed his connections with it in 1953. He retired from public life and wrote his memoirs. When an insurrection in Algeria threatened to bring civil war to France, he returned to power in 1958, as prime minister with powers to reform the constitution. That same year he was elected president of the new Fifth Republic, which ensured a strong presidency. He ended the Algerian War and transformed France's African territories into 12 independent states. He withdrew France from NATO, and his policy of neutrality during the Vietnam War was seen by many as anti-Americanism. He began a policy of détente with Iron Curtain countries and traveled widely to form a bond with French-speaking countries. After the civil unrest of May 1968 by students and workers, he was defeated in a referendum on constitutional amendments and resigned in 1969.

Learn more about de Gaulle, Charles (-André-Marie-Joseph) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Aug. 11, 1837, Limoges, France—died June 24, 1894, Lyon) French politician. Grandson of Lazare Carnot and son of Sadi Carnot, he worked as a government engineer before turning to politics. After serving as minister of public works (1880–81) and finance (1885–87), he was elected in 1887 as fourth president of the Third Republic. He competently handled the plots by Georges Boulanger, anarchist agitation, and the Panama Canal scandals, and retained his popularity through 10 different governments but was assassinated in 1894 by an Italian anarchist.

Learn more about Carnot, (Marie-François-) Sadi with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born March 30, 1863, Le Mans, France—died Nov. 22, 1944, Mamers) French politician. Serving several times as minister of finance, he was an early but unsuccessful advocate of a national income tax. He was named premier in 1911 but was forced to resign after negotiating a controversial treaty with Germany over the second of the Moroccan crises. Later his opposition to World War I and friendship with German agents led to conviction on charges of corresponding with the enemy. Granted amnesty in 1924, he was later elected to the Senate and became head of the Commission of Finance (1927–40).

Learn more about Caillaux, Joseph (-Marie-Auguste) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Jan. 9, 1908, Paris, France—died April 14, 1986, Paris) French writer and feminist. As a student at the Sorbonne, she met Jean-Paul Sartre, with whom she formed a lifelong intellectual and romantic bond. She is known primarily for her treatise The Second Sex (1949), a scholarly and passionate plea for the abolition of what she called the myth of the “eternal feminine”; the book became a classic of feminist literature. She also wrote four admired volumes of autobiography (1958–72), philosophical works that explore themes of existentialism, and fiction, notably The Mandarins (1954, Prix Goncourt). The Coming of Age (1970) is a bitter reflection on society's indifference to the elderly.

Learn more about Beauvoir, Simone (Lucie-Ernestine-Marie-Bertrand) de with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born June 23, 1910, Bordeaux, France—died Oct. 3, 1987, Lausanne, Switz.) French playwright. After studying law, he wrote his first play, The Ermine (1932), followed by the successful Traveler Without Luggage (1937). He is best remembered for Antigone (1944), The Lark (1953), and Becket (1959), in which he used techniques such as the play within the play, flashbacks and flash-forwards, and the exchange of roles. A skillful exponent of the well-made play, he rejected naturalism and realism in favour of a return to theatricalism.

Learn more about Anouilh, Jean (-Marie-Lucien-Pierre) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born June 12, 1929, Frankfurt am Main, Ger.—died March 1945, Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, near Hannover) German diarist. Frank was a young Jewish girl who kept a record of the two years her family spent in hiding in Amsterdam to escape Nazi persecution. After their discovery by the Gestapo in 1944, the family was transported to concentration camps; Anne died of typhus at Bergen-Belsen. Friends searching the hiding place found her diary, which her father published as The Diary of a Young Girl (1947). Precocious in style and insight, it traces her emotional growth amid adversity and is a classic of war literature.

Learn more about Frank, Anne(lies Marie) with a free trial on Britannica.com.