Zenger, John Peter, 1697-1746, American journalist, b. Germany. He emigrated to America in 1710 and was trained as a printer by William Bradford (1663-1752). Zenger began publication of the New York Weekly Journal in 1733, an opposition paper to Bradford's New York Gazette and to the policies of Gov. William Cosby. Zenger's newspaper, backed by several prominent lawyers and merchants, truculently attacked the administration. Although most of the articles were written by Zenger's backers, Zenger was legally responsible and was arrested on libel charges and imprisoned (1734). In the celebrated trial that followed (1735) Zenger was defended by Andrew Hamilton, who established truth as a defense in cases of libel. The trial, which resulted in the publisher's acquittal, helped to establish freedom of the press in America. Zenger later became public printer for the colonies of New York (1737) and New Jersey (1738).

Wint, Peter de: see De Wint, Peter.

Weiss, Peter, 1916-82, German-Swedish dramatist, novelist, film director, and painter. Weiss's early novels Abschied von den Eltern (1961; tr. Leavetaking, 1962) and Fluchtpunkt (1962; tr. Vanishing Point, 1967) draw upon his emigration experience. His philosophic drama on the nature of revolution, The Persecution and Assassination of Jean Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade (1964; tr. 1965), effectively conveys the atmosphere of an insane asylum as a social microcosm. Both this and his play Die Ermittlung (1965; tr. The Investigation, 1966) were international successes. The Investigation uses texts from the 1964 Frankfurt war crimes trial to demonstrate that the capitalist system, responsible for Auschwitz, exists in postwar society. Later works include the documentary drama Trotzki im Exil (1970; tr. Trotsky in Exile, 1971) and The Song of the Lusitanian Bogey (tr. 1970).

Weir, Peter, 1944-, Australian film director, b. Sydney. His early work helped to bring Australian film to world attention; his later films, made in Hollywood, mingle American movie technique with the style of European art films. Weir's vivid and varied work often deals with clashing cultures and ideals. His films include Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), a brooding turn-of-the-century tale involving the disappearance of Australian schoolgirls; Gallipoli (1981), a drama of idealistic young Australians fighting a bloody, pointless World War I battle; and The Year of Living Dangerously (1983), a story of love and political intrigue in Sukarno's Indonesia. Among his later films are the dramas Witness (1985) and Dead Poets Society (1989); the comedy Green Card (1990); his most commercially successful work, The Truman Show (1998), which tells of a man whose life is, without his knowing it, the subject of an avidly watched television show; and the early 19th-century swashbuckler Master and Commander (2003), based on Patrick O'Brian's novels.

Waldo, Peter: see Waldenses.

Vischer, Peter, the elder, c.1455-1529, German sculptor, foremost of the bronze founders in Germany. Beginning as the assistant of his father, Hermann Vischer, Peter set up his own establishment at Nuremberg and in time had his five sons working with him. Italian influence is noticeable in certain works, particularly the reliquary of St. Sebald at Nuremberg, Vischer's masterpiece; its rich ornamentation combines medieval and Renaissance characteristics. Of the other tombs from his workshop, the most important are those of Archbishop Ernst (cathedral, Magdeburg) and Graf Otto IV von Henneberg (Stadtkirche, Römhild). In 1513 Vischer, at the summons of Emperor Maximilian, went to Innsbruck, where he made two statues of Theodoric and Arthur for the great tomb of the Hapsburg. Of the sons who carried on their father's work, Hermann Vischer, the younger, c.1486-1517, and Peter Vischer, the younger, 1487-1528, were the most celebrated. Both sons are said to have gone to Italy and were influenced by the art of antiquity. Hermann's monumental achievement was the tomb of Elisabeth and Hermann VIII of Henneberg (Stadtkirche, Römhild). Peter the Younger made several reliefs of Orpheus and Eurydice and other mythological figures. He also executed the tomb of Frederick the Wise (Schlosskirche, Wittenberg).

Veregin, Peter: see Dukhobors.

Ustinov, Sir Peter (Alexander), 1921-2004, English writer, director, and actor, b. London. A witty, charming, and cosmopolitan man, he debuted on the London stage at 18 and subsequently moved easily between English, French, and American film and theater. He wrote more than two dozen plays, among them Romanoff and Juliet (1956; film, 1960), The Unknown Soldier and His Wife (1967), and Who's Who in Hell (1974). His works of fiction include volumes of short stories, e.g., Add a Dash of Pity (1959), and such novels as The Loser (1960) and Krumnagel (1971). Ustinov appeared in a variety of films, including Quo Vadis (1951), Spartacus (1960; Academy Award), Billy Budd (1961), and Lady L (1966), the latter two of which he scripted and directed as well. His other films include Topkapi (1964; Academy Award) and Lorenzo's Oil (1992), and he also acted in his own plays. Beginning with Death on the Nile (1978), he played Agatha Christie's detective Hercule Poirot in a number of theatrical and television films. Ustinov was the winner of three television Emmy awards and one Grammy for his recorded narration of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. He was knighted in 1990.

Ueberroth, Peter Victor, 1937-, American business and sports executive, b. Evanston, Ill. As president of the organizing committee for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Ueberroth created a financially successful competition that reversed a trend of heavy deficit spending by host cities and resulted in a surplus that financed youth sports in Los Angeles for many years. From 1984 to 1989 he served as commissioner of major-league baseball; in 1988 he took steps to increase the small number of African Americans holding administrative positions in baseball. From 1992 to 1993, Ueberroth headed municipal recovery efforts after the 1992 Los Angeles riots. He later joined the Contrarian Group, a business management company, and made an abortive run (2003) for the California governorship.

Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyich, 1840-93, Russian composer, b. Kamsko-Votkinsk. Variant transliterations of his name include Tschaikovsky and Chaikovsky. He is a towering figure in Russian music and one of the most popular composers in history.

The son of a mining inspector, Tchaikovsky studied music as a child. At 19 he became a government clerk and at 21 entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he studied composition with Anton Rubinstein. He graduated in 1865 and taught theory and composition at Nicholas Rubinstein's Moscow Conservatory from 1865 to 1878. An annuity from his wealthy patroness, Mme von Meck (whom he never met though he corresponded with her for 14 years and dedicated his Fourth Symphony to her in 1878), made it possible for him to devote himself entirely to composition. Tchaikovsky wrote 11 operas, four concertos, six symphonies, a great number of songs and short piano pieces, three ballets, three string quartets, suites and symphonic poems, and numerous other works.

His compositions sustained him throughout his continuous battle with his own nature. In 1877 Tchaikovsky made a disastrous marriage in order to defeat the torment of his homosexuality and to deny the spreading rumors of it. His work was again his consolation when Mme van Meck terminated her friendship and support without apparent reason. Tchaikovsky was opposed to the aims of the Russian nationalist composers and used Western European forms and idioms, although his work instinctively reflects the Russian temperament. His orchestration is rich, and his music is melodious, intensely emotional, and often melancholy.

The most successful of his compositions are his orchestral works, notably his last three symphonies; the fantasies Romeo and Juliet (1869, rev. 1870 and 1879) and Francesca da Rimini (1876); Marche slave (1876); the Manfred Symphony (1886); the ballets Swan Lake (1877), The Sleeping Beauty (1890), and The Nutcracker (1892; also arranged as a suite for orchestra); and the Piano Concerto in B Flat Minor (1875) and the Violin Concerto in D (1881). Of his operas, notable are Vakula, the Smith (1876); Eugene Onegin (1879) and The Queen of Spades (1890), both from stories by Pushkin; and The Maid of Orleans (1881). None of the operas, however, achieved the popularity of his symphonies, ballets, and concertos.

Tchaikovsky toured Europe as a conductor, performing his Marche solennelle at the opening concert in Carnegie Hall, New York City, in 1891. A few days after he conducted the première of his Sixth Symphony, or Symphonie pathétique, he died, reportedly of cholera. Some experts believe that the cause was really suicide, possibly precipitated by the threatened revelation of a homosexual relationship. Tchaikovsky's most gifted followers in Russia were Rachmaninov and Arenski; his influence has been great, particularly in England and the United States.

Tait, Peter Guthrie, 1831-1901, Scottish physicist and mathematician. He was professor of natural philosophy at Edinburgh from 1860 and conducted important investigations in thermodynamics and the kinetic theory of gases. His early work in mathematics was mainly concerned with quaternions. His writings include Treatise on Natural Philosophy (with Lord Kelvin, 1867) and Scientific Papers (2 vol., 1898-1900).

Sörensen, Sören Peter Lauritz, 1868-1939, Danish biochemist. In 1899 he received a Ph.D. degree in Copenhagen. Sörensen was director of chemistry at Carlsberg Laboratory and worked as a professor in Copenhagen. His work on hydrogen ion concentration led him to suggest that it be measured in a unit he called pH. Numerical values based on this unit, now universally in use, give an indication of the acidity of solutions. He also did pioneering research on amino acid synthesis and on the nature of enzyme reactions.

Stuyvesant, Peter, c.1610-1672, Dutch director-general of New Netherland. He served as governor of Curaçao and lost a leg in an expedition against St. Martin before succeeding Willem Kieft in New Netherland. On his arrival (1647) in New Amsterdam (later New York City), he immediately informed the colonists of his autocratic intentions. He set up a board of nine men to advise him but dissolved it (1651) when they asked for redress of their grievances in a remonstrance to the Dutch government. As a result of this petition, however, Holland granted (1653) municipal government to New Amsterdam. Nevertheless, Stuyvesant continued his harsh rule and was intolerant of religious dissenters, especially Quakers. While he lost territory to Connecticut (1650), he expanded the colony by conquering New Sweden (1655). Overwhelmed by a surprise English attack, Stuyvesant surrendered New Netherland to England in 1664. He spent the rest of his life on his Manhattan farm and was buried there under his chapel, now the site of a church, St. Mark's-in-the-Bouwerie.

Strawson, Peter Frederick, 1919-, British philosopher, grad. Oxford. An influential spokesman for so-called ordinary language philosophy, he began teaching at Oxford in 1947 and from 1968 to 1987 was Waynflete Professor of Metaphysics. In an early article, "On Referring" (Mind, 1950), he disputed Bertrand Russell's theory of definite descriptions, drawing a distinction between referring to an entity and asserting its existence. He also disputed, on linguistic grounds, the correspondence theory of truth, maintaining that a "fact" is not something that corresponds to a true statement but something stated; facts are not something to which statements refer, rather "facts are what statements (when true) state." In his first book, Introduction to Logical Theory (1952), Strawson studied the relationship between common language and the language of formal logic. Later his concern shifted to what he calls descriptive metaphysics, a description of the actual structure of our thought about the world. His development of and work in this area revived interest in metaphysics as a respectable philosophic enterprise. Strawson's other works include Individuals (2d ed. 1965), The Bounds of Sense (1966), Logico-Linguistic Papers (1971), and Freedom and Restraint (1974).

Simon Peter: see Peter, Saint.

Shaffer, Peter, 1926-, English playwright, b. Liverpool, grad. Cambridge, 1950. Before turning to the stage he wrote for radio and television and was the author of several mystery novels. He has written both historical and contemporary dramas, work ranging from the tautly dramatic to the farcically comic. His first successful play, Five Finger Exercise (1958), is a study of the tensions in an upper-middle-class family. The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1964), is an epic of Pizarro's destruction of the Incan civilization. Equus (1973) is a dialogue between a psychoanalyst and a deranged, horse-obsessed youth; the Tony-winning Amadeus (1979) relates the rivalry between the composers Mozart and Salieri. Shaffer's other plays include The Private Ear and The Public Eye (1962), Black Comedy (1965), Lettice and Lovage (1987), and The Gift of the Gorgon (1993). Several of his plays have been made into films.

Schöffer, Peter: see Fust, Johann.

Schubert, Franz Peter, 1797-1828, Austrian composer, one of the most gifted musicians of the 19th cent. His symphonic works represent the best legacy of the classical tradition, while his songs exemplify the height of romantic lyricism. Displaying remarkable talent in childhood, he was first taught to play the violin and piano by his father and his brother, and then studied the organ and singing at a local church. His beautiful voice gained him admittance in 1808 to the imperial chapel choir and the Royal Seminary, where he later studied composition with Salieri. Schubert wrote his first symphony in 1813, and in that year he left the Seminary. From 1814 to 1816 he taught at his father's elementary school, devoting his spare hours to composing lieder that give evidence of his inexhaustible melodic genius.

He wrote more than 600 songs, many to the lyrics of such German poets as Goethe, Schiller, and Heine. In addition to individual lyrics, such as the famous Erlkönig, set to a ballad by Goethe, Schubert wrote such song cycles as Die schöne Müllerin (1823) and Die Winterreise (1827), both to poems of Wilhelm Müller. Schubert's symphonies are the final extension of the classical sonata forms, and three of them—the Fifth, in B Flat (1816), the Eighth, in B Minor (the Unfinished, 1822), and the Ninth, in C Major (1828)—rank with the finest orchestral music. The Quartet in D Minor (Death and the Maiden, 1824) and the Quintet in A Major (The Trout, 1819) are the best known of his mature chamber works. He also composed music for the stage, overtures, choral music, masses, and piano music, including 21 sonatas and shorter waltzes, scherzos, and impromptus. Except for a circle of admirers who were among the leading artists of the period, he gained little recognition before his death. He held only one musical appointment, that of music teacher to the children of a Hungarian nobleman, and he lived in poverty.

