Lee

Iacocca, Lee (Lido Anthony Iacocca), 1924-, American business executive, b. Allentown, Pa. In 1946 he joined the Ford Motor Company, where he rose to president (1970-78). He left the company after a dispute with Henry Ford II and became president (1978) and then chairman (1979) of the Chrysler Corp., restoring it through shrewd financial policies, a $1.2 billion loan guarantee, and tax concessions granted by Congress. In the 1980s, he also served as chairman of the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation and engineered Chrysler's $1.5 billion acquisition of American Motors. Iacocca retired at the end of 1992, but in 1995 he aided billionaire Kirk Kerkorian in his unsuccessful attempt to win control of Chrysler.

Lee, Ang, 1954-, Taiwanese filmmaker. Lee is one of the few directors who have achieved commercial and critical success in Asia and the United States, and is also unusual in the wide range of genres and themes he has explored. His first three films, Pushing Hands (1992), The Wedding Banquet (1993), and Eat Drink Man Woman (1994), all with screenplays by Lee and either bilingual or in Chinese, are deft domestic comedies that revolve around generational and cultural differences. His first English-language feature was an adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility (1995); it was followed by The Ice Storm (1997), a somber, darkly comic tale of the American suburbs, and Ride with the Devil (199), a Civil War drama. The Chinese-language martial-arts fantasy Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000; Academy Award, Best Foreign Language Film) was an international hit, but Lee achieved his greatest success to date with Brokeback Mountain (2005; Academy Award, Best Director), about the ill-fated love of two cowboys for each other, based on a story by E. Annie Proulx. The Chinese-language Lust, Caution (2007) is a World War II spy thriller and Taking Woodstock (2009) revolves around the famous 1969 rock concert.

Lee, Ann, 1736-84, English religious visionary, founder of the Shakers in America. Born in Manchester, she worked there in the cotton factories and then became a cook. In 1762 she was married to Abraham Stanley, a blacksmith. In 1758 she had joined the "Shaking Quakers." Claiming revelation in a vision (c.1770) that the second coming of Christ was fulfilled in her, she became their accepted leader and was known as Ann the Word or Mother Ann. Although illiterate, she claimed the gift of tongues and the ability to discern spirits and work miracles. She was also convinced of the holiness of celibacy. In 1774 she led a band of eight to America, where, two years later, at Watervliet, N.Y., the first Shaker settlement in America was founded.

Lee, Arthur, 1740-92, American Revolutionary diplomat, b. Westmoreland co., Va.; brother of Francis L. Lee, Richard H. Lee, and William Lee. Educated in Great Britain, he returned to Virginia to practice medicine, but soon decided to study law and went (1768) to London. There, like William Lee, he became a partisan of John Wilkes and a political pamphleteer. In 1770 he became agent for Massachusetts in London. After the outbreak of the American Revolution, he was made a commissioner for the Continental Congress to seek foreign aid. In 1777 he went to Spain, but was unable to obtain a formal treaty; he was also refused recognition at the Prussian court in Berlin. With Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane he helped persuade Pierre de Beaumarchais to act as agent for supplying aid to the rebellious colonials. In Paris, however, he quarreled with Franklin and Deane, and his unfavorable reports to Congress resulted in the recall of Deane and a halt on payments to Beaumarchais. In 1779 he was recalled. He later served in the Continental Congress.

Lee, Charles, 1731-82, American Revolutionary army officer, b. Cheshire, England. He first came to America to serve in the French and Indian War and took part in General Braddock's disastrous campaign (1755), in the unsuccessful campaign against Ticonderoga (1758), and in the capture of Montreal (1760). His duties as a British officer later took him to Portugal under Gen. John Burgoyne (1762) and to Poland. In 1773 he went to Virginia to live and became a supporter of colonial independence. At the start of the American Revolution his military experience won him a commission as major general in the Continental army. After directing the fortification of New York City early in 1776, he went to Charleston, S.C., and received credit for the successful defense of that city, despite his having advised William Moultrie to abandon the fort that saved the city. Returning to New York, he repeatedly disregarded General Washington's command to cross the Hudson River in the retreat after the battle of White Plains, in the hope that he could win a personal success and replace Washington as commander in chief. When he did cross he was captured (Dec. 13, 1776) by the British at Basking Ridge, N.J. As a captive he gave Gen. William Howe a plan for defeating the Americans, but his treason was not discovered. Lee was exchanged and joined Washington at Valley Forge (1778). At the battle of Monmouth (1778) he ordered a retreat of his forces and thus prevented an American victory. The rout was stemmed only by Washington, Baron von Steuben, and Nathanael Greene. A court-martial resulted in a year's suspension from command for Lee, who continued to criticize Washington abusively. In 1780 he was finally dismissed from service. His papers have been published by the New-York Historical Society (1872-75).

Lee, David Morris, 1931-, American physicist, b. Rye, N.Y., Ph.D. Yale, 1959. Lee joined the faculty at Cornell in 1959, moving to Texas A&M Univ. in 2009. He was a co-recipient, with Douglas Osheroff and Robert Richardson, of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery that a rare isotope of helium with only one neutron, known as helium-3, exhibits superfluidity at extremely low temperatures. Conducted in the early 1970s at Cornell, the research showed that helium-3 becomes superfluid at a temperature much lower than the normal helium isotope, helium-4, and that the key to the transition is the magnetic behavior of helium-3 rather than its hydrodynamics. The work was considered a breakthrough in low-temperature physics.

Lee, Fitzhugh, 1835-1905, Confederate cavalry general in the American Civil War, b. "Clermont," Fairfax co., Va.; nephew of Robert E. Lee. He campaigned against the Comanche in Texas and later was an instructor at West Point when Virginia seceded in May, 1861. He immediately resigned his commission to serve his state. In the Civil War, Lee was made a brigadier general (1862) for his part in the raid led by J. E. B. Stuart around George B. McClellan's army, and he brilliantly covered the Confederate retreat in the Antietam campaign (1862). In a cavalry engagement at Kelly's Ford in Mar., 1863, his brigade opposed the superior Union force under Gen. William W. Averell. His discovery of the weakness of Joseph Hooker's right led to Stonewall Jackson's successful flanking movement in the battle of Chancellorsville (May, 1863). Lee was with Stuart in the Gettysburg and Wilderness campaigns (1863, 1864). He was promoted to major general in Sept., 1863. Sent to support Jubal A. Early in the Shenandoah Valley in Aug., 1864, Lee was wounded at Winchester and did not return to active service until Jan., 1865. He was chief of the cavalry corps of the Army of Northern Virginia in the last days of the war and covered the retreat to Appomattox. He was (1886-90) governor of Virginia, and in 1896 President Cleveland appointed him consul general at Havana. Lee won national approval by his conduct in the difficult period preceding the Spanish-American War, and in that conflict he was a major general of volunteers. He was military governor of Havana after the war and later commanded the Dept. of the Missouri. He wrote a biography of his uncle (1894).