Saint Peter Port, town (1991 pop. 16,100), capital of Guernsey, Channel Islands. Its shallow harbor is protected by piers; vegetables, fruits, and flowers are exported. Hauteville House, the residence of Victor Hugo from 1856 to 1870, contains memorials of the author. The 13th-century Castle Cornet is on an islet near the town. The Church of St. Peter, partly 14th cent., is considered the finest on the islands. Elizabeth College for boys was founded there in 1563.

Rubens, Peter Paul, 1577-1640, foremost Flemish painter of the 17th cent., b. Siegen, Westphalia, where his family had gone into exile because of his father's Calvinist beliefs.

Early Life and Work

After his father's death in 1587, the family returned to Antwerp. There the young Rubens attended a Jesuit school, served as court page, and became an accomplished linguist. After 1591 he was apprenticed to several minor painters. In 1600 he went to Italy, where he spent eight years painting in the service of the duke of Mantua, who sent him on a mission to Spain in 1603. While there he painted the magnificent equestrian portrait of the Duke of Lerma (Prado). In Italy he painted and traveled, learning by making copies from the masters. The altar paintings for the Santa Maria Nuova, Rome, are among his finest works of this period.

Later Life and Mature Work

In 1608, after the death of his mother, Rubens returned to Antwerp, where within five years he became known as the greatest painter of his country. Much sought after as a teacher, Rubens set up an elaborate studio. He married Isabella Brant and prospered; he was deluged with commissions, especially for church decorations and altarpieces of large dimensions. To complete them Rubens organized an enormous workshop of skilled apprentices and associates, among whom were Van Dyck and Jordaens. Raising of the Cross and Descent from the Cross (1610 and 1611; cathedral, Antwerp) date from this time and are works with which Rubens already rivaled the grandiose creations of Italian art that had dominated the imagination of Northern artists for almost a century.

From 1622 to 1625 the artist executed numerous commissions for the French court, including an imposing series of large allegorical paintings of the life of Marie de' Medici for the Luxembourg Palace that are now in the Louvre. Although his assistants did much of the work on them, it was Rubens who designed them and added the finishing touches. In this way his workshop produced numerous monumental works (e.g., The Assumption, cathedral, Antwerp).

In 1626, after the death of his wife, he entered the diplomatic service, for which his pleasing personality, knowledge of languages, and acquaintance with royalty fitted him well. In 1628 he went to Spain on a mission for England, and during his nine months in Madrid he became acquainted with Velázquez and painted the royal family. Thereafter in London, he was idolized and knighted for his peacemaking efforts. While in England he painted the Allegory of War and Peace (National Gall., London).

Last Years and Late Work

On his return to Antwerp in 1630 Rubens, then 53, married the 16-year-old Helen Fourment. Her portraits (Vienna Mus. and Louvre), and those of himself with her (Alte Pinakothek, Munich), are among his most joyous and personal paintings. During the last 10 years of his life Rubens worked with incredible energy, producing many of his finest pictures. Among these were the paintings for the ceiling at Whitehall for Charles I, finished in 1635.

During this time Rubens painted more than 100 works for the Spanish court alone. The Judgment of Paris and Three Graces (Prado) and Venus and Adonis (Metropolitan Mus.) belong to this period. Many of the artist's last years were spent on his princely estate, Castle Steen, near Brussels. At the age of 63, at the height of his powers and popularity, Rubens died of gout, which had crippled him periodically for three years.

Achievement and Influence

Under Rubens's direction or influence a whole school of first-rate artists flourished in Antwerp. The volume of his work is enormous, and though he did little but supervise much of the work attributed to him, his domination was so absolute that almost everything proceeding from his workshop shows the mark of his style. He explored all fields of painting. In landscape, portrait, genre, and animal painting he was as supremely successful as in his large religious and allegorical works; smaller pictures include Helen Fourment and Her Children (Louvre) and Peasant Dance (Prado). Contemporaries doubted the durability of his delicate glazes, but his pictures are singularly well preserved. More than 2,000 paintings have been attributed to Rubens's studio.

Collections

Almost every principal gallery of Europe contains fine examples of his work. In the United States the Art Institute of Chicago; the Nelson Gallery, Kansas City, Mo.; the National Gallery, Washington, D.C.; the Metropolitan Museum; the Cleveland Museum; and the Gardner Museum, Boston, all have work by Rubens.

Rothermel, Peter Frederick, 1817-95, American painter, b. Nescopeck, Pa., studied in Paris. His noted historical works include a colossal Battle of Gettysburg (Capitol building, Harrisburg, Pa.).

Roget, Peter Mark, 1779-1869, English physician and lexicographer. For 50 years while he practiced medicine and was secretary of the Royal Society (1827-49), Roget prepared his Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases (1852). In successive editions supervised by him, his son, his grandson, and others, it has remained a standard reference book.

Rodino, Peter Wallace, Jr., 1909-2005, U.S. congressman, b. Newark, N.J., as Pellegrino Rodino, Jr.; grad. New Jersey Law School, 1937. Awarded the Bronze Star while serving (1941-46) in the army during World War II, he returned to his hometown and won election in 1948 to the U.S. House of Representatives. A liberal Democrat, he sponsored civil-rights and immigration-reform legislation, and in 1973 became chairman of the Judiciary Committee. The following year he chaired the hearings that passed three articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon as a result of the Watergate affair, which led the president to resign. Rodino was a law professor after his retirement (1989) from Congress.

Roches, Peter des, d. 1238, English churchman and statesman, b. Poitou. A chamberlain under Richard I of England, then entered the service of King John, who gave him rich estates and made him (1205) bishop of Winchester. In John's struggle with Pope Innocent III, Peter took the part of the king as far as he could without endangering his office. He was made justiciar in 1214, but unpopular with the barons, Peter was replaced in 1215 by Hubert de Burgh. On the accession (1216) of Henry III, Peter became the young king's guardian, and after the death (1219) of the regent, William Marshall, 1st earl of Pembroke, he struggled for power with Hubert de Burgh. Hubert prevailed, and in 1227 Peter left to join a crusade under Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. He returned to England in 1231, secured the fall (1232) of Hubert, and placed his nephew (or possibly his son), Peter des Rivaux, in charge of the royal household. The rule of the two Peters soon provoked a baronial revolt (1233-34), and Henry was forced to dismiss them. In 1235 Peter des Roches left England and entered the service of the pope. He returned in 1236 and eventually was reconciled with Hubert de Burgh.

Pázmány, Peter, 1570-1637, Hungarian churchman, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Of a Calvinist family, he was converted to Catholicism in 1583, entered the Society of Jesus in 1587, and rose to become cardinal and prince primate of Hungary. He won back many Hungarians to the Catholic faith. He founded educational and monastic institutions.

Pond, Peter, 1740-1807, American fur trader and explorer of the Old Northwest, b. Milford, Conn. He served in the French and Indian War and in 1765 became a western trader from Detroit. He later removed to Mackinac and made journeys (1773-75) to the upper Mississippi River country and to Wisconsin. He then went by way of Lake Superior N to the Saskatchewan River. In 1778 he went to the Athabaska district with stock pooled from several traders and established the first post in the region on the Athabaska River. Accused of the murder of a rival trader in 1782, Pond was acquitted when tried. He was included in the organization (1783-84) of the North West Company, but in 1788 withdrew in anger. Pond is best known for his maps of the country covered in his voyages, which he presented to Congress. The accusations that Pond was guilty of violence, dishonesty, and lawlessness appear at least partly unjust. His narratives appear in Five Fur Traders of the Northwest (ed. by C. M. Gates, 1933).

Pindar, Peter: see Wolcot, John.

Peter, Saint, d. A.D. 64?, most prominent of the Twelve Apostles, listed first in the Gospels, and traditionally the first bishop of Rome. His original name was Simon, but Jesus gave him the nickname Cephas [Aramaic, = rock], which was translated into Greek as Petros [Gr. petra = rock]. Peter was a native of Bethsaida and the brother of St. Andrew; he was married. He and Andrew, both fishermen, were called by Jesus to be disciples at the same time as James and John, the sons of Zebedee (Mark 1.16-20, 29-31; 3.14-16; Luke 5.1-11; John 1.40-44). There are several feasts of St. Peter in the West: St. Peter and St. Paul, June 29; the Chair of St. Peter, Apostle, Feb. 22; and St. Peter in Chains, Aug. 1. A second feast commemorating the Chair of St. Peter (i.e., his episcopal throne) was celebrated on Jan. 18 until abolished in 1960.

In the Gospels

Peter appears throughout the Gospels as leader and spokesman of the disciples, and Jesus most often addressed him when speaking to them (Mat. 10.2; 14.28; 15.15; 17.24; 19.27; Luke 8.51; 12.41). His honored position comes out most clearly in two high points of Jesus' ministry—when Peter confessed Jesus to be the Christ and was told "Upon this rock I will build my church"; and when he, together with James and John, was chosen to see the Transfiguration (Mat. 16.13-20; 17.1-13). After the Last Supper he, again with James and John, witnessed Jesus' agony in Gethsemane. When Jesus was betrayed, Peter drew his sword to defend him, but denied him later in the same night, as Jesus had predicted he would (John 13; Mat. 26.26-46, 57-75).

After the Resurrection

After the Resurrection, Jesus appeared by the Sea of Galilee and charged Peter to "feed my sheep" (John 20.1-10; 21). The first chapters of the Acts of the Apostles describe Peter's role as leader of the Twelve in the election of a replacement for Judas and in the public declaration at Pentecost (Acts 1.15-26; 2.14-40). Much attention is given to Peter's miracles and to his defense of Christianity; his deliverance from prison by an angel is a celebrated incident (Acts 3; 4; 5.1-11, 29-32; 8.14-25; 9.32-43; 10; 11.1-18; 12.1-19). He was a leader at the council of Jerusalem that was called to discuss the integration of non-Jews into the Christian organization; his hesitation to accept them freely was rebuked by St. Paul (Acts 15; Gal. 2).

A few facts of St. Peter's life are known from 2d-century sources. He apparently left Antioch for Rome c.A.D. 55; there he died, head of the local church, a martyr under Nero. According to traditional accounts he was crucified with his head downward. From earliest times the Vatican hill has been pointed out as the place of his martyrdom. Constantine erected a church over the supposed burial place of Peter; in the 15th cent. work was begun on a new, huge St. Peter's Church, built on the same location. It is the principal shrine of Roman Catholicism. Excavation has yielded remains of human bones at the site, but they cannot be identified as those of St. Peter. There is a very ancient tradition, accepted by many scholars, that the Gospel of Mark was written with St. Peter's help and that it consists essentially of his memoirs. The epistles of Peter (see Peter, epistles) are regarded by most critics as mistakenly attributed.

Peter and the Papacy

From earliest times Christians looked for leadership to the successors of Peter as the bishop of Rome. However, whether this primacy should be one of honor only (as held by the Orthodox Eastern Church) or of actual rulership of the whole church (as claimed by Roman Catholics; see papacy) is one of the dividing questions of Christian history. The biblical passages cited to support Petrine supremacy are Mat. 16.13-20 and John 21.15-25. From the first passage comes the familiar image of the keys, which are seen to represent papal power, as well as that of St. Peter as the gatekeeper of heaven.

Peter or Peters, Hugh, 1598-1660, British Puritan clergyman, educated at Cambridge. He became a priest of the Established Church, but his Puritan doctrines forced him to leave England for Holland c.1629. In 1635 he went to the Massachusetts Bay colony, became pastor of the church at Salem, and was active in the colony's ecclesiastical and political affairs. He returned to England in 1641 as an agent for the colony; served (1642-49) in the civil war as chaplain with various Puritan forces, including Oliver Cromwell's; and was executed at the Restoration. See. R. P. Stearns, The Strenuous Puritan (1954).

Peter, Apocalypse of: see Pseudepigrapha.

Peter the Hermit, c.1050-1115, French religious leader. In 1095 he was a very successful preacher of the First Crusade (see Crusades), and he led one of its bands. In 1096 he reached Constantinople with his undisciplined followers; when they arrived in Asia Minor, Peter went back to get help from the Byzantine emperor Alexius I. In 1098 at Antioch he tried to run away; however, he later undertook a mission to the Muslim ruler of Mosul. He went home after the taking of Jerusalem and founded the monastery of Neufmoutier at Liège, where he settled. His place in the Crusade was greatly exaggerated, for he seems to have been only one of many preachers and leaders, although a very early one.

Peter the Great: see Peter I.

Peter the Cruel, 1334-69, Spanish king of Castile and León (1350-69), son and successor of Alfonso XI. His desertion of his wife, Blanche of Bourbon, for María Padilla and his favors to the Padilla family aroused the opposition of the nobles and led to several rebellions fomented by Peter's illegitimate half brother, Henry of Trastámara (later Henry II). Peter ruthlessly suppressed the rebellions, but Henry later obtained the help of Aragón, which was already at war with Castile, and France, and in 1366 he invaded Castile with French mercenaries under Du Guesclin. Peter fled, and Henry was crowned king at Burgos in 1366. Peter, however, had allied (1362) himself with England and with the help of Edward the Black Prince, he defeated Henry and Du Guesclin at Nájera (1367). Henry raised a new army with Du Guesclin, defeated Peter at Montiel (1369), and killed him in a duel after the battle. Despite his reputation for cruelty, Peter has many apologists, who see him as a defender of the rights of the commoners and the throne against the turbulent nobles. Peter's daughter Constance married John of Gaunt, who contested Henry II's succession to Castile.

Peter of Verona, Saint, 1206?-1252, Italian preacher, a Dominican. He traveled throughout Italy on preaching tours and was especially known for his opposition to the Cathari. He was murdered by some of that sect and canonized the next year as a martyr. He is called St. Peter Martyr. Feast: Apr. 29.

Peter of Dreux: see Peter I, duke or count of Brittany.

Peter of Blois, 1135?-1203?, French writer. He was educated in law and theology. From 1167 to 1169 he was tutor to King William II of Sicily. He went (c.1173) to England, where he served Henry II and the archbishop of Canterbury in secretarial and diplomatic capacities. He was later secretary to Henry II's widow, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Much of his historically invaluable correspondence survives.

Peter V, 1837-61, king of Portugal (1853-61), eldest son and successor of Maria II. Ascending the throne on the death of his mother, he ruled under the regency of his father, Ferdinand II, until 1855. Well-traveled, cultured, and intelligent, he dedicated himself to his country's progress, promoting railroad and telegraph communications, abolishing slavery, and improving health and educational facilities. Peter died childless and was succeeded by his brother Louis I.

Peter Martyr: see Peter of Verona, Saint; Vermigli, Pietro Martire.

Peter Lombard, Lat. Petrus Lombardus, c.1100-c.1160, Italian theologian, often called Magister Sententiarum. He studied at Bologna, Reims, and Paris, where he is said to have been a student of Abelard. He acquired some fame as a teacher and was given high offices, serving for a time as archbishop of Paris. His Sentences, one of the most celebrated of all theological works, is a compilation of opinions of earlier theologians, often in conflict and not always reconciled. It was particularly important because its doctrine on sacraments (that a sacrament is both a symbol and a means of grace and that seven fulfill the required conditions) was adopted as the official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church at the Council of Trent (see Trent, Council of). By the 13th cent., the Sentences had become the principal theological text in the universities, and many of the greatest scholastics wrote commentaries on it.

Peter IV (Peter the Ceremonious), 1319?-1387, king of Aragón and count of Barcelona (1336-87); son and successor of Alfonso IV. He supported Alfonso XI of Castile at the battle of Tarifa (1340), recovered (1343-44) the kingdom of Majorca, and engaged in an indecisive naval war with Genoa and Pisa over possession of Sardinia. Though forced to confirm the privileges granted to the nobles by Alfonso III, Peter later (1348) defeated the troops of the nobles and withdrew their charter. In 1381 he assumed suzerainty over the duchy of Athens. His son, John I, succeeded him.

Peter IV, king of Portugal: see Pedro I, emperor of Brazil.

Peter III, 1728-62, czar of Russia (1762), son of Charles Frederick, dispossessed duke of Holstein-Gottorp, and of Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great. He succeeded to the throne on the death of his aunt, Czarina Elizabeth. One of his first acts was to take Russia out of the Seven Years War and to conclude an alliance with Frederick II of Prussia, whom he passionately admired. He thus saved Prussia from almost certain defeat and sacrificed all the advantages Russian arms had gained in the conflict. In 1744, Peter had married Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, who was to become Czarina Catherine II. Although he was dissolute and, it is alleged, mentally unbalanced, Peter's domestic policy was in some respects liberal. He abolished the secret police and granted greater religious freedom, and he virtually ended the nobles' obligation to give service to the state. He aroused hostility, however, by his contempt for the Orthodox Church and by his concern with gaining Holstein. In the summer of 1762 a conspiracy against Peter, headed by Catherine's lover Grigori Orlov and his brother Aleksey, was set in motion. Catherine was proclaimed sole ruler, and the imperial guards, led by Catherine in person (who had donned the guards' uniform), set out for Peterhof, where they forced Peter to sign his abdication. A few days later he was assassinated by his guards, probably led by Aleksey Orlov. Catherine's role in this is uncertain. Peter's claim to ducal Holstein passed to his son Paul (later Czar Paul I), in whose name Catherine ceded it to Denmark in exchange for Oldenburg in 1773.

Peter III (Peter the Great), 1239?-1285, king of Aragón and count of Barcelona (1276-85) and king of Sicily (1282-85); son and successor of James I. In 1280 he established Aragonese influence on the northern shores of Africa. From his marriage (1262) to Constance, daughter and heir of Manfred of Sicily, were derived the claims of the house of Aragón to Sicily and S Italy. After the insurrection of the Sicilian Vespers against Charles I of Anjou, Peter was offered the crown of Sicily and took possession of the island (1282). Pope Martin IV excommunicated him and declared him deprived of his states on the basis of Peter II's declaration of vassalage to the Holy See. A crusade against Aragón was organized by the pope and the French, who invaded Catalonia but were repulsed by Peter and defeated at sea by Roger of Loria. Peter's Sicilian venture was unpopular with the Aragonese nobility and towns, and he was compelled to grant them wide privileges to quell their opposition. He founded the first university in Aragón at Huesca. Peter was succeeded in Aragón by his eldest son, Alfonso III, and in Sicily by his second son, James (later James II of Aragón).

Peter III, 1717-86, king of Portugal (1777-86), younger brother of Joseph. He married his niece Maria I and was joint ruler with her, though she generally was the dominant figure.

Peter II, 1715-30, czar of Russia (1727-30). A grandson of Peter I and the son of the czarevich Alexis, he succeeded on the death of Catherine I. He was too young to rule, but he willingly lent himself to a court intrigue, led by the Gallitzin and Dolgoruki families, which resulted in the fall of the all-powerful minister, A. D. Menshikov. Peter was betrothed to Catherine Dolgoruki, but died of smallpox on his wedding day. He was succeeded by his cousin Anna (Anna Ivanovna).

Peter II, 1174-1213, king of Aragón (1196-1213) and count of Barcelona, son and successor of Alfonso II. He had himself crowned (1204) at Rome by Pope Innocent III, whom he accepted as overlord of Aragón and Catalonia. In 1212 he helped Alfonso VIII of Castile defeat the Moors at Las Navas de Tolosa. In 1213, Peter went to the assistance of his brother-in-law Raymond VI of Toulouse and his own vassals in France against Simon de Montfort, leader of the Albigensian Crusade. He was slain in the battle of Muret, which marked the end of Aragonese hegemony in S France. His son James I succeeded him.

Peter II, 1648-1706, king of Portugal (1683-1706), younger son of John IV; brother and successor of Alfonso VI. In 1667, he seized power from his incompetent brother and ruled the country as prince regent until Alfonso's death. The marriage of Marie Françoise to Alfonso was annulled (1667), and she married Peter. The reign was one of prosperity and peace until its final years. Portugal became subservient to English foreign policy and, having signed the Treaty of Methuen (1703) with England, was reluctantly drawn into the War of the Spanish Succession. The allies were campaigning in Spain when Peter died. He was succeeded by his son, John V.

Peter II, 1923-70, king of Yugoslavia (1934-45). He succeeded under the regency of his cousin, Prince Paul, when his father, King Alexander, was assassinated in Marseilles. In World War II, when Paul's government signed (Mar., 1941) an agreement with the Axis Powers, the army and people of Yugoslavia overthrew the regent. Peter's personal rule began with the German invasion (Apr., 1941) of Yugoslavia. His troops were soon defeated and Peter fled to England, where he headed a government in exile. After the war the newly elected Yugoslav assembly abolished (Nov., 1945) the monarchy and proclaimed a republic headed by Marshal Tito. Peter protested the action and remained in exile. He lived in the United States, where he died. He wrote A King's Heritage (1954).

Peter I or Peter the Great, 1672-1725, czar of Russia (1682-1725), major figure in the development of imperial Russia.

Early Life

Peter was the youngest child of Czar Alexis, by Alexis's second wife, Natalya Naryshkin. From Alexis's first marriage (with Maria Miloslavsky) were born Feodor III, Sophia Alekseyevna, and the semi-imbecile Ivan. On Feodor III's death (1682), a struggle broke out for the succession between the Naryshkin and Miloslavsky factions. The Naryshkins at first succeeded in setting Ivan aside in favor of 10-year-old Peter. Shortly afterward, however, the Miloslavsky party incited the streltsi (semimilitary formations in Moscow) to rebellion. In the bloody disorder that followed, Peter witnessed the murders of many of his supporters. As a result of the rebellion Ivan, as Ivan V, was made (1682) joint czar with Peter, under the regency of Sophia Alekseyevna.

A virtual exile, Peter spent most of his childhood in a suburb of Moscow, surrounded by playmates drawn both from the nobility and from the roughest social elements. His talent for leadership soon became apparent when he organized military games that became regular maneuvers in siegecraft. In addition, Peter began to experiment with shipbuilding on Lake Pereyaslavl (now Lake Pleshcheyevo). Peter learned the rudiments of Western military science from the European soldiers and adventurers who lived in a foreign settlement near Moscow. His most influential foreign friends, Patrick Gordon of Scotland, François Lefort of Geneva, and Franz Timmermann of Holland, came from this colony. In 1689, Sophia Alekseyevna attempted a coup against Peter; this time, however, aided by the loyal part of the streltsi, he overthrew the regent. For several years, until Peter assumed personal rule, the Naryshkins ran the government. Ivan V, whose death in 1696 left Peter sole czar, took no part in the government.

Sole Ruler

Foreign Policy

Russia was almost continuously at war during Peter's reign. In the 16th and early 17th cent. the country had fought periodically in the northwest against Sweden, in an attempt to gain access to the Baltic Sea, and in the south against the Ottoman Empire. While continuing the policy of his predecessors, Peter drew Russia into European affairs and helped to make it a great power. His earliest venture was the conquest of Azov from the Ottomans in 1696, after an unsuccessful attempt in 1695. Peter then embarked on a European tour (1697-98), traveling partly incognito, to form a grand alliance against the Ottoman Empire and to acquire the Western techniques necessary to modernize Russia's armed forces. He failed to form an anti-Ottoman alliance, but his conversations with the Polish king and others led eventually (1699) to a coalition against Sweden.

Peter also gained considerable knowledge of European industrial techniques (he even spent some time working as a ship's carpenter in Holland) and hired many European artisans for service in Russia. In 1698 he returned to Russia, began to modernize the armed forces, and launched domestic reforms. After concluding (1700) peace with the Ottomans, Peter, in alliance with Denmark and the combined Saxony-Poland, began the Northern War (1700-1721) against Charles XII of Sweden. Although disastrously defeated at first, he routed Charles at Poltava in 1709 and by the Treaty of Nystad (1721) retained his conquests of Ingermanland, Karelia, and Livonia.

Peter's conquests in the south were less permanent. Azov was restored to the Ottoman Empire in 1711; Derbent, Baku, and the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, conquered in a war (1722-23) with Persia, were soon lost again. In the east, Russia extended its control over part of Siberia but failed to subjugate either Khiva or Bokhara. Peter's first diplomatic missions to China were unsuccessful but his efforts led to the Treaty of Kyakhta (1727), which fixed the Russo-Chinese border and established commercial relations. Peter's interest in imperial expansion led to the financing of the first voyage of Vitus Bering.

Domestic Policy

Peter had returned to Russia in 1698 at the news of a military revolt allegedly instigated by Sophia Alekseyevna. He took drastic vengeance on his opponents and forced Sophia into a convent. On the day after his return, Peter personally cut off the beards of his nobles and shortly thereafter ordered them to replace their long robes and conical hats with Western dress. This attack on the symbols of old Muscovy marked the beginning of Peter's attempt to force Russia to adopt European appearance and other features of Western culture. Most of Peter's reforms followed his predecessors' tentative steps, but his demonic pace and brutal methods created an impression of revolutionary change.

The reforms were sporadic and uncoordinated; many of them grew out of the needs of Peter's almost continuous warfare. He introduced conscription on a territorial basis, enlarged and modernized the army, founded and expanded the navy, and established technical schools to train men for military service. To finance this huge military establishment, he created state monopolies, introduced the first poll tax, and placed levies on every conceivable item. Peter encouraged and subsidized private industry and established state mines and factories to provide adequate supplies of war materials. Peter reformed the administrative machinery of the state. He introduced a supervisory senate and a new system of central administration and tried to reform provincial and local government.

Peter also attempted to subordinate all classes of Russian society to the needs of the state. He enlarged the service nobility (the body of nobles who owed service to the state), imposed further duties on it, and forced the sons of nobles to attend technical schools. To control the nobles he introduced the Table of Ranks, which established a bureaucratic hierarchy in which promotion was based on merit rather than on birth. The nobility's economic position was strengthened by changes in the laws of land tenure. The serfs (who paid the bulk of taxes and made up most of the soldiery) were bound more securely to their masters and to the land. Peter subordinated the church to the state by replacing the patriarchate with a holy synod, headed by a lay procurator appointed by the czar.

Peter introduced changes in manners and mores. The ban on beards and Muscovite dress was extended to the entire male population, women were released from their servile position, and attempts were made to improve the manners of the court and administration. Peter sent many Russians to be schooled in the West and was responsible for the foundation (1725) of the Academy of Sciences. He reformed the calendar and simplified the alphabet. The transfer of the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg, built on the swamps of Ingermanland at tremendous human cost, was a dramatic symbol of Peter's reforms. Although Peter sought to enforce all his reforms with equal severity, he was unable to eradicate the traditional corruption of officials or to impose Western ways on the peasantry.