Lee, Francis Lightfoot, 1734-97, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Westmoreland co., Va.; brother of Arthur, Richard H., and William Lee. While a member of the house of burgesses (1758-76), he urged resistance to Great Britain in the disturbances leading to the Revolution. He served in the Continental Congress (1775-79) and the Virginia senate (1780-82), and later he supported the U.S. Constitution.

Lee, George Washington Custis, 1832-1913, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. Fort Monroe, Va.; eldest son of Robert E. Lee. He served in the Corps of Engineers until May, 1861, when he resigned to fight for the Confederacy. Aide-de-camp to President Jefferson Davis through most of the Civil War, he was promoted to major general in 1864. In the last days of the war, Lee commanded a brigade and was captured in the fighting at Sailor's Creek (Apr., 1865). He was professor of civil and military engineering at the Virginia Military Institute (1865-71) and, succeeding his father, president of Washington and Lee Univ. (1871-97).

Lee, Harper (Nelle Harper Lee), 1926-, American novelist, b. Monroeville, Ala. A member of an old Southern family and related to Robert E. Lee, she was a lifelong friend of Truman Capote. Lee attended Huntington College (1944-45) and the Univ. of Alabama (1945-49) but left for New York City to pursue a writer's life. After writing several essays and short stories, she expanded one story into the novel To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), which was a bestseller, won the Pulitzer Prize, was made (1962) into a popular film, and subsequently became one of the most widely read works of American fiction in the second half of the 20th cent. Mockingbird, which was Lee's only novel, is the story of small-town Alabama lawyer Atticus Finch's noble but unsuccessful legal defense of an African-American man falsely accused of raping a white woman. It also depicts the coming-of-age of Finch's young daughter, Scout, the book's semiautobiographical narrator, and of her brother Jem, and portrays the triumph of justice and tolerance. A private, reclusive person, Lee has lived quietly in Monroeville and New York since the mid-1960s.

Lee, Henry, 1756-1818, American Revolutionary soldier, known as Light-Horse Harry Lee, b. Prince William co., Va. He was a cousin of Arthur Lee, Francis L. Lee, Richard H. Lee, and William Lee and was the father of Robert E. Lee. As a cavalry commander he established an enviable record in the Revolution. He first gained wide notice for his capture of the fort at Paulus Hook (now in Jersey City), N.J., on Aug. 19, 1779. His service under Nathanael Greene after 1780 in the Carolina campaign was notable for daring and brilliance and he distinguished himself at Guilford Courthouse and Eutaw Springs. After the war he was elected (1785) to Congress. He favored a stronger government and in 1788 was a leader in the struggle to have Virginia ratify the Constitution. He was (1791-94) governor of Virginia, and in 1794 he commanded the troops who suppressed the Whiskey Rebellion. A Federalist Congressman (1799-1801), he was author of the description of George Washington as "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen" in the resolutions on the first President's death. A poor business manager, Lee was imprisoned (1808-9) for debt. In 1812 he was severely injured when an angry mob dragged Alexander Hanson, Lee, and others from a jail where they had gone for protection after Hanson's Federalist newspaper had denounced President Madison and the War of 1812. He wrote Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department (1812, repr. 1869 with a biographical sketch by Robert E. Lee).

Lee, Jesse, 1758-1816, American Methodist clergyman, b. Virginia. He is known as the apostle of Methodism in New England where, from 1789 to 1798, his labors as an itinerant preacher over a wide area met with signal success. After serving (1797-1800) as assistant to Bishop Asbury, Lee was appointed presiding elder of the South District of Virginia in 1801. He served three terms as chaplain in the House of Representatives and one in the Senate. His Short History of Methodism in America (1810) is the first history of American Methodism.

Lee, Light-Horse Harry: see Lee, Henry.

Lee, Nathaniel, 1653-92, English dramatist. After failing as an actor, he turned to writing plays. Lee confined himself entirely to tragedy, turning often to the classical historians for the background of his plays. His most famous work, the blank-verse tragedy The Rival Queens (produced in 1677), deals with the jealousy between the wives of Alexander the Great. His plays, which were extremely popular in his time, are marked by bombast and extravagance.

Lee, Peggy, 1920-2002, American singer and songwriter, b. Jamestown, N.D., as Norma Deloris Egstrom. Lee became famous for her singular voice—sexy, subtle, simultaneously smoky and cool—and her unique jazz-inflected interpretations of popular tunes. She began singing as a teenager and hit the big time in 1941 when Benny Goodman hired her. She scored her first big hit in 1942 with "Why Don't You Do Right?" Leaving Goodman's band in 1943, she became a solo act and cowrote (with husband Dave Barbour) and performed a number of popular songs including "It's a Good Day" (1947) and the 1948 chart-topper "Mañana." Lee wrote or cowrote more than 200 songs and recorded more than 600, among them the sultry "Fever" (1958) and "Is That All There Is?" (1969), her late-career anthem. Lee was in several films, notably acting in The Jazz Singer (1952) and Pete Kelly's Blues (1955), voiced such animated features as The Lady and the Tramp (1955), appeared on numerous television programs, and continued to perform into the 1990s.

Lee, Richard, 1613?-1664, American colonist, founder of the Lee family of Virginia. A member of the Coton branch of the Lees of Shropshire, England, he immigrated (c.1642) to Virginia, settling first in York co. and later in Northumberland co. A tobacco planter, Lee became wealthy and was an important figure in Virginia, being at various times justice, burgess, member of the council, attorney general, and secretary of state.