His reforms were often considered whimsical and sacrilegious and met widespread opposition. The conservatives among the clergy accused him of being the antichrist. The discontented looked to Peter's son, Alexis, who was eventually tried for treason on flimsy evidence and was tortured to death (1718). In 1721, Peter had himself proclaimed "emperor of all Russia." In 1722 he declared the choice of a successor to be dependent on the sovereign's will; this decree (valid until the reign of Paul I) preceded the coronation (1724) of his second wife as Empress Catherine I. She was a Livonian peasant girl whom Peter had made his mistress, then his wife (1712) after repudiating his first consort. Her accession on Peter's death was largely engineered by Peter's chief lieutenant and favorite, A. D. Menshikov. Although many of Peter's innovations were too hasty and arbitrary to be successful, his reign was decisive in the long process of transforming medieval Muscovy into modern Russia.

Personality and Achievements

Peter's personal traits ranged from bestial cruelty and vice to the most selfless devotion to Russia; his order to his troops at Poltava read, "Remember that you are fighting not for Peter but for the state." Despite the convulsive fits that plagued him, he had a bearlike constitution, was of gigantic stature, and possessed herculean physical prowess. He drank himself into stupors and indulged in all conceivable vices but could rouse himself at a moment's notice, and he was willing to undergo all the physical exertions and privations that he exacted from his subjects.

Peter subordinated the lives and liberties of his subjects to his own conception of the welfare of the state. Like many of his successors, he concluded that ruthless reform was necessary to overcome Russia's backwardness. Peter remains one of the most controversial figures in Russian history. Those who regard Russia as essentially European praise him for his policy of Westernization, and others who consider Russia a unique civilization attack him for turning Russia from its special path of development. Those impressed by imperial expansion and state and social reforms tend to regard Peter's arbitrary and brutal methods as necessary, while others appalled by his disregard of human life conclude that the cost outweighed any gains.

Peter I, d. 1104, king of Aragón and Navarre (1094-1104), son and successor of Sancho I. He continued the fight against the Moors, taking (1096) Huesca and recapturing (1100) Barbastro. His brother Alfonso I succeeded him.

Peter I, 1320-67, king of Portugal (1357-67), son and successor of Alfonso IV. He married (1336) Constance Manuel, a Castilian noblewoman, but subsequently fell in love with one of her ladies in waiting, Inés de Castro. Their tragic love affair has been a favorite theme in Portuguese literature. When Alfonso IV allowed Inés, whom Peter later claimed to have married, to be murdered (1355), the prince led a rebellion against his father. Peace was restored, and the prince formally pardoned the murderers. Nevertheless, when Peter became king, he had two of them executed by having their hearts drawn out. This act, and his concern for legal reform, earned him the names Peter the Severe, or the Cruel, and Peter the Justiciar. He was succeeded by his son, Ferdinand I.

Peter I, 1844-1921, king of Serbia (1903-18) and king of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (1918-21), son of Prince Alexander of Serbia (Alexander Karadjordjević). He was brought up in exile in Geneva and Paris while the Obrenović line ruled Serbia, and he fought in the French army in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). In 1875, he joined the Bosnian insurrection against the Ottomans. The assassination (1903) of King Alexander of Serbia brought Peter to the throne. Peter proved an able and conscientious ruler and restored dignity to the court of Belgrade. He reformed the constitution, the army, and the school system and fostered improved methods of agriculture. The outstanding figure of his reign was Nikola Pašić, who directed Serbian policy in the Balkan Wars (1912-13) and in World War I. Early in 1914 Peter, who was in ill health, retired from active rule and his son, later King Alexander of Yugoslavia, became regent. Peter took part in the retreat (1915-16) of the Serbian troops through Albania to Corfu. In 1918 he was chosen to rule the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later known as Yugoslavia), while his son and successor remained regent.

Peter I (Pierre Mauclerc), d. 1250, duke or count of Brittany (1213-37). The son of Robert II, count of Dreux, he married Alix, half sister and heiress of Arthur I duke of Brittany. His surname, meaning "bad cleric," probably derived from the fact that he studied for the priesthood but abandoned it. Making peace with the church, he took part in the crusade against the Albigenses. Peter was a leader in the rebellions of the nobles against the regency of Blanche of Castile. Upon his son's majority (1237) Peter ceded Brittany to him. Peter joined the Crusade of 1239 and later accompanied Louis IX on the Crusade to Egypt in 1248. He died on the return voyage. He is also known as Peter of Dreux.

Peter Gonzalez, Saint, 1190-1246, Spanish Dominican priest. He worked first among the Moors, then among the mariners of NW Spain. As a patron of sailors he acquired the name St. Elmo, perhaps in confusion with an earlier mariners' saint of that name, a 4th-century martyr. Saint Elmo's fire was regarded as a mark of his protection. Feast: Apr. 14.

Peter Damian, Saint, Ital. Pietro Damiani, 1007?-1072, Italian reformer, b. Ravenna. He became a Camaldolese monk at Fonte-Avellino (near Gubbio) and because of his rigor and asceticism was made prior. He was a strong advocate of church reform and wrote (c.1050) the Liber Gomorrhianus, a scathing denunciation of clerical immorality and homosexuality that created a sensation. In 1057 Stephen IX made him a cardinal against his will. Nicholas II sent him as legate to Milan, notorious for simony and clerical concubinage. In 1069 Alexander II sent him as legate to settle the quarrel between Roman Emperor Henry IV and the empress. In the dispute with Berengar of Tours Peter deprecated the application of reason in theology. Feast: Feb. 23.

Peter Claver, Saint, 1581-1654, Spanish Jesuit missionary, called the Apostle of the Blacks. He was sent to what is now Colombia in 1610 and began at once his life work of ministering to the bodies and souls of the West African slaves, then being imported in large numbers. He worked indefatigably under the most loathsome conditions and was generally unappreciated by Spanish officialdom and even by his colleagues. Feast: Sept. 9.

Peter Canisius, Saint, 1521-97, Dutch Jesuit, Doctor of the Church, b. Nijmegen. He spent his life traveling widely strengthening wavering Roman Catholics, preaching, and instructing. He was one of the most vigorous of the Catholic preachers in the regions affected by Lutheranism, above all in W and S Germany. St. Peter wrote much; his catechism was especially important and was one of the earliest popular expositions of the faith. Feast: Apr. 27.

Peter, two letters of the New Testament, classified among the Catholic (or General) Epistles. Each opens with a statement of authorship by the apostle St. Peter. First Peter, the longer book, is addressed from "Babylon" to the Christians of the churches of Asia Minor. The work opens with a reminder of the hope of redemption and an exhortation to holiness, then passes to duties of Christians—obedience to the state, and the obligation of slaves to their masters, wives to husbands, husbands to wives, and all to each other. This leads to consolation and encouragement under persecution. The conclusion is exhortatory. While the ascription to Peter has been often doubted by modern scholars who generally date the work to c.A.D. 100, the letter was accepted as Petrine and canonical from the earliest times. Second Peter, however, is almost universally recognized as pseudonymous, and is dated by many scholars as late as A.D. 150. It was one of the last New Testament books to be admitted to the canon. In the face of the delayed second coming of Jesus, the author exhorts the readers to godly living, warning against scoffers and false teachers and affirming that the second coming will happen. Parts of Second Peter are adapted from the letter of Jude.

Pelham, Peter, c.1695-1751, American engraver and painter, b. England; stepfather of John Singleton Copley. After studying and practicing in England, Pelham settled (c.1728) in Boston. He produced engravings of Cotton Mather and Increase Mather based on his own paintings. He also conducted a school.

Pears, Sir Peter, 1910-86, English tenor. Pears studied at the Royal College of Music and became a member of the Sadler's Wells Opera and the English Opera Group. In 1948 he made his Covent Garden debut. He worked closely with Benjamin Britten from 1946. Together they made a number of international tours, presenting works by Britten and other English composers. Pears sang many premieres of Britten operas, including Peter Grimes, Billy Budd, Gloriana, and The Turn of the Screw. In 1974 he made his Metropolitan Opera debut singing Aschenbach in Britten's opera Death in Venice, based on the novella by Thomas Mann. He was knighted in 1978.

Patrimony of Saint Peter: see Papal States.

Pallas, Peter Simon, 1741-1811, German naturalist and explorer. He became (1768) professor at the Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg. In 1769, Pallas was a member of an expedition to observe the transit of Venus, and until 1774 he explored the upper Amur, the Caspian Sea, and the Ural and Altai mts., collecting valuable specimens in natural history. Pallas published (1771-76) an account of the journey and also wrote on natural history and on Bering's discoveries.

O'Toole, Peter (Seamus), 1932-, British actor, b. Connemara, Ireland. A classical stage actor, he appeared (1955-58) with the Bristol Old Vic, debuted in London in 1956, and has played a variety of Shakespearean roles. Tall and handsome, he made his screen debut in The Savage Innocents (1959) and catapulted to stardom with his portrayal of T. E. Lawrence in David Lean's desert epic Lawrence of Arabia (1962). He was a major star of the 1960s and early 70s, winning praise for performances in motion pictures ranging from historical drama to high comedy. Among his outstanding films are Becket (1964), Lord Jim (1965), The Lion in Winter (1968), The Ruling Class (1972), The Stunt Man (1980), My Favorite Year (1982), and The Last Emperor (1987). Nominated for an Oscar seven times, but never a winner, O'Toole received an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2003.

Müller, Johannes Peter, 1801-58, German physiologist and anatomist. From 1833 until the end of his career he was professor at Berlin. He was famed as a teacher; for his extensive research in many fields, including embryology, general and microscopic pathology, biochemistry, comparative anatomy, psychology, and marine zoology; and for his theories on color vision and voice production. As a result of his experiments in neurology he proposed the law of specific energies, i.e., that each sensory nerve produces its own specific sensation (e.g., any stimulation to the optic nerve results in a sensation of light).

Murdock, George Peter, 1897-1985, American anthropologist, b. Meriden, Conn., grad. Yale (B.A., 1919; Ph.D., 1925). He taught at Yale and later at the Univ. of Pittsburgh, becoming Mellon Professor of Anthropology there in 1960. He is noted for his work as head of Yale's Human Relations Area Files, where he attempted to classify and index the known cultures of the world. Murdock is best known for his cross-cultural study of African and Oceanic people. He made significant contributions to the study of kinship and social organization. His writings include Social Structure (1949, repr. 1965) and Outline of World Cultures (1954, 6th ed. rev. 1983).

Mitchell, Peter Dennis, 1920-92, British chemist, Ph.D. Cambridge, 1950. A professor at the Univ. of Edinburgh (1955-63), Mitchell was named director of Glynn Research Laboratories in 1964. He formulated the chemiosmotic theory, which explains how energy is generated in the mitochondria of living cells. He received the 1978 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work.

Minuit, Peter, c.1580-1638, first director-general of New Netherland, b. Wesel (then the duchy of Cleves). Sent by the Dutch West India Company to take charge of its holdings in America, Minuit purchased (1626) Manhattan from the Native Americans for trade goods costing 60 Dutch guilders and made New Amsterdam (later New York City) its center. Dismissed by the company in 1631, he later entered into negotiations with the Swedes and headed (1638) the group sent out to found New Sweden. He was lost in a hurricane in the West Indies.

Medawar, Sir Peter Brian, 1915-87, British zoologist, b. Brazil. After graduate work at Oxford, he held research and teaching posts there. He was professor of zoology (1947-51) at the Univ. of Birmingham and in 1951 became professor of zoology and comparative anatomy at University College, London. During World War II, he discovered a method for joining ends of severed nerves; he later became noted for his experimental work in transplanting living tissue from one body to another. Working on a theory proposed by Sir Macfarlane Burnet, he proved it was possible under certain circumstances for an organism to overcome its normal tendency to reject foreign tissue or organs. Medawar was awarded the 1960 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine jointly with Sir Macfarlane Burnet for this discovery of acquired immunological tolerance. He was knighted in 1965. A prolific writer, his works include The Art of the Soluble (1967), Advice to a Young Scientist (1979), and an autobiography (1986).

Max, Peter, 1937-, American artist, b. Berlin. Max is noted for his undulating graphic designs in bright, vibrating colors. His style has influenced much commercial art. It is reminiscent of art nouveau and comic strip art, incorporating psychedelic colors in floral and celestial motifs.

Martins, Peter, 1946-, Danish ballet dancer and choreographer. He studied at the School of the Royal Danish Ballet and performed with its company (1965-69). In 1969 he joined the New York City Ballet, where he danced in numerous ballets, including Chaconne and Vienna Waltzes, often partnering Suzanne Farrell. Martins' choreographed works include Calcium Light Night (1977), Five Easy Pieces (1980), Les Gentilhommes (1987), A Musical Offering (1991), Symphonic Dances (1994), and Distant Light (2004). In 1983 Martins retired from dancing and with Jerome Robbins became coballet master in chief of the company, a position Martins has occupied alone since the retirement of Robbins in 1989.

Mansfeld, Peter Ernst von, 1580?-1626, military commander in the Thirty Years War. Illegitimate son of a governor for the Hapsburgs in Luxembourg, he rendered distinguished service in the imperial forces in the Netherlands and was legitimized; by 1607 he was styling himself count. At the beginning of the Thirty Years War, Mansfeld and his army were loaned by his employer, the duke of Savoy, to Frederick the Winter King, in Bohemia. Frederick's funds ran low, however, and shortly before the battle of the White Mt., Mansfeld refused further service. A promise of Dutch funds later induced him to defend Frederick's possessions in the Palatinate. He was at first successful and proved himself skillful in command. He won an engagement with Tilly in 1622, but he was unable to oust the imperial forces, and his unruly men ravaged and terrorized the country. Frederick dismissed him. He became (1623) a mercenary leader for Holland and in 1625, with a subsidy from England, recruited a force to fight on the Protestant side. He was severely defeated (1626) by Wallenstein near Dessau. Mansfeld attempted then to cooperate with Gabriel Bethlen but without success.

MacKay, Peter, 1966-, Canadian politician, b. New Glasgow, N.S. A lawyer who briefly worked (1992-93) in Germany, MacKay returned to his native Nova Scotia in 1993 and became a crown attorney. Elected to the federal parliament as a Progressive Conservative in 1997, he became Tory House leader, a position he held until 2002, when he resigned to run for the party leadership. In 2003, the youthful MacKay was chosen to succeed Joe Clark as leader of the Progressive Conservative party, winning in part because he agreed not to seek a merger with the Canadian Alliance. A few months later, however, he led his party into a merger with the Alliance to form the Conservative party of Canada, and subsequently became the new party's deputy leader. After the party came to power in 2006, he became foreign affairs minister.

Lombard, Peter: see Peter Lombard.

Livingston, Peter Van Brugh: see under Livingston, family.

Lely, Sir Peter, 1618-80, Dutch portrait painter in England. His original name was Pieter van der Faes. He studied in Haarlem but worked in England from c.1643. After the death of Van Dyck he became court painter in 1661. Lely painted in turn the great figures of the court of Charles I, the Protectorate, and the Restoration. His portraits are colorful, elegant, and flattering. Examples of his work are to be seen in the National Portrait Gallery, London, and at Hampton Court. The Metropolitan Museum has several of his portraits, including those of Sir Henry Capel and Barbara Villiers.

Larsen, Peter Laurentius, 1833-1915, American educator, b. Norway. He emigrated to the United States in 1857 as a Lutheran missionary. From 1859 to 1861 he was professor of theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, but left that institution to become president of the new Luther College, established by the Norwegian Synod. Although he resigned from the presidency in 1902, he continued to teach there until 1913. Larsen was also a prominent theological leader and was for many years editor of the weekly Evangelisk luthersk kirketidende [Evangelical Lutheran Church times].

Kuiper, Gerard Peter or Gerrit Pieter, 1905-73, American astronomer, b. the Netherlands. Kuiper is considered to be the father of modern planetary science for his wide ranging studies of the solar system. Among his discoveries were the atmosphere of Saturn's satellite Titan (1944), the carbon dioxide atmosphere on Mars (1948), Uranus's satellite Miranda (1948), and Neptune's satellite Nereid (1949). He proposed (1951) the existence of a disk-shaped region of minor planets outside the orbit of Neptune (now called the Kuiper belt) as a source for short-period comets—those making complete orbits around the sun in less than 200 years (see also Oort, Jan Hendrik). During the 1960s Kuiper served as chief scientist for the Ranger lunar-probe program, choosing crash-landing sites on the moon; by analyzing Ranger photographs, he helped to identify sites for the Surveyor and Apollo programs. A pioneer in the development of infrared astronomy, he was honored posthumously when the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) named its airborne infrared telescope the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (1975). Kuiper was the editor of two encyclopedic works, The Solar System (4 vol., 1953-58) and Stars and Stellar Systems (9 vol., 1960-68).

Karmel, Peter, 1922-, Australian educator. Karmel was educated at the universities of Melbourne and Cambridge. He worked at the Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics (1943-45) before teaching at the Univ. of Melbourne (1946-49) and then at the Univ. of Adelaide (1950-62). In 1961 he was asked to plan a new campus for what is now Flinders Univ. of South Australia; he served as its vice-chancellor from 1966 until 1971. He was later vice-chancellor of the Australian National Univ. (1982-87) and president of the Academy of Social Science in Australia (1987-90). His books include Applied Statistics for Economists (1978).

Kapitza, Peter, 1894-1984, Russian physicist, educated at the polytechnic institute of Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) and at Cambridge. He developed equipment (for a laboratory at Cambridge) capable of producing very powerful magnetic fields for his experiments in low-temperature physics. In 1934, Kapitza returned to the USSR, and the equipment he designed was bought by the Soviet government. Kapitza was made director of the Institute for Physical Problems of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. In 1938 he discovered the superfluidity of liquid helium. He resigned as head of the Institute for Physical Problems in 1946, but returned as director in 1955 and also became editor of the Journal of Theoretical and Experimental Physics. He was an outspoken advocate of open scientific thought in the USSR. Kapitza shared the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics with Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson.

Jacobsen, Jens Peter, 1847-85, Danish writer. His historical romance Marie Grubbe (1876, tr. 1917) deals with spiritual degeneration in 17th-century Denmark. Jacobsen's other works include Nels Lyhne (1880, tr. 1919), a semiautobiographical work about a dreamer unable to cope with the realities of his life, several novellas, and a volume of poems. His nation's first naturalist novelist, Jacobsen created a curt prose that had great influence on naturalistic style, both in Denmark and abroad. He translated Darwin's Origin of Species and Descent of Man into Danish.

Hurd, Peter, 1904-84, American painter, b. Roswell, N.Mex. Hurd left West Point to study art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He worked as apprentice to the painter N. C. Wyeth and married his daughter, the painter Henrietta Wyeth. Hurd is known for his realistic paintings of Western scenes and for his illustrations. He decorated the Big Springs, Tex., post office and the post office annex at Dallas, Tex., with mural paintings. His portrait of President Lyndon Johnson is in the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C. Hurd is represented in the major American museums.

Hebel, Johann Peter, 1760-1826, German short-story writer and dialect poet. Editor of Der rheinländische Hausfreund [Rhineland home companion] from 1801 to 1811, Hebel gained popularity as author of realistic, often humorous folk anecdotes with overtones of Christian ethic. A collection of these, Schatzkästlein [treasure box], appeared in 1811. In his Alemannische Gedichte [Alemannic poems] (1803), dialect is employed for fine poetic expression in verses that extol youth, mother love, and the beauties of nature.

Healy, George Peter Alexander, 1813-94, American painter, b. Boston. He began painting portraits at the age of 18 and, disregarding background, concentrated on producing a good likeness. Examples of his art are the portraits of Louis Philippe, François Guizot, and a self-portrait (Uffizi); Daniel Webster and Longfellow (Mus. of Fine Arts, Boston); Mrs. John C. Cruger and a self-portrait (Metropolitan Mus.); Chief Justice Taney (Capitol, Washington, D.C.); a series of the Presidents (Corcoran Gall.); and Lincoln (Newberry Library, Chicago).

Handke, Peter, 1942-, Austrian novelist and playwright. His controversial, avant-garde works often reflect his ironic sense of the constricting limitations of language and reason and the chaos of actual human experience. His plays include Kaspar (1968), They Are Dying Out (1973), and The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other (1994), which contains 400 characters and no dialogue. Among his other works are the novels Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter (1970; tr. The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick, 1972), Die linkshändige Frau (1976; tr. The Left-Handed Woman, 1978), and On a Dark Night I Left My Silent House (1997, tr. 2000); a biographical account of his mother's illness, Wunschloses Unglück (1972; tr. A Sorrow beyond Dreams, 1975; also a theatrical monologue, 1977); the journal Weight of the World (1977, tr. 1984); the essay collection The Jukebox (tr. 1994); and the screenplay for Wim Wenders's Wings of Desire (1987). The usually apolitical Handke set off a storm of protest in Europe with his long essay, A Journey to the Rivers (1996, tr. 1997), a pro-Serbian work about the civil war that accompanied Yugoslavia's disintegration.

Goldmark, Peter Carl, 1906-77, Hungarian-American engineer, b. Budapest. He studied at the Univ. of Vienna (B.S., 1929, Ph.D., 1931); worked for a radio company in England (1931-33). After emigrating to the United States (1933), he worked as a construction engineer until joining the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) in 1936. There he developed the first commercial color television system, which used a rotating three-color disk. Although initially approved by the Federal Communications Commission, it was later superseded by an all-electronic color system that was compatible with black-and-white sets. Goldmark developed the 331/3 LP phonograph that greatly increased the playing time of records. He also developed a scanning system used by the Lunar Orbiter spacecraft in 1966 to transmit photographs to the earth from the moon.

Gansevoort, Peter, 1749-1812, soldier in the American Revolution, b. Albany, N.Y. He served in the Quebec campaign and in 1777 was in command of Fort Schuyler (former Fort Stanwix). In the Saratoga campaign he gallantly defended that post against British siege under Gen. Barry St. Leger until reports that Gen. Benedict Arnold was approaching frightened the British into retreat. He again won favorable notice for his part in the campaign (1779) of Gen. John Sullivan against the Iroquois and the Loyalists in W New York.

Fraser, Peter, 1884-1950, New Zealand political leader, b. Scotland. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1910. Previously active in Labour politics in London, he was elected to Parliament in 1918, becoming Labour party leader there. As minister of education, health, and marine (1935-40), he helped draft the Social Security Act of 1938. As prime minister (1940-49) he mobilized the country for war. He helped create the United Nations (1945), advocating protection for small countries. After economic unrest led to his downfall in 1949, he led the opposition in Parliament.

Force, Peter, 1790-1868, American journalist and historian, b. near Paterson, N.J. He served in the War of 1812 and afterward established himself in Washington, D.C., as a printer. Entering local politics, he was at different times president of both the city council and the board of aldermen and was mayor of Washington (1836-40). His National Journal, established in 1823 to support John Quincy Adams for the presidency, continued as a daily from 1824 to 1831. He issued for many years the National Calendar, a yearbook of historical and statistical information, and edited four volumes of rare documents, Tracts and Other Papers Relating Principally to the Origin, Settlement, and Progress of the Colonies in North America (1836-46). His project for publishing early American documents, national, state, and private, dealing with colonial and American history down to 1789, was authorized by Congress but was discontinued before completion. The resulting American Archives (9 vol., 1837-53), the work by which Force is chiefly known, covers only the years 1774-76 but has proved indispensable to students of the American Revolution. Force's large collections were purchased by the Library of Congress.

Fonda, Peter, 1939-, American actor. The son of Henry Fonda and brother of Jane Fonda, he made his screen debut in a forgettable 1963 feature. Several movies later he co-wrote and starred in the now-classic 1960s motorcycle odyssey Easy Rider (1969), an enormously successful film that largely typecast him as a laid-back biker. Fonda subsequently made a string of other films, including The Hired Hand (1971), a Western that also marked his directorial debut. He did not approach his earlier success for almost three decades, however, until he won critical and popular acclaim for his starring role in Ulee's Gold (1997). He is the father of actress Bridget Fonda.

Folger, Peter, 1617-90, British settler on Nantucket. He was associated with Thomas Mayhew on Martha's Vineyard, becoming missionary, schoolmaster, and surveyor. He moved to Nantucket in 1663, added other duties to those he possessed in Martha's Vineyard, and became a leader in the community. Folger was a Baptist and was opposed to the intolerance of the Massachusetts leaders. He wrote A Looking Glass for the Times (1676), which his grandson, Benjamin Franklin, described as a defense of liberty of conscience in "homespun verse—written with a good deal of decent plainness and manly freedom."

Flötner or Flettner, Peter, c.1485-1546, German medalist and artisan, possibly Swiss by birth. He was active in decorative sculpture, wood carving, and other crafts, making medals and plaques and furnishing designs of classical motifs for silversmiths. He was in Nuremberg by 1522 and did most of his work there, although he made two trips to Italy. Flötner is now regarded as a pioneer of the German Renaissance. His Kunstbuch was published in 1549. In the Metropolitan Museum are five of his bronze plaques illustrating biblical episodes.

Flettner, Peter: see Flötner, Peter.

Fabergé, Peter Carl, 1846-1920, Russian goldsmith and jeweler, b. St. Petersburg. Sometimes described as a latter-day Cellini, he was descended from Huguenots and inherited (1870) his father Gustave's jewelry firm in his native city. The business flourished under the younger Fabergé's direction, expanding to include the creation of precious objects in gold, silver, vermeil, enamelwork, and gems. By 1906 there were branches in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Odessa, Kiev, and London, and the firm employed well over 500. Favorites of the aristocracy, Fabergé and his studio became particularly known for their opulent, intricate, and ingenious Easter eggs, which were often used as gifts by czars Alexander III and Nicholas II. The Russian Revolution meant the downfall of such lavish artistry, however gorgeously wrought; the Fabergé business was nationalized in 1917 and closed the following year. Fabergé himself fled to Lausanne, Switzerland, where he soon died.

Eckermann, Johann Peter, 1792-1854, German scholar and author. He assisted Goethe in various literary labors, was professor of English and German at the Univ. of Jena, and later was librarian at Weimar. His Conversations with Goethe (1836-48, tr. 1850), which quotes the poet at length, is an invaluable biographical document.

Drucker, Peter Ferdinand, 1909-2005, American economist, b. Vienna, Austria. After receiving a doctorate in international and public law from Frankfurt Univ. (1931), Drucker was a financial writer for a German newspaper. In 1933 he moved to London, then to the United States (1937), where he became a freelance writer and (1943) a citizen. After teaching at New York Univ. (1950-71), he joined the faculty of Claremont Graduate Univ. (1971-2005). In 1987, Claremont named its graduate management school after him. Drucker was an authority on corporate management who was concerned with the human impact of corporate life; among his ideas in the 1970s was the shift from traditional assembly lines to flexible production methods. He also helped found (1990) the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management. He wrote more than 30 books, including The End of Economic Man (1939), Future of Industrial Man (1942), Concept of the Corporation (1946), The Practice of Management (1954), Drucker on Asia (with Isao Nakauchi, 1997), Management Challenges for the 21st Century (1999), and the autobiographical Adventures of a Bystander (1979).