Lee, Richard Henry, 1732-94, political leader in the American Revolution, b. Westmoreland co., Va.; brother of Arthur Lee, Francis L. Lee, and William Lee. He served in the house of burgesses (1758-75), where he favored ending the slave trade. An opponent of the Stamp Act (1765), he was the leader in the formation of a nonimportation organization. To help unite colonial resistance further, he advocated, and helped to form, the intercolonial committees of correspondence. As a member (1774-79) of the Continental Congress, he was most active in promoting a nonimportation agreement. Lee was a member (with John Adams and Edward Rutledge) of the committee that placed George Washington in command of the Continental Army. He was also vigorous in arguing for independence and introduced the motion that led to the Declaration of Independence, which he later signed. Lee served again in the Continental Congress (1784-87). He opposed the U.S. Constitution because he feared that it would destroy states' rights. As U.S. Senator from Virginia (1789-92) Lee was largely responsible for adoption of the first 10 amendments (the Bill of Rights) to the Constitution.

Lee, Robert Edward, 1807-70, general in chief of the Confederate armies in the American Civil War, b. Jan. 19, 1807, at Stratford, Westmoreland co., Va.; son of Henry ("Light-Horse Harry") Lee.

Pre-Civil War Career

After graduating second in his class from West Point in 1829, Lee was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers. He married (1831) Mary Anne Randolph Custis, a great-granddaughter of Martha Washington, and Arlington House, her father's residence in Virginia, was their home until the Civil War (see Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial). In the Mexican War, Lee made a brilliant record as captain of engineers with Gen. Winfield Scott's army, winning three brevets; his reconnaissances during the advance on Mexico City were important to the American success.

Lee was superintendent at West Point from 1852 to 1855, when he was made lieutenant colonel of the 2d Cavalry and sent to W Texas. He commanded that regiment from 1857 to 1861. While at Arlington House on an extended leave, he was called to lead the company of U.S. marines that captured John Brown at Harpers Ferry in Oct., 1859.

Civil War Leadership

In Feb., 1861 (after the secession of the lower South), General Scott, with whom Lee was a great favorite, recalled him from Texas. Lee had no sympathy with either secession or slavery and, loving the Union and the army, deprecated the thought of sectional conflict. But in his tradition, loyalty to Virginia came first, and upon Virginia's secession he resigned (Apr. 20, 1861) from the army. His resolve not to fight against the South had already led him to decline (Apr. 18) the field command of the U.S. forces.

On Apr. 23 he assumed command of the military and naval forces of Virginia, which he organized thoroughly before they were absorbed by the Confederacy. Lee then became military adviser to Confederate President Jefferson Davis and was made a Confederate general. After the failure of his efforts to coordinate the activity of Confederate forces in the western part of Virginia (July-Oct., 1861), Lee organized the S Atlantic coast defenses.

In Mar., 1862, Davis recalled him to Richmond. Lee's plan to prevent reinforcements from reaching Gen. George B. McClellan, whose army was threatening Richmond, was brilliantly executed by T. J. (Stonewall) Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley. When Joseph E. Johnston was wounded at Fair Oaks in the Peninsular campaign, Lee assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia (June 1, 1862). His leadership of that army through the next three years has placed him among the world's great commanders.

Lee immediately took the offensive, and after ending McClellan's threat to Richmond in the Seven Days battles (June 26-July 2), he thoroughly defeated John Pope at the second battle of Bull Run (Aug. 29-30). McClellan, however, checked him in his first Northern invasion, the Antietam campaign (Sept.). Advances by Ambrose E. Burnside and Joseph Hooker were brutally repulsed in the battles of Fredericksburg (Dec. 13; see Fredericksburg, battle of) and Chancellorsville (May 2-4, 1863), though in the latter victory Lee lost his ablest lieutenant, Stonewall Jackson.

Lee's second invasion of the North resulted in the Confederate defeat in the Gettysburg campaign (June-July). He sorely missed the services of Jackson, and some historians attribute his defeat at Gettysburg to the failures of his subordinates, particularly James Longstreet. Other authorities argue that Lee underestimated his opposition and failed to impose his will upon his subordinates. Lee assumed full blame for the defeat, but Davis refused to entertain his offer of resignation. After Gettysburg, Lee did not engage in any major campaign until May, 1864, when Ulysses S. Grant moved against him. He repulsed Grant's direct assaults in the Wilderness campaign (May-June), but was not strong enough to turn him back, and in July, 1864, Grant began the long siege of Petersburg.

Lee's appointment as general in chief of all Confederate armies came (Feb., 1865) when the Confederacy had virtually collapsed. On Apr. 2, the Army of the Potomac broke through the Petersburg defenses, and Lee's forces retreated. One week later Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse (see under Appomattox).

After the war Lee became president of Washington College (now Washington and Lee Univ.). Although President Andrew Johnson never granted him the official amnesty for which he applied, Lee nevertheless urged the people of the South to work for the restoration of peace and harmony in a united country.

Character and Influence

Many historians consider Robert E. Lee the greatest general of the Civil War, and it is generally agreed that his military genius, hampered though it was by lack of men and materiel, was a principal factor in keeping the Confederacy alive. Others point out, however, that he never developed a coordinated overall strategy, that he failed to provide an adequate supply system for his armies, and that he was reluctant to deal with difficult subordinates, such as Longstreet. Of admirable personal character, Lee was idolized by his soldiers and the people of the South and soon won the admiration of the North. He has remained an ideal of the South and an American hero, although some late 20th cent. historians have tended toward a more critical view of him as a general and as a man.

Lee, Rooney: see Lee, William Henry Fitzhugh.

Lee or Legh, Rowland, d. 1543, English bishop. Educated at Cambridge, he received preferments under the patronage of Cardinal Wolsey, who employed him in the suppression of the monasteries (1528-29). He was greatly esteemed by Henry VIII and is believed to have performed the ceremony of Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn (1533). He was made (1534) bishop of Coventry and Lichfield and president of the council of the marches in Wales, where he proved to be an efficient administrator. He was one of the first bishops to take the oath of supremacy recognizing Henry as head of the church.

Lee, Sir Sidney, 1859-1926, English editor and author. He was editor (1891-1901) of the Dictionary of National Biography but is best known for his Life of William Shakespeare (1898, rev. ed. 1925), which was an enlargement of his work for the Dictionary. Lee was knighted in 1911.

Lee, Spike (Shelton Jackson Lee), 1957-, American filmmaker, b. Atlanta, Ga. He gained recognition as a student at New York Univ. with his graduation film, Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1982). His films usually celebrate the richness of African-American culture and address such problems as racism, sexism, and narcotics addiction. She's Gotta Have It (1986), a low-budget film mainly about sexual relations and attitudes, established Lee as a commercially viable director. His Do the Right Thing (1989) presented the complexities and tensions behind interracial relations. Many of his later films have been controversial—Jungle Fever (1991), an exploration of interracial relations and attitudes; Malcolm X (1992), based on the life of the African-American leader; Clockers (1995), a violent portrait of life at the lowest reaches of the drug underworld; Girl 6 (1996), a high-spirited portrayal of a young woman in the phone sex business; and The Original Kings of Comedy (2000), a series of racially charged stand-up routines by four contemporary African-American comedians. He turned to documentary with 4 Little Girls (1996), a moving study of the fatal 1963 bombing of a black Alabama church, and the made-for-TV When the Levees Broke (2006), a harrowing portrayal of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath in New Orleans. Lee broke with his traditional style and subject matter to make Inside Man (2006), a polished heist movie.

Lee, Stan, 1922-, American comic-book writer and editor, co-creator of a number of iconic American superheroes, b. New York City as Stanley Martin Lieber. At 17 he was hired by Timely Comics, where he wrote (1940s-50s) comics such as Captain America. Timely became (1961) Marvel Comics and soon Lee and cartoonist Jack Kirby were creating characters that revolutionized the genre, e.g., The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and X-Men. These superheroes were both heroic and human, their superpowers mingled with complex emotions and human flaws. Lee became publisher of Marvel Comics in 1971, syndicated Spider-Man in 1977, and other strips thereafter. In the 21st cent. he became a producer and was involved in the creation of animated and live versions of his characters in films such as X-Men (2000, 2003, 2006), Spider-Man (2002), and The Incredible Hulk (2003) and more than two dozen television shows.

Lee, Tsung-Dao, 1926-, American physicist, b. China, Ph.D. Univ. of Chicago, 1950. He was a member (1951-53) of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton; and professor of theoretical physics there (1960-63). He also served as professor at Columbia (1953-60, 1963-). Lee is known for his studies in statistical mechanics, elementary particles, and astrophysics. He shared with Chen-ning Yang the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics for researches refuting the law of conservation of parity.

Lee, William, 1739-95, American Revolutionary diplomat, b. Westmoreland co., Va.; brother of Arthur Lee, Francis L. Lee, and Richard H. Lee. He opened a business house in London in 1768 and later was a political supporter of John Wilkes and became (1775) an alderman of London. He accepted appointment by the Continental Congress as an agent for the newly created United States, and later attempted unsuccessfully to obtain recognition from both Austria and Prussia. He and a Dutch merchant made a draft of a possible U.S.-Dutch commercial treaty. The draft, which had no official sanction at all, Lee sent back to America. A copy of it, seized by the British when they captured Henry Laurens, was used as a cause for warfare between Great Britain and the Netherlands.

Lee, William Henry Fitzhugh, known as Rooney Lee, 1837-91, Confederate cavalry general in the American Civil War, b. Arlington House, near Alexandria, Va.; son of Robert E. Lee. He entered Harvard in 1854 but left in 1857 when he secured a commission in the infantry. After serving under Albert S. Johnston in the campaign against the Mormons, he resigned (1859) and lived at White House, his Virginia plantation, until the Civil War. Like his cousin Fitzhugh Lee, Rooney served in J. E. B. Stuart's cavalry. Wounded at Brandy Station in June, 1863, he was subsequently captured. Upon his exchange in Mar., 1864, he was promoted to major general and served until the end of the war. From 1887 to his death, Lee was a Democratic Representative in Congress.

Lee, Yuan Tseh, 1936-, Taiwanese-American chemist, Ph.D. Univ. of California at Berkeley, 1965. In 1986, Lee shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Dudley R. Herschbach and John C. Polanyi for helping to apply the technology and theory of physics to chemistry. In his research, Lee extended Herschbach's "crossed molecular beam technique" to analyze larger and more complex molecules.

Lawrie, Lee, 1877-1963, American sculptor, b. Germany. Brought to America as an infant, he studied with Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Philip Martiny. Lawrie specialized in architectural sculpture. Among his works are decorations for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the state capitol at Lincoln, Nebr., and the Harkness Memorial Tower at Yale; the Atlas at Rockefeller Center, New York; and sculptures in the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Thomas Church, and the Chapel of the Intercession, New York City.

Friedlander, Lee, 1934-, American photographer, b. Aberdeen, Wash. Influenced by Walker Evans and Robert Frank, Friedlander is known for dense and often visually witty black-and-white streetscape views of the American scene. Characteristically filled with shadows or reflections, they frequently reveal the alienation and complexity of modern life. Later series of photographs, which have been published in a number of volumes, have explored letters and numbers, monuments, the landscape, self-portraits, the female nude, and such contemporary workers as telemarketers. Recent work also emphasizes seemingly casual shots of his family and friends. In 2001 a large collection of his prints were purchased by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Bontecou, Lee, 1931-, American artist, b. Providence, R.I. Bontecou is best known for the abstract sculptures she created from 1959-1967, three-dimensional wall reliefs made of weathered canvas stretched over steel wire armatures. Their large, thrusting, roughly concentric shapes converge in one or more yawning and seemingly endless black holes, giving many a menacing quality. The largest piece in this style is a lobby relief at Lincoln Center's New York State Theatre. During this period she also produced a number of powerful drawings, often executed in velvety black soot on paper. In 1971, Bontecou had her last 20th-century show in New York and largely vanished from the city art scene. Living mostly in rural Pennsylvania and teaching art (1971-91) at Brooklyn College, she created vacuum-formed plastic fish and flowers in the 1970s and began working in a new style in 1980. Her latest constructions, some of them mobiles, are forceful yet delicate and range from inches to several feet in size. Made of steel wire and mesh with elements of metal and porcelain and containing flashes of subtle color, many include references to animal parts (beaks, eyes, fins) within an abstract framework. These pieces were not seen by the public until many appeared, along with earlier works, in a 2003-04 retrospective organized by Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art.

De Forest, Lee, 1873-1961, American inventor, b. Council Bluffs, Iowa, grad. Yale, 1896. He was a pioneer in the development of wireless telegraphy, sound pictures, and television. His triode (1906) made practicable transcontinental telephony, both wire and wireless, and led to the foundation of the radio industry. He is frequently called "the father of radio." The first high-powered naval radio stations were designed and installed by him.