Debye, Peter Joseph Wilhelm, 1884-1966, American physicist, b. the Netherlands. He was professor at the universities of Zürich, Utrecht, Göttingen, Leipzig, and Berlin. In 1940 he came to the United States and served as professor of chemistry at Cornell Univ. (1940-52). For his work on the structure of molecules he received the 1936 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He is known also for his studies in the conductivity of electricity by salt solutions and in the heat capacity of solids.

Dease, Peter Warren, 1788-1863, Canadian explorer. He was in the North West Company before its merger with the Hudson's Bay Company and later was a Hudson's Bay Company trader. He was a member of the party of Sir John Franklin's second arctic expedition. Later he and Thomas Simpson (see under Simpson, Sir George) explored (1836-39) the coast of the Arctic Ocean in Canada and Alaska from the mouth of the Mackenzie River to Point Barrow. They also mapped the southern shores of Victoria and King William islands.

De Wint, Peter, 1784-1849, English landscape painter. He was a leading watercolorist. Most of De Wint's landscapes are distinctly English in subject and treatment, Lincolnshire scenes being favorites. A Cornfield and Landscape with Water (Victoria and Albert Mus.) are among his best-known works.

Davies, Sir Peter Maxwell, 1934-, English composer and conductor, b. Salford. He was co-founder (1967) of the Pierrot Players instrumental ensemble, later reinvented as the Fires of London (1970-87), which he directed and for which he wrote many pieces, e.g., the highly emotional Eight Songs for a Mad King (1969), probably his best-known work. He has composed in numerous idioms and moods, from early expressionist works to later more lyrical and reflective pieces; his interest in medieval and Renaissance music is clear in Shakespeare Music (1964) and other compositions. Extremely prolific, Davies has written choral works, e.g., O magnum mysterium (1960); operas, e.g., The Lighthouse (1980) and The Doctor of Myddfai (1996); several symphonies, e.g., Antarctic Symphony (2002); and numerous concerti, vocal works, chamber music, theater pieces, and many others. He has served as conductor/composer of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Glasgow (1985-94), the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London (1992-2000), and the BBC Philharmonic, Manchester (1992-2001); in 2004 he was appointed Master of the Queen's Musick. He was knighted in 1987.

Cornelius, Peter von, 1783-1867, German painter. He studied at Düsseldorf and in Rome, where he joined the German Nazarene group and collaborated with other members in the decoration of the Casa Bartoldy. In 1820 he was commissioned by Louis I of Bavaria to paint the fresco decorations in the Glyptothek, Munich. The Last Judgment was one of his fresco decorations for the Ludwigskirche, Munich. Cornelius believed that art should express noble ideals, and he disdained to work from nature. His favorite themes were religious or philosophical. In addition to his painting, Cornelius produced illustrations for Faust and the Nibelungenlied and designs for the decoration of the royal mausoleum, done for Frederick William II of Prussia.

Cornelius, Peter, 1824-74, German composer and poet; follower of Liszt and Wagner. He wrote music criticism, songs, and poetry but is best known for his operas Der Barbier von Bagdad (1858) and Der Cid (1865).

Cooper, Peter, 1791-1883, American inventor, industrialist, and philanthropist, b. New York City. After achieving success in the glue business, Cooper, with two partners, erected (1829) the Canton Iron Works in Baltimore. There he constructed the Tom Thumb, one of the earliest locomotives built in the United States. His success in trials on the Baltimore & Ohio RR probably saved that pioneer line from bankruptcy. During the next 20 years, Cooper expanded his holdings, becoming a leader in the American iron industry, and in 1870 he was awarded the Bessemer gold medal for rolling the first iron for fireproof buildings. Cooper invented and patented other practical devices and processes. His faith in the success of the Atlantic cable led him to invest heavily in the New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company after banks refused to finance the operation. He was president of this company for 20 years while he headed the North American Telegraph Company, which controlled more than half of the telegraph lines in the country. An outstanding leader in the civic affairs of New York City, Cooper led the successful fight to secure a public school system and did much to improve several of the municipal departments. His lasting monument is Cooper Union in New York City, built after his own plans to provide for education for the working classes. He supported the Greenback party in national politics, and in 1876 he was the party's presidential candidate, polling over 80,000 votes. Many of his addresses were collected in Ideas for a Science of Good Government (1883, repr. 1971). Abram S. Hewitt was his son-in-law, Peter Cooper Hewitt his grandson.

Cartwright, Peter, 1785-1872, American Methodist preacher, b. Virginia. He was a circuit rider in Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois for nearly 50 years. In 1846 he was defeated as a candidate for Congress by Abraham Lincoln. An interest in education led Cartwright to aid in founding Illinois Wesleyan Univ. and Illinois Conference Female Academy (now MacMurray College). The methods and experiences of the pioneer preacher are vividly recorded in his autobiography (1857) and other books.

Carrington, Peter Carington, 6th Baron, 1919-, British politician. Educated at Eton and Sandhurst, he succeeded to the peerage in 1938. After serving in World War II, he took his seat in the House of Lords, where he held ministerial positions under the Conservative governments of Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, and Edward Heath. These included high commissioner to Australia (1956-59), first lord of the admiralty (1959-63), leader of the House of Lords (1963-64), and secretary of state for defense (1970-74). In the first government of Margaret Thatcher he was foreign secretary (1979-82), where he played a major role in negotiating an end to the civil war in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He resigned after the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands. He subsequently served as secretary-general of NATO (1984-88) and until 1992 was a European Community envoy working for peace in the Balkans.

Carey, Peter, 1943-, Australian novelist, b. near Melbourne. Carey's combination of science fiction and fantasy motifs with a realistic style, displayed in such short-story volumes as The Fat Man in History (1974), War Crimes (1979), and Collected Stories (1995), has invited comparison with such modern masters as Borges and Grass. In longer works of fiction, such as Bliss (1981, his first novel), Illywhacker (1985), and other books, Carey confronts the realities and myths of Australian history and society. Two later novels of Australia, the Victorian-style Oscar and Lucinda (1988) and The True History of the Kelly Gang (2001), a legandary outlaw's supposed memoir, won Booker Prizes. Carey's other novels include The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith (1994); Jack Maggs (1997); My Life as a Fake (2003), a complex and ironic treatment of literary life; Theft: A Love Story (2006), which takes a similar approach to painting and the art market; and His Illegal Self (2008). Carey, who moved to New York in 1991 and has taught writing at New York Univ. and Barnard College, has also written screenplays, a children's book (1995), and 30 Days in Sydney (2001), a portrait of his one-time hometown.

Canisius, Peter: see Peter Canisius, Saint.

Brougham, Henry Peter, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux, 1778-1868, British statesman, b. Edinburgh. As a young lawyer in Scotland he helped to found (1802) the Edinburgh Review and contributed many articles to it. He went to London, was called (1808) to the English bar, and entered (1810) Parliament as a Whig. Brougham took up the fight against the slave trade and opposed the restrictions on trade with the Continent. In 1820 he won popular renown as chief attorney to Queen Caroline (see Caroline of Brunswick), and in the next decade he became a liberal leader in the House of Commons. He not only proposed educational reforms in Parliament, but also was one of the founders of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (1825) and of the Univ. of London (1828). As lord chancellor (1830-34) he effected many legal reforms to speed procedure and established the central criminal court. In later years he spent much of his time in Cannes, which he established as a popular resort.

Brook, Peter, 1925-, English theatrical director, b. London. An innovative, unconventional, and controversial figure, Brook mounts energetic productions in which the entire stage is utilized and realistic sets are banished in favor of bold, abstract, and austere settings. His approach is extremely physical, and he often has his actors sing, play musical instruments, and perform acrobatics. His production of Love's Labour's Lost (1946) began his long association with what became in 1961 the Royal Shakespeare Company. Subsequent Shakespearean productions included Measure for Measure (1950), Titus Andronicus (1955), King Lear (1962), and A Midsummer Night's Dream (1970), which was set in a kind of adult playground with trapezes, stilts, and spinning plates. Other Brook productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company included his famous staging of Peter Weiss's Marat/Sade (1964), a play within a play set in the insane asylum housing the Marquis de Sade that examines both revolution and madness, and US (1966), an attack on U.S. involvement in Vietnam. During the 1960s, Brook's productions were influenced both by the shock tactics of Antonin Artaud and the analytical detachment of Bertolt Brecht.

Brook has also directed films, such as Moderato Cantabile (1960), Lord of the Flies (1963), and King Lear (1971); and operas, such as Faust and Eugene Onegin. In the 1970s, he founded the International Center of Theatre Research in Paris, an assembly of actors, dancers, musicians, and other performers of many nationalities. Their most recognized achievement was a nine-hour presentation of the Indian epic The Mahabharata (1985). Since then Brook has created a variety of other theatrical works, such as a version of Oliver Sacks's The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (1994), a production of Mozart's Don Giovanni (1998), a streamlined Hamlet (2000), and Tierno Bokar (2005), a theater piece based on the life of a West African Sufi in the 1930s. His books on the theater include Empty Space (1969), The Shifting Point (1987), and The Open Door (1995).

Boehler, Peter, 1712-75, missionary and bishop of the Moravian Church, b. Germany. He went (1738) to Savannah, Ga., to minister to the Moravians. In 1740 he migrated with a group to Pennsylvania and there founded Nazareth and Bethlehem. He went to England and organized a new company of emigrants, the "Sea Congregation," which settled in Bethlehem in 1742. He was superintendent (1747-53) of the Moravian Church in England and was made a bishop in 1748. Boehler returned to America and directed the founding of new Moravian settlements from 1753 to 1764.

Blume, Peter, 1906-92, American painter, b. Russia. Blume emigrated to the United States in 1911. In his early work, such as The Parade (1930; Mus. of Modern Art, New York City), he sought to depict through symbolism the smooth, hard contours of the industrial world. His paintings, which gained recognition in the 1930s, are precise, linear, and fantastic treatments of modern social themes, painted in microscopic detail. Major works include the powerful antifascist Eternal City (1934-37; Mus. of Modern Art) and The Rock (1945-48; Art Inst., Chicago).

Bienewitz, Peter: see Apianus, Petrus.

Bernstorff, Andreas Peter, 1735-97, Danish politician; nephew of Johann Hartwig Ernst Bernstorff. Made (1773) foreign minister after Struensee's fall from power, he obtained from Russia the final ratification of the exchange treaty negotiated by his uncle in 1767. Removed from office in 1780 to pacify Russia, he was recalled in 1784 and was chief minister until 1797. He sought friendly relations with Sweden, kept Denmark neutral in the French Revolutionary Wars, and undertook a liberal program of social, economic, and educational reform.

Bennewitz, Peter: see Apianus, Petrus.

Behrens, Peter, 1868-1940, German architect, influential in Europe in the evolution of the modern architectural style. He established before World War I a predominantly utilitarian type of architecture that at the same time achieved qualities of clarity and impressiveness. His factory buildings were among the earliest European works to base a simple and effective style upon the frank terms of modern construction. Behrens is known also for residences, for workers' apartment houses in Vienna, and for his pioneering work in industrial design. Among his pupils were Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, and Ludwig Miës van der Rohe.

Asbjørnsen, Peter Christian, 1812-85, Norwegian folklorist, writer, and naturalist. Norwegian Folk Stories (4 vol., 1841-44), which he collected with the poet Jørgen Moe, his friend from school days, was acclaimed throughout Europe for its contribution to comparative folklore and literature. In 1845 he published the first series of his Norwegian Fairy Stories and Folk Legends. English translations of his works include Popular Tales from the Norse (tr. 1858) and Fairy Tales from the Far North (tr. 1897). Asbjørnsen was a forester for many years and wrote numerous scholarly papers on the natural sciences.

Arno, Peter, 1904-68, American cartoonist, b. New York City. Arno's satirical cartoons appeared in The New Yorker magazine from 1925 until his death. He achieved a distinctive drawing style featuring heavily outlined figures. Notable among his urbane characterizations are the self-important executive and the generously endowed woman. His cartoons have been collected in Peter Arno's Parade (1929), Peter Arno's Hullabaloo (1930), Sizzling Platter (1949), and Lady in the Shower (1967).

Altgeld, John Peter, 1847-1902, American politician, governor of Illinois (1892-96), b. Germany. He was taken by his immigrant parents to Ohio, where he grew up with little formal schooling. After service in the Union army he spent some years as an itinerant worker on farms, read law, and became county attorney of Savannah, Mo. In 1875 he moved to Chicago, where he wrote Our Penal Machinery and Its Victims (1884), arguing that American judicial methods were weighted against the poor. In 1886 he was elected to the Cook co. superior court, and in 1892 he was elected governor. In office he established himself as a champion of labor, reform, and liberal thought. Charging a miscarriage of justice, he pardoned three anarchists imprisoned as parties to the Haymarket riot of 1886. During the Pullman strike of 1894, when President Cleveland sent federal troops into Chicago, Governor Altgeld publicly termed the act unconstitutional. His extreme liberalism, coupled with his espousal of free silver, lost him reelection in 1896. Denounced as a radical in his own day, he was later regarded as a defender of the freedom of the individual against entrenched power.