Trevino, Lee, 1939-, American golfer, b. Dallas, Tex. Personable, witty, and extremely popular, he won the U.S. Open twice (1968 and 1971), the British Open twice (1971-72), and the PGA Championship twice (1974 and 1984) before becoming a star of the Seniors tour.

Strasberg, Lee, 1901-82, American theatrical director, teacher, and actor, b. Budzanów, Galicia, Austria-Hungary (now Budaniv, Ukraine) as Israel Strassberg. Strasberg immigrated to New York City in 1909. He was a cofounder in 1931 of the Group Theatre. There until 1937, he initiated training in "the Method," a process of acting based on Stanislavsky's teachings. Among the world's foremost teachers of acting, Strasberg was closely associated with The Actors Studio in New York and became its director in 1950. He acted in movies in his later life, notably The Godfather Part II (1974).

Krasner, Lee, 1911-84, American artist, b. Brooklyn. She studied with Hans Hofmann and became a leading figure in abstract expressionism along with her husband, Jackson Pollock. Her compositions are intellectually controlled and characterized by broad gestural brushstrokes. She often utilized collage, usually cut-up sections from her own earlier work, in her paintings. Notable examples of her work include The Bull (1958) and Polar Stampede (1960).

(born 1550?, Calverton, Nottinghamshire, Eng.—died 1610?, Paris, France) British inventor of the first knitting machine. Lee's model (1589) was the only one employed for centuries, and its principle of operation remains in use. Elizabeth I twice denied him a patent because of her concern for the kingdom's hand knitters. With support from Henry IV of France, Lee later manufactured hosiery in Rouen.

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(born April 24, 1897, Winthrop, Mass., U.S.—died July 26, 1941, Wethersfield, Conn.) U.S. linguist. He worked professionally as a fire-prevention authority. The concept he developed (under Edward Sapir's influence) of the equation of culture and language became known as the Whorf (or Sapir-Whorf) hypothesis. He maintained that a language's structure tends to condition the ways its speakers think—for example, that the way a people views time and punctuality may be influenced by the types of verb tenses in its language. Whorf was also noted for his studies of Uto-Aztecan languages, especially Hopi, and Mayan hieroglyphic writing.

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Private university in Lexington, Virginia, U.S. Founded as an academy in 1749, it is one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the U.S. It is named for George Washington, who presented the academy with a gift of $50,000 in 1796, and Robert E. Lee, who served as its president from 1865 to 1870. It became coeducational in 1984. It has an undergraduate college, a law school, and a school of commerce, economics, and politics. Among its offerings are programs in engineering, environmental studies, and journalism.

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(born Aug. 31, 1874, Williamsburg, Mass., U.S.—died Aug. 9, 1949, Montrose, N.Y.) U.S. psychologist. He trained under William James and James McKeen Cattell and later taught at Columbia University (1904–40). A pioneer in the fields of animal learning and educational psychology, he developed a form of behaviourism known as connectionism, which holds that learning takes place through associative bonds. He contributed significantly to the development of quantitative experimental methods and to more efficient and scientifically based methods of teaching. Among his writings are Introduction to the Theory of Mental and Social Measurements (1904), Principles of Teaching Based on Psychology (1906), Animal Intelligence (1911), and The Psychology of Wants, Interests, and Attitudes (1935).

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orig. Israel Strassberg

(born Nov. 17, 1901, Budzanów, Pol., Austria-Hungary—died Feb. 17, 1982, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Russian-born U.S. theatre director and teacher. At age seven he immigrated to New York City with his family. After acting lessons with teachers who had studied under Konstantin Stanislavsky, he became an actor and stage manager with the Theatre Guild. In 1931 he cofounded the Group Theatre, where he directed brilliant experimental plays such as Men in White (1933). After working in Hollywood (1941–48), he returned to New York City to become artistic director of the Actors Studio, where he expanded Stanislavsky's teachings to further develop method acting, in which actors use their own emotional memory for the purpose of dramatic motivation. He trained actors such as Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, Dustin Hoffman, Geraldine Page, and Julie Harris.

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orig. Shelton Jackson Lee

(born March 20, 1957, Atlanta, Ga., U.S.) U.S. film director. He grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and earned a master's degree in film at New York University. The comedy She's Gotta Have It (1986) brought him attention, but it was Do the Right Thing (1989), a portrait of racial tensions in Brooklyn, that brought him widespread acclaim. Many of his films focused on aspects of African American life, including School Daze (1988), Jungle Fever (1991), Crooklyn (1994), and He Got Game (1998). The epic Malcolm X (1992) and the documentary Four Little Girls (1997) showed Lee's versatility as a director.

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(born Dec. 5, 1932, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. theoretical physicist. He joined the faculty at Harvard University in 1967. With Steven Weinberg (b. 1933) and Abdus Salam (1926–1996), he received a 1979 Nobel Prize for formulation of the electroweak theory, unifying electromagnetism and the weak force. In extending the early, limited theory of Weinberg and Salam to include more classes of elementary particles, he had to invent an important new property (charm) for quarks.

Learn more about Glashow, Sheldon Lee with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born March 26, 1874, San Francisco, Calif., U.S.—died Jan. 29, 1963, Boston, Mass.) U.S. poet. Frost's family moved to New England early in his life. After stints at Dartmouth College and Harvard University and a difficult period as a teacher and farmer, he moved to England and published his first collections, A Boy's Will (1913) and North of Boston (1914). At the outbreak of war he returned to New England. He closely observed rural life and in his poetry endowed it with universal, even metaphysical, meaning, using colloquial language, familiar rhythms, and common symbols to express both its pastoral ideals and its dark complexities. His collections include New Hampshire (1923, Pulitzer Prize), Collected Poems (1930, Pulitzer Prize), A Further Range (1936, Pulitzer Prize), and A Witness Tree (1942, Pulitzer Prize). He was unique among American poets of the 20th century in simultaneously achieving wide popularity and deep critical admiration. Many of his poems, including “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” “Birches,” “The Death of the Hired Man,” “Dust of Snow,” “Fire and Ice,” and “Home Burial,” are widely anthologized.

Learn more about Frost, Robert (Lee) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Jan. 19, 1807, Stratford, Westmoreland county, Va., U.S.—died Oct. 12, 1870, Lexington, Va.) U.S. and Confederate military leader. He was the son of Henry Lee. After graduating from West Point, he served in the engineering corps and in the Mexican War under Winfield Scott. He transferred to the cavalry in 1855 and commanded frontier forces in Texas (1856–57). In 1859 he led U.S. troops against the slave insurrection attempted by John Brown at Harpers Ferry. In 1861 he was offered command of a new army being formed to force the seceded Southern states back into the Union. Though opposed to secession, he refused. After his home state of Virginia seceded, he became commander of Virginia's forces in the American Civil War and adviser to Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy. Taking command of the Army of Northern Virginia (1862) after Joseph Johnston was wounded, Lee repulsed the Union forces in the Seven Days' Battles. He won victories at Bull Run, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. His attempts to draw Union forces out of Virginia by invading the North resulted in failures at Antietam and Gettysburg. In 1864–65 he conducted defensive campaigns against Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant that caused heavy Union casualties. Lee ended his retreat behind fortifications built at Petersburg and Richmond (see Petersburg Campaign). By April 1865 dwindling forces and supplies forced Lee, now general of all Confederate armies, to surrender at Appomattox Court House. After several months of recuperation, he accepted the post of president of Washington College (later Washington and Lee University), where he served until his death.

Learn more about Lee, Robert E(dward) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Jan. 20, 1732, Stratford, Va.—died June 19, 1794, Chantilly, Va., U.S.) U.S. statesman. As a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses (1758–75), he opposed the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts. He helped initiate the Committees of Correspondence and was active in the First and Second Continental Congress. On June 7, 1776, he introduced a resolution calling for independence from Britain. Its adoption led to the Declaration of Independence, which he signed, as he did the Articles of Confederation. He again served in Congress from 1784 to 1787, acting as its president in 1784. He opposed ratification of the Constitution of the United States because it lacked a bill of rights. He later served in the first U.S. Senate (1789–92).

Learn more about Lee, Richard Henry with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Oct. 13, 1962, Starkville, Miss., U.S.) U.S. gridiron football player. He won All-America honours at Mississippi Valley State University. As a wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers (1985–2000), he was part of three Super Bowl championship teams (1988, 1989, and 1994). Standing 6 ft 2 in. (1.9 m), Rice was larger than the typical NFL wide receiver of his era, and he used his size and strength to overmatch defenders; he was also an exceptional runner. He completed his career in 2005 as the all-time NFL leader in touchdowns (207), receptions (1,549), receiving yards (22,895), and combined yardage (23,546).

Learn more about Rice, Jerry (Lee) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Norma Deloris Egstrom

(born May 26, 1920, Jamestown, N.D., U.S.—died Jan. 21, 2002, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. popular singer. She endured a difficult childhood after her mother's early death. Singing with a group in Chicago, she was engaged by Benny Goodman as his principal singer in 1941. She began singing on her own in 1943 and also began collaborating on songs, often with her husband, Dave Barbour, including “Fever,” “Mañana,” and several songs for Walt Disney's Lady and the Tramp (1955). With her smooth, lightly husky voice, usually backed by jazz-influenced arrangements, she produced other hits such as “Lover” and “Is That All There Is?”

Learn more about Lee, Peggy with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Oct. 18, 1939, New Orleans, La., U.S.—died Nov. 24, 1963, Dallas, Texas) Accused assassin of Pres. John F. Kennedy. While serving in the U.S. Marines (1956–59) he began to express pro-Soviet and politically radical views. Shortly after his discharge he moved to the Soviet Union, where he unsuccessfully tried to become a Soviet citizen. He returned to the U.S. in 1962 with his Russian wife and daughter but retained his radical political beliefs. In April 1963 he allegedly shot at but missed Edwin Walker, an ultrarightist retired general. In October he took a job at the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas. On Nov. 22, 1963, from a window on its sixth floor, he allegedly fired three shots that killed Kennedy and wounded Gov. John B. Connally while the two men were riding in the president's motorcade. Oswald killed a patrolman who had detained him, but he was soon captured and arraigned. On November 24, while being transferred to an interrogation office, he was fatally shot by Jack Ruby, a nightclub owner.

Learn more about Oswald, Lee Harvey with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Aug. 23, 1869, Garnett, Kan., U.S.—died March 5, 1950, Philadelphia, Pa.) U.S. poet and novelist. He grew up on his grandfather's farm and became a lawyer in Chicago. He wrote undistinguished poetry and plays before publishing Spoon River Anthology (1915), his major work. Its 245 free-verse epitaphs in the form of monologues are spoken from the grave by the former inhabitants of a fictitious small town, who tell of their bitter, unfulfilled lives in its dreary confines.

Learn more about Masters, Edgar Lee with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Jan. 29, 1756, Prince William county, Va.—died March 25, 1818, Cumberland Island, Ga., U.S.) American army officer and politician. In the American Revolution he rose to cavalry commander (earning the nickname “Light-Horse Harry”) and led victories at Paulus Hook, N.J., and in the South. As governor of Virginia (1791–94), he commanded the army that suppressed the Whiskey Rebellion (1794). In the U.S. House of Representatives (1799–1801), he wrote the resolution eulogizing George Washington as “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” After 1800 Lee failed in several land and financial speculations and was twice imprisoned for debt. He was the father of Robert E. Lee.

Learn more about Lee, Henry with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Sept. 29, 1935, Ferriday, La., U.S.) U.S. rock-and-roll musician. He began playing piano in his childhood, influenced by blues and gospel musicians. He attended Bible school in Texas but was expelled. Returning to Louisiana, he played in several bands, perfecting his signature “pumping” piano technique (the left hand maintaining a driving boogie pattern while the right played flashy ornamentation). His first hits came in 1957 with “Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On” and “Great Balls of Fire.” In 1958 it was discovered that he had married a 13-year-old relative, and his record sales dropped. Though he had a few more hits, he concentrated on his famously energetic and uninhibited live performances. His career continued to be plagued by controversy.

Learn more about Lewis, Jerry Lee with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born 1550?, Calverton, Nottinghamshire, Eng.—died 1610?, Paris, France) British inventor of the first knitting machine. Lee's model (1589) was the only one employed for centuries, and its principle of operation remains in use. Elizabeth I twice denied him a patent because of her concern for the kingdom's hand knitters. With support from Henry IV of France, Lee later manufactured hosiery in Rouen.