Akinola, Peter Jasper, 1944-, Nigerian Anglican prelate. He was ordained a deacon in 1978 and a priest in 1979. From 1978 on he built the Anglican church in Abuja, Nigeria, from practically nothing into a flourishing institution. Created a bishop (1989) and an archbishop (1997), he has been primate of the Nigerian church since 2000. A conservative and an evangelical, he is best known for his adamant opposition to the ordination of homosexual clergy and to the blessing of gay unions, and has been sharply critical of the American, Canadian, and English Anglican churches, among others, for their positions on these issues. Akinola and other conservative, predominantly Third World bishops have also strongly objected to the ordination of women, and the divisiveness of these issues has threatened to split the Anglican Communion. In 2007, in a direct challenge to the Episcopal Church, Akinola installed a Virginia bishop as head of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America. Within Nigeria, Akinola has supported moves to reduce government corruption and legislation that would outlaw same-sex relationships, the depiction of such relationships, and gay organizations.

Ackroyd, Peter, 1949-, British author, b. London; studied Clare College, Cambridge (M.A., 1971) and Yale. A literary journalist, he wrote for the Spectator (1973-82) and has reviewed books for the London Times since 1986. His early work includes three volumes of poetry (1973, 1978, 1987), a polemic on literary modernism (1976), and a study of transvestism (1979). His first novel, The Great Fire of London (1982), was followed by The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde (1983), Hawksmoor (1985), Chatterton (1987), English Music (1992), Milton in America (1997), The Plato Papers (2000), The Clerkenwell Tales (2004), and The Fall of Troy (2007). Typically novels of ideas that reflect an enormous range of intellectual interest and inquiry and that defy traditional realism, his fiction frequently deals with the active interplay between the past and the present and often uses the city of London as both locale and thematic touchstone. English literary figures and murder make frequent appearances in these works. Ackroyd also is a perceptive biographer whose subjects include Ezra Pound (1980, rev. ed. 1987), T. S. Eliot (1984), Charles Dickens (1990), William Blake (1995), Thomas More (1998), and J. M. W. Turner (2002). In addition, he has written a widely praised "biography" of London (2000) and a wide-ranging study of the English literary and artistic imagination, Albion (2003). Many of Ackroyd's literary critical essays are reprinted in The Collection (2001).

Abelard, Peter, Fr. Pierre Abélard, 1079-1142, French philosopher and teacher, b. Le Pallet, near Nantes.

Life

Abelard went (c.1100) to Paris to study under William of Champeaux at the school of Notre Dame and soon attacked the ultrarealist position of his master with such success that William was forced to modify his teaching. Abelard became master at Notre Dame but, when deprived of his place, set himself up (1112) at a school on Mont-Ste-Geneviève, just outside the city walls. Abelard's fame as a dialectician attracted great numbers of students to Paris. This part of his career was cut short by his romance with Heloise, d. c.1164, the learned niece of Fulbert, canon of Notre Dame, who had hired Abelard as her tutor.

After Heloise bore a son, a secret marriage was held to appease her uncle. Fulbert's ill-treatment of Heloise led Abelard to remove her secretly to the convent at Argenteuil. Fulbert, who thought that Abelard planned to abandon her, had ruffians attack and emasculate him. Abelard sought refuge at Saint-Denis where he became a monk. In 1120 he left Saint-Denis to teach. At the instigation of his rivals, the Council of Soissons had his first theological work burned as heretical (1121). After a short imprisonment, he returned to Saint-Denis but fell out with the monks and built a hermitage near Troyes. To house the students who sought him out, he established a monastery, the Paraclete. When Abelard became abbot at Saint-Gildas-en-Rhuys, Brittany, he gave the Paraclete to Heloise, who became an abbess of a convent there.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux thought Abelard's influence dangerous and secured his condemnation by the Council of Sens (1140). Abelard appealed to the pope, who upheld the council. Abelard submitted and retired to Cluny. He was buried at the Paraclete, as was Heloise; their bodies were later moved to Père-Lachaise in Paris. The events of his life are chronicled in his autobiographical Historia calamitatum and revealed in the poignant letters of Heloise and Abelard (tr. by B. Radice, 1974), which for almost 800 years consisted of five of his letters and three of hers.

In 1980 a scholar examining a 15th-century letter-writing manual discovered that 113 unattributed fragments of love letters contained in a section of the book had actually been written by Abelard and Heloise during their affair. These letters have added to, but not changed, the understanding of the characters of each of the lovers and of their romance's rare and intense blend of the intellectual and the erotic.

Philosophy

A theological Platonist, Abelard emphasized Aristotle's dialectic method. His belief that the methods of logic could be applied to the truths of faith was in opposition to the mysticism of St. Bernard. He also opposed the extreme views of William of Champeaux and Roscelin on the problems of universals. His own solution, in which universals are considered as entities existent only in thought but with a basis in particulars, is called moderate realism and to some extent anticipates the conceptualism of St. Thomas Aquinas.

His most influential work was Sic et non, a collection of contradictory selections from Scripture and the Fathers of the Church. In his introduction to Sic et non, Abelard set a method of resolving these apparent contradictions, thereby making the work significant for the development of the scholastic method. This work formed the basis for the widely read Sentences of Peter Lombard, who may have been Abelard's pupil. Abelard was perhaps most important as a teacher; among his pupils were some of the celebrated men of the 12th cent., including John of Salisbury and Arnold of Brescia. Of Abelard's poetry only Latin hymns survive.

(born 1697, Germany—died July 28, 1746, New York, N.Y.) German-born U.S. printer and journalist. He immigrated to New York at age 13 and was indentured to a printer before starting his own printing business (1726). In 1733 he began publishing the New York Weekly Journal. Arrested for libel in 1734 for his attacks on the policies of the colonial governor, he was acquitted on the grounds that his charges were based on fact (a key consideration in libel cases since that time). It was the first important victory for freedom of the press in Britain's North American colonies.

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(born Nov. 8, 1916, Nowawes, near Potsdam, Ger.—died May 10, 1982, Stockholm, Swed.) German playwright. After fleeing Germany in 1934, his family settled in Sweden. Weiss painted and made avant-garde films in the 1950s, then turned to fiction and drama, establishing a reputation in Germany with his novel Exile (1962). He won international acclaim for his play The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade (1964; usually referred to as Marat/Sade), which addressed themes of individualism, revolution, and violence. Associated with the Theatre of Fact movement, he also wrote the documentary dramas The Investigation (1965), The Song of the Lusitanian Bogey (1967), and Discourse on Vietnam (1968).

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(born April 16, 1921, London, Eng.—died March 28, 2004, Genolier, Switz.) British actor, director, author, and playwright. He made his professional stage debut at age 17, in which he displayed his talents for vocal mimicry and age affectation, and landed his first major screen role in The Goose Steps Out (1942). His film appearances include Lola Montès (1955), Spartacus (1960, Academy Award), Topkapi (1964, Academy Award), and a recurring role as Hercule Poirot in movies based on Agatha Christie's mysteries, beginning with Death on the Nile (1978). He both starred in and directed Billy Budd (1962), among other films. Lady L (1965), with Sophia Loren and Paul Newman, was probably his best-received directorial effort. He wrote successful plays such as The Love of Four Colonels (1951) and Romanoff and Juliet (1956) and won Emmy Awards for his television performances in The Life of Samuel Johnson (1957), Barefoot in Athens (1966), and A Storm in Summer (1970). Ustinov also wrote several novels and the autobiographical works Dear Me (1977), Ustinov at Large (1993), and Ustinov Still at Large (1994). Noted for his humanitarian efforts, he served as ambassador at large for UNICEF from 1969 until his death. Ustinov was knighted in 1990.

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(born circa 1592, Scherpenzeel, Friesland, Neth.—died February 1672, near New York, N.Y.) Dutch colonial governor. In 1643 he became director of the Dutch West India Co.'s Caribbean colonies and in 1645 director general of all Dutch possessions in North America, including New Netherland and the Caribbean. He arrived in New Amsterdam (later New York City) in 1647 and soon faced the burghers' demands for self-government. He established a municipal government but continued to control it. He settled the boundary with Connecticut (1650), expelled the Swedes from New Sweden on the Delaware River, and incorporated the colony into Dutch territory (1655). Incursions from the New England colonies and a squadron sent by Charles II forced him to surrender New Netherland to the British (1664).

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(born May 15, 1926, London, Eng.) British playwright. He first won notice for his comedy Five Finger Exercise (1958) and his epic tragedy The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1964). His Equus (1973, Tony Award; film, 1977) was a hit in London and New York City. He was also acclaimed for Amadeus (1979), which treated Antonio Salieri's one-sided rivalry with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Shaffer adapted the play for film (1984, Academy Award). His later plays include Lettice and Lovage (1988).

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(born Jan. 31, 1797, Himmelpfortgrund, near Vienna—died Nov. 19, 1828, Vienna) Austrian composer. He learned violin from his schoolteacher father and piano from his brother. He joined the precursor of the Vienna Boys Choir (1808), making such quick progress that Antonio Salieri undertook to guide his training (1810–16). At his family's insistence, he was trained as a schoolteacher. In 1815 he wrote 2 symphonies, more than 100 songs, and 4 stage works. In 1818, seeking independence, he quit teaching at his father's school to tutor Johann Esterházy's daughters. In 1819–20 he wrote the celebrated Trout Quintet and a mass. In 1821, 20 of his most popular songs were published with great success, and he wrote the three-act opera Alfonso und Estrella. Despite his first awareness of the disease (possibly syphilis) that would kill him, his amazing production continued in 1822, with the Unfinished Symphony and the Wanderer Fantasy. He was often ill during his last five years but continued his production of music, including the song cycles The Miller's Beautiful Daughter and Winter Journey, the last three piano sonatas, and the Great Symphony. His last years were made miserable by illness, not poverty; in fact, his greatness was widely recognized. He died at 31, having produced more masterpieces by that age than almost any other composer in history. His 600 songs made the lied a serious genre and sparked its great development in subsequent decades.

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(born June 28, 1577, Siegen, Westphalia—died May 30, 1640, Antwerp, Spanish Neth.) Flemish painter and diplomat. After apprenticeships in Antwerp, he was admitted to its painters' guild in 1598. He went to Italy in 1600 and until 1608 worked for the duke of Mantua, who in 1603 sent him to Spain to present paintings and other gifts to Philip III, the first of many diplomatic missions he would perform for various courts over three decades. The enormous fame he would achieve made him welcome at royal courts, and sovereigns often discussed affairs of state while they sat for portraits. Returning to the Spanish Netherlands (now Belgium) in 1608, he was appointed court painter to the Spanish Habsburg regents, and over the next decade produced numerous altarpieces. A devout Catholic, he became the Counter-Reformation's chief artistic proponent in northern Europe. In 1620 he contracted to design 39 ceiling paintings for the Jesuit church, to be completed by assistants, including the young Anthony Van Dyck. In France he did 21 large canvases for Marie de Médicis and a tapestry cycle for Louis XIII; for Britain his Allegory of Peace and War (1629–30) commemorated the success of his own diplomatic efforts to end hostilities between Britain and Spain, and he decorated the royal Banqueting House for Charles I; in Spain he did more than 60 oil sketches for Philip IV's hunting lodge. Both Charles and Philip knighted him. His output was prodigious. He was the greatest exponent of Baroque painting's dynamism, vitality, and sensual exuberance. His profound stylistic influence extended over three centuries.

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(born Jan. 18, 1779, London, Eng.—died Sept. 12, 1869, West Malvern, Worcestershire) English physician and philologist. In 1814 he invented a slide rule for calculating the roots and powers of numbers. He was instrumental in founding the University of London (1828). He is best known for his Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases (1852), a comprehensive classification of synonyms or verbal equivalents which he assembled during his retirement. He was a fellow (from 1815) and secretary (from 1827) of the Royal Society.

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orig. Simon

(died circa AD 64, Rome) Disciple of Jesus, recognized as the leader of the Twelve Apostles. Jesus called him Cephas (Aramaic for “Rock”; rendered in Greek as “Petros”) and said “Upon this rock I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18). When Jesus was arrested, according to the biblical account, Peter denied him three times, as Jesus had foretold. Accounts of Peter's life and ministry rely on the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the epistles of Peter, and the epistles of St. Paul. Peter worked with Paul in Antioch and later carried on missionary work in Asia Minor. According to tradition, he eventually went to Rome, where he suffered martyrdom by being crucified upside down. Saint Peter's Basilica is said to have been built on the site of his grave in Rome. In Roman Catholicism he is regarded as the first in the unbroken succession of popes. Jesus' promise to give him the “keys of the kingdom” led to the popular perception of Peter as the gatekeeper of heaven. The Roman Catholic church celebrates five feast days in honour of Peter, and in each the name of Paul is associated.

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(born circa 1050, probably Amiens—died July 8, 1115, Huy, Flanders) French ascetic and one of the most important preachers of the First Crusade. A charismatic ascetic, he preached widely in Europe in support of the First Crusade and led his enthusiastic followers to Constantinople in 1096. They advanced to Nicomedia, but Peter was unable to maintain discipline; he returned to Constantinople to ask for help from Alexius I, and in his absence his army was annihilated by the Turks. Peter reached Jerusalem in 1099 and afterwards returned to France, where he became prior of an Augustinian monastery.