Learn more about Lee, William with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Shelton Jackson Lee

(born March 20, 1957, Atlanta, Ga., U.S.) U.S. film director. He grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and earned a master's degree in film at New York University. The comedy She's Gotta Have It (1986) brought him attention, but it was Do the Right Thing (1989), a portrait of racial tensions in Brooklyn, that brought him widespread acclaim. Many of his films focused on aspects of African American life, including School Daze (1988), Jungle Fever (1991), Crooklyn (1994), and He Got Game (1998). The epic Malcolm X (1992) and the documentary Four Little Girls (1997) showed Lee's versatility as a director.

Learn more about Lee, Spike with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Jan. 19, 1807, Stratford, Westmoreland county, Va., U.S.—died Oct. 12, 1870, Lexington, Va.) U.S. and Confederate military leader. He was the son of Henry Lee. After graduating from West Point, he served in the engineering corps and in the Mexican War under Winfield Scott. He transferred to the cavalry in 1855 and commanded frontier forces in Texas (1856–57). In 1859 he led U.S. troops against the slave insurrection attempted by John Brown at Harpers Ferry. In 1861 he was offered command of a new army being formed to force the seceded Southern states back into the Union. Though opposed to secession, he refused. After his home state of Virginia seceded, he became commander of Virginia's forces in the American Civil War and adviser to Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy. Taking command of the Army of Northern Virginia (1862) after Joseph Johnston was wounded, Lee repulsed the Union forces in the Seven Days' Battles. He won victories at Bull Run, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. His attempts to draw Union forces out of Virginia by invading the North resulted in failures at Antietam and Gettysburg. In 1864–65 he conducted defensive campaigns against Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant that caused heavy Union casualties. Lee ended his retreat behind fortifications built at Petersburg and Richmond (see Petersburg Campaign). By April 1865 dwindling forces and supplies forced Lee, now general of all Confederate armies, to surrender at Appomattox Court House. After several months of recuperation, he accepted the post of president of Washington College (later Washington and Lee University), where he served until his death.

Learn more about Lee, Robert E(dward) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Jan. 20, 1732, Stratford, Va.—died June 19, 1794, Chantilly, Va., U.S.) U.S. statesman. As a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses (1758–75), he opposed the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts. He helped initiate the Committees of Correspondence and was active in the First and Second Continental Congress. On June 7, 1776, he introduced a resolution calling for independence from Britain. Its adoption led to the Declaration of Independence, which he signed, as he did the Articles of Confederation. He again served in Congress from 1784 to 1787, acting as its president in 1784. He opposed ratification of the Constitution of the United States because it lacked a bill of rights. He later served in the first U.S. Senate (1789–92).

Learn more about Lee, Richard Henry with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Norma Deloris Egstrom

(born May 26, 1920, Jamestown, N.D., U.S.—died Jan. 21, 2002, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. popular singer. She endured a difficult childhood after her mother's early death. Singing with a group in Chicago, she was engaged by Benny Goodman as his principal singer in 1941. She began singing on her own in 1943 and also began collaborating on songs, often with her husband, Dave Barbour, including “Fever,” “Mañana,” and several songs for Walt Disney's Lady and the Tramp (1955). With her smooth, lightly husky voice, usually backed by jazz-influenced arrangements, she produced other hits such as “Lover” and “Is That All There Is?”

Learn more about Lee, Peggy with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Feb. 29, 1736, Manchester, Eng.—died Sept. 8, 1784, Watervliet, N.Y., U.S.) British-American religious leader. A factory worker in her youth in Manchester, she joined the Shakers in 1758 and was acknowledged as their leader in 1770. Persecuted by the English authorities and compelled by what she believed was a vision, she immigrated to America in 1774. With a band of followers, she founded a settlement at Niskeyuna (present-day Watervliet), N.Y., in 1776, and thereafter her movement spread rapidly. Mother Ann, as she came to be known, was said to have performed miracles, including healing the sick by touch. She was imprisoned briefly for treason because of her pacifist doctrines and refusal to sign an oath of allegiance.

Learn more about Lee, Ann with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Jan. 15, 1923, near Tan-shui, Taiwan) First Taiwan-born president (1988–2000) of Taiwan (Republic of China). He became president in 1988 after the death of Chiang Ching-kuo. He was reelected in 1990 and won a landslide victory in 1996 in Taiwan's first direct presidential election. Lee favoured a policy of “flexible diplomacy” in dealing with the People's Republic of China. His successor, Chen Shui-bian (Ch'en Shui-pian) was the first president not from the Nationalist Party.

Learn more about Lee Teng-hui with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Israel Strassberg

(born Nov. 17, 1901, Budzanów, Pol., Austria-Hungary—died Feb. 17, 1982, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Russian-born U.S. theatre director and teacher. At age seven he immigrated to New York City with his family. After acting lessons with teachers who had studied under Konstantin Stanislavsky, he became an actor and stage manager with the Theatre Guild. In 1931 he cofounded the Group Theatre, where he directed brilliant experimental plays such as Men in White (1933). After working in Hollywood (1941–48), he returned to New York City to become artistic director of the Actors Studio, where he expanded Stanislavsky's teachings to further develop method acting, in which actors use their own emotional memory for the purpose of dramatic motivation. He trained actors such as Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, Dustin Hoffman, Geraldine Page, and Julie Harris.

Learn more about Strasberg, Lee with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Sept. 16, 1923, Singapore) Prime minister of Singapore (1959–90). Born to a wealthy Chinese family, Lee studied at the University of Cambridge and became a lawyer and a socialist. He worked as a legal adviser to labour unions and won election to Singapore's legislative council in 1955, while the country was still a British crown colony. He helped Singapore achieve self-government and, running as an anticolonialist and anticommunist, was elected prime minister in 1959. His numerous reforms included the emancipation of women. He briefly entered Singapore in the Federation of Malaysia (1963–65); on its withdrawal, Singapore became a sovereign state. Lee industrialized the country and made Singapore the most prosperous nation in Southeast Asia. He achieved both labour peace and a rising standard of living for workers, though his mildly authoritarian government at times infringed on civil liberties.

Learn more about Lee Kuan Yew with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Lenore Krassner

(born Oct. 27, 1908, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.—died June 19, 1984, New York, N.Y.) U.S. painter. Born to Russian immigrants, in 1937 she began to study with the painter Hans Hofmann, who exposed her to the work of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. Synthesizing these European influences, Krasner developed her own style of geometric abstraction, which she grounded in floral motifs and rhythmic gesture. In 1940 she began exhibiting her work with that of other American artists who became known as Abstract Expressionists. After her 1945 marriage to painter Jackson Pollock, Krasner and Pollock both produced a large body of work, each under the other's influence. Krasner continued to paint throughout the 1970s.