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Russian Pyotr Alekseyevich known as Peter the Great

(born June 9, 1672, Moscow, Russia—died Feb. 8, 1725, St. Petersburg) Tsar of Russia (1682–1725). Son of Tsar Alexis, he reigned jointly with his half brother Ivan V (1682–96) and alone from 1696. Interested in progressive influences from western Europe, he visited several countries there (1697–98). After returning to Russia, he introduced Western technology, modernized the government and military system, and transferred the capital to the new city of St. Petersburg (1703). He further increased the power of the monarchy at the expense of the nobles and the Orthodox church. Some of his reforms were implemented brutally, with considerable loss of life. Suspecting that his son Alexis was conspiring against him, he had Alexis tortured to death in 1718. He pursued foreign policies to give Russia access to the Baltic and Black seas, engaging in war with the Ottoman Empire (1695–96) and with Sweden in the Second Northern War (1700–21). His campaign against Persia (1722–23) secured for Russia the southern and western shores of the Caspian Sea. In 1721 he was proclaimed emperor; his wife succeeded him as the empress Catherine I. For raising Russia to a recognized place among the great European powers, Peter is widely considered one of the outstanding rulers and reformers in Russian history, but he has also been decried by nationalists for discarding much of what was unique in Russian culture, and his legacy has been seen as a model for Joseph Stalin's brutal transformation of Russian life.

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Spanish Pedro known as Peter the Ceremonious

(born Sept. 5, 1319, or Sept. 15, 1317, Balaguer, Catalonia—died Jan. 5, 1387, Barcelona) King of Aragon (1336–87). He took the Balearic Islands and Roussillon from Majorca (1343–44), defeated the Aragonese nobles (1348), and became duke of Athens and Neopatras (1380). He waged war against Castile (1356–66) but failed to gain any territory; after 1369 France favoured Castile over Aragon. Peter tried to maintain neutrality in the Hundred Years' War, and he quarreled with his heir, the future John I, who became the tool of French intrigues.

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(born circa 1100, Novara, Lombardy—died Aug. 21/22, 1160, Paris) French bishop and theologian. He studied in Bologna and taught theology in the school of Notre-Dame, Paris. He was consecrated bishop of Paris in 1159. His Four Books of Sentences (1148–51), a systematic collection of teachings of the Church Fathers and opinions of medieval theologians, served as the standard theological text of the Middle Ages. In it Peter touched on every doctrinal issue, from God and the Trinity to the four “last things” (death, judgment, hell, and heaven). He asserted that sacraments are the cause and not merely the signal of grace and that human actions may be judged good or bad according to their cause and intention.

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Russian Pyotr Fyodorovich orig. Karl Peter Ulrich, duke von Holstein-Gottorp

(born Feb. 21, 1728, Kiel, Holstein-Gottorp—died July 18, 1762, Ropsha, near St. Petersburg, Russia) Tsar of Russia (1762). Grandson of Peter I, the young duke was brought to Russia by his aunt Elizabeth when she became empress (1741). Proclaimed the heir to the Russian throne, he was unpopular at court for his pro-Prussian attitude. After he succeeded Elizabeth (1762), he reversed her foreign policy, making peace with Prussia and withdrawing from the Seven Years' War. He offended the Orthodox church by trying to force it to adopt Lutheran practices. After six months he was forced to abdicate by a group of nobles, in collusion with his own wife, Catherine (later Catherine II), and Count Grigory Orlov, and was murdered while in the conspirators' custody.

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(born Sept. 6, 1923, Belgrade, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes—died Nov. 3, 1970, Los Angeles, Calif., U.S.) Last king of Yugoslavia. The son of Alexander I, he became titular king on his father's assassination (1934), but he ruled under the regency of his uncle Prince Paul (1893–1976). After a coup deposed Paul (1941), Peter ruled for several weeks until the German invasion forced him to flee to London. He led a government-in-exile until the Yugoslav monarchy was abolished in 1945. He moved to the U.S., where he worked in public relations.

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(born 1007, Ravenna—died Feb. 22, 1072, Faenze; feast day February 21) Italian cardinal and Doctor of the Church. He was prior of Fonte Avellana in the Apennines before being named a cardinal in 1057. A leading monastic reformer and ascetic, he played an important role in the promotion of apostolic poverty and in support of papal reformers who sought to enforce clerical celibacy and abolish simony. He defended Pope Alexander II against the antipope Honorius II and reconciled Alexander with the city of Ravenna. He was also sent as a papal legate to resolve disputes in Milan and Cluny, Burgundy, and he played a key role in the formulation of the papal election decree of 1059.

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(born Aug. 2, 1932, Connemara, County Galway, Ire.) Irish actor. He studied drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He made his London debut in 1956 and played Hamlet in the National Theatre's inaugural production in 1963. His film debut came in Kidnapped (1960), and he won international acclaim for Lawrence of Arabia (1962), for which he won a British Academy Award. Noted for his wit and intensity, he often played uncertain heroes or eccentrics, starring in films such as Becket (1964), The Lion in Winter (1968), The Ruling Class (1972), The Stunt Man (1980), My Favorite Year (1982), The Last Emperor (1987), and Phantoms (1998). His acting range extends from classical drama to contemporary farce. He received an Emmy Award for his performance as Bishop Cauchon in the television miniseries Joan of Arc (1999).

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(born , Sept. 29, 1920, Mitcham, Surrey, Eng.—died April 10, 1992, Bodmin, Cornwall) British chemist. He discovered how the distribution of enzymes in mitochondrial membranes helps them use energy from hydrogen ions to convert ADP to ATP. He received a 1978 Nobel Prize for formulating the chemiosmotic theory, which explains how energy is generated in the mitochondria of living cells.

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(born circa 1589, Wesel, Kleve—died June 1638, Caribbean Sea) Dutch colonial governor of New Netherland. In 1626 the Dutch West India Co. named him director general of the colony on Manhattan Island. According to legend, to legitimize Dutch occupation of the island he persuaded the Indians to sell it for a handful of trinkets worth about 60 guilders ($24). At the island's southern tip he founded New Amsterdam. He was recalled to Holland (1631) and later was sent to establish the colony of New Sweden on Delaware Bay, where he again purchased land from the Indians and built Fort Christina (later Wilmington, Del.) in 1638.

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(born Feb. 28, 1915, Rio de Janeiro, Braz.—died Oct. 2, 1987, London, Eng.) Brazilian-born British zoologist. Educated at Oxford, he began transplant research in 1949. His finding (1953) that adult animals injected with foreign cells early in life accept skin grafts from the original donor or its twin lent support to Macfarlane Burnet's hypothesis that cells learn, during and just after birth, to distinguish “own” from “foreign.” He found that nonidentical cattle twins accept skin grafts from each other, proving that antigens “leak” between the embryos' yolk sacs, and showed with mice that each cell contains genetic antigens important to immunity. His work deflected immunology from dealing with the fully developed immunity mechanism to attempting to alter the mechanism itself (e.g., suppression of transplant rejection). He and Burnet shared a 1960 Nobel Prize.

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(born Oct. 27, 1946, Copenhagen, Den.) Danish-born U.S. dancer, choreographer, and director of the New York City Ballet. He trained at the Royal Danish Ballet School and became a member of its company in 1965. He joined the New York City Ballet in 1969 as a principal dancer and created roles in ballets such as Jerome Robbins's Goldberg Variations (1971) and George Balanchine's Duo Concertante (1972). He began choreographing for the company in 1977 with Calcium Light Night. After Balanchine's death in 1983, Martins became codirector (until 1990) and then sole director of the company.

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(born Dec. 6, 1942, Griffen, Austria) Austrian writer. He studied law before beginning to write seriously. He earned an early reputation as a member of the avant-garde with plays such as Offending the Audience (1966), in which actors analyze the nature of theatre and alternately insult the audience and praise its “performance,” and Kaspar (1968). His novels, mostly ultraobjective, deadpan accounts of characters in extreme states of mind, include The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (1970) and The Left-Handed Woman (1976). A dominant theme of his works is the deadening effects and underlying irrationality of ordinary language, everyday reality, and rational order.

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(born , Dec. 2, 1906, Budapest, Hung.—died Dec. 7, 1977, Westchester county, N.Y., U.S.) Hungarian-U.S. engineer. He earned a doctorate from the University of Vienna before immigrating to the U.S. in 1933. From 1936 to 1972 he worked at the Columbia Broadcasting System Laboratories. In 1940 he demonstrated the first commercial colour-television system; based on a rotating three-colour disk, his system found wide application in closed-circuit television for industry, medical institutions, and schools because his camera was much smaller, lighter, and easier to maintain than those that eventually came to be used in commercial television. In 1948 he introduced the long-playing (LP) phonograph record, which revolutionized the recording industry. In 1950 he developed the scanning system that would allow the U.S. Lunar Orbiter spacecraft (launched in 1966) to relay photographs 238,000 mi (380,000 km) from the Moon to Earth.

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(born Sept. 8, 1934, Manchester, Eng.) British composer. He studied in England, Italy, and the U.S. He cofounded the contemporary ensemble The Fires of London and was its musical director (1970–87); he wrote many of his works for the group. In 1970 he moved to Scotland's remote Orkney Islands. He wrote many musical theatre works and conducted orchestras worldwide. His most famous compositions are Eight Songs for a Mad King (1969) and An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise (1985); his other works include Miss Donnithorne's Maggot (1974); the operas Taverner (1968), The Martyrdom of St. Magnus (1976), and The Lighthouse (1980); eight symphonies; and numerous concerti.

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(born Feb. 12, 1791, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died April 4, 1883, New York City) U.S. inventor. Cooper became involved with the Canton Iron Works, built to supply the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co., for which he devised and built the diminutive but powerful Tom Thumb locomotive. His factory at Trenton, N.J., produced the first structural-iron beams for buildings. He supported the Atlantic-cable project of Cyrus Field (1819–92) and became president of the North American Telegraph Co. His inventions include a washing machine, a compressed-air engine for ferry boats, and a waterpower device for moving canal barges. A social idealist and reformer, he founded the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 1859.

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(born May 7, 1943, Bacchus Marsh, Vic., Austl.) Australian writer. He worked as an advertising copywriter and at other odd jobs until 1988, when he became a full-time writer. His short-story collection The Fat Man in History (1974) contains macabre elements. His novels, more realistic but laced with black humour, include Bliss (1981), Illywhacker (1985), Oscar and Lucinda (1988, Booker Prize), The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith (1994), Jack Maggs (1997), and True History of the Kelly Gang (2000; Booker Prize, 2001).

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(born March 21, 1925, London, Eng.) British director and producer. After directing plays in Stratford-upon-Avon, he became director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (1947–50). He directed several innovative Shakespearean productions that aroused controversy. Appointed codirector of the Royal Shakespeare Co. in 1962, he directed critically acclaimed productions of King Lear (1962) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (1970). He won international fame with his avant-garde direction of Peter Weiss's play Marat/Sade (1964). His films include Lord of the Flies (1962), King Lear (1969), and the six-hour Mahabharata (1989). In 1970 he cofounded, with Jean-Louis Barrault, the International Centre for Theatre Research.

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(born April 14, 1868, Hamburg—died Feb. 27, 1940, Berlin, Ger.) German architect and designer. He became director of Düsseldorf's arts and crafts school in 1903. The large electrical company AEG hired him in 1907 as its artistic adviser, a comprehensive job that led him to design the hexagonal trademark of the AEG, its catalogs, its office stationery, products such as electric fans and street lamps, and retail shops and factories. His AEG Works turbine factory in Berlin (1909–12), with its sweeping glass curtain wall, became the most significant building in Germany at that time. He was an influential pioneer of Modernism; Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe all worked in his office.

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(born Dec. 30, 1847, Niederselters, Prussia—died March 12, 1902, Joliet, Ill., U.S.) German-born U.S. politician, governor of Illinois (1893–97). He emigrated from Germany as a child. In the 1870s he moved to Chicago, where he accumulated a small fortune in real estate and became active in Democratic Party politics. In 1892 he won the governorship as a reformist candidate. In 1893, at the urging of Clarence Darrow and labour leaders, he granted clemency to three men convicted of complicity in the Haymarket Riot. The controversial pardon provoked an outcry from conservatives and contributed to his defeat for reelection in 1896, though Altgeld's decision later gained wide approval in judicial circles.

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(born 1079, Le Pallet, near Nantes, Brittany—died April 21, 1142, Priory of Saint-Marcel, near Chalon-sur-Saône, Burgundy) French theologian and philosopher. The son of a knight, he abandoned his inheritance to study philosophy. He became private tutor to Héloïse, niece of a canon in Paris, circa 1114. They fell in love; Héloïse became pregnant, and they married secretly. Her uncle had Abelard castrated, after which he became a monk and Héloïse became a nun. Abelard's Theologia was condemned as heretical in 1121. He accepted election as abbot of a monastery in Brittany in 1125, but his relations with the community deteriorated and he had to flee for his life. From circa 1135 Abelard taught at Mont-Sainte-Geneviève, where he wrote Ethica, in which he analyzed the notion of sin. In 1140 he was again condemned for heresy, and he withdrew to the monastery at Cluny. His influential Sic et non, a collection of apparently contradictory writings by church fathers on various topics, was intended to bring readers to the truth by wrestling with divergent opinions. He also wrote an autobiography, Historia calamitatum, and his best-known work is the series of letters he exchanged with Héloïse after they retired to monasteries.

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