Learn more about Krasner, Lee with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Lido Anthony Iacocca

(born Oct. 15, 1924, Allentown, Pa., U.S.) U.S. automobile executive. He was hired as an engineer by Ford Motor Co. but soon moved to its sales department and was noted for his successful promotion of the sporty yet inexpensive Mustang. He rose rapidly, becoming president of Ford in 1970. His brash manner led to his dismissal by Henry Ford II in 1978. A year later he was hired by the nearly bankrupt Chrysler Corp. He persuaded Congress to lend Chrysler $1.5 billion in 1980 and carried out layoffs, wage cuts, and plant closings to make the company more efficient. He also shifted the company's emphasis to more fuel-efficient cars and embarked on an aggressive advertising campaign. Within a few years Chrysler was showing record profits, and Iacocca was a national celebrity with a best-selling autobiography, Iacocca (1984). He retired in 1992.

Learn more about Iacocca, Lee with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Oct. 18, 1939, New Orleans, La., U.S.—died Nov. 24, 1963, Dallas, Texas) Accused assassin of Pres. John F. Kennedy. While serving in the U.S. Marines (1956–59) he began to express pro-Soviet and politically radical views. Shortly after his discharge he moved to the Soviet Union, where he unsuccessfully tried to become a Soviet citizen. He returned to the U.S. in 1962 with his Russian wife and daughter but retained his radical political beliefs. In April 1963 he allegedly shot at but missed Edwin Walker, an ultrarightist retired general. In October he took a job at the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas. On Nov. 22, 1963, from a window on its sixth floor, he allegedly fired three shots that killed Kennedy and wounded Gov. John B. Connally while the two men were riding in the president's motorcade. Oswald killed a patrolman who had detained him, but he was soon captured and arraigned. On November 24, while being transferred to an interrogation office, he was fatally shot by Jack Ruby, a nightclub owner.

Learn more about Oswald, Lee Harvey with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Aug. 26, 1873, Council Bluffs, Iowa, U.S.—died June 30, 1961, Hollywood, Calif.) U.S. inventor. He had invented many gadgets by age 13, including a working silverplating apparatus. After earning a Ph.D. from Yale University, he founded the De Forest Wireless Telegraph Co. (1902) and the De Forest Radio Telephone Co. (1907). In 1907 he patented the Audion vacuum tube detector, which allowed more sensitive reception of radio signals such as his live broadcast of a performance by Enrico Caruso (1910). He developed a sound-on-film optical-recording system called Phonofilm and demonstrated it in theatres (1923–27). A poor businessman who was twice defrauded by business partners, he eventually sold his patents at low prices to such firms as American Telephone & Telegraph Co., which profited highly from their commercial development. Though embittered, he was widely honoured as the father of radio and the grandfather of television.

Learn more about De Forest, Lee with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Lenore Krassner

(born Oct. 27, 1908, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.—died June 19, 1984, New York, N.Y.) U.S. painter. Born to Russian immigrants, in 1937 she began to study with the painter Hans Hofmann, who exposed her to the work of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. Synthesizing these European influences, Krasner developed her own style of geometric abstraction, which she grounded in floral motifs and rhythmic gesture. In 1940 she began exhibiting her work with that of other American artists who became known as Abstract Expressionists. After her 1945 marriage to painter Jackson Pollock, Krasner and Pollock both produced a large body of work, each under the other's influence. Krasner continued to paint throughout the 1970s.

Learn more about Krasner, Lee with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Oct. 13, 1962, Starkville, Miss., U.S.) U.S. gridiron football player. He won All-America honours at Mississippi Valley State University. As a wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers (1985–2000), he was part of three Super Bowl championship teams (1988, 1989, and 1994). Standing 6 ft 2 in. (1.9 m), Rice was larger than the typical NFL wide receiver of his era, and he used his size and strength to overmatch defenders; he was also an exceptional runner. He completed his career in 2005 as the all-time NFL leader in touchdowns (207), receptions (1,549), receiving yards (22,895), and combined yardage (23,546).

Learn more about Rice, Jerry (Lee) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Sept. 29, 1935, Ferriday, La., U.S.) U.S. rock-and-roll musician. He began playing piano in his childhood, influenced by blues and gospel musicians. He attended Bible school in Texas but was expelled. Returning to Louisiana, he played in several bands, perfecting his signature “pumping” piano technique (the left hand maintaining a driving boogie pattern while the right played flashy ornamentation). His first hits came in 1957 with “Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On” and “Great Balls of Fire.” In 1958 it was discovered that he had married a 13-year-old relative, and his record sales dropped. Though he had a few more hits, he concentrated on his famously energetic and uninhibited live performances. His career continued to be plagued by controversy.

Learn more about Lewis, Jerry Lee with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Lido Anthony Iacocca

(born Oct. 15, 1924, Allentown, Pa., U.S.) U.S. automobile executive. He was hired as an engineer by Ford Motor Co. but soon moved to its sales department and was noted for his successful promotion of the sporty yet inexpensive Mustang. He rose rapidly, becoming president of Ford in 1970. His brash manner led to his dismissal by Henry Ford II in 1978. A year later he was hired by the nearly bankrupt Chrysler Corp. He persuaded Congress to lend Chrysler $1.5 billion in 1980 and carried out layoffs, wage cuts, and plant closings to make the company more efficient. He also shifted the company's emphasis to more fuel-efficient cars and embarked on an aggressive advertising campaign. Within a few years Chrysler was showing record profits, and Iacocca was a national celebrity with a best-selling autobiography, Iacocca (1984). He retired in 1992.

Learn more about Iacocca, Lee with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Jan. 29, 1756, Prince William county, Va.—died March 25, 1818, Cumberland Island, Ga., U.S.) American army officer and politician. In the American Revolution he rose to cavalry commander (earning the nickname “Light-Horse Harry”) and led victories at Paulus Hook, N.J., and in the South. As governor of Virginia (1791–94), he commanded the army that suppressed the Whiskey Rebellion (1794). In the U.S. House of Representatives (1799–1801), he wrote the resolution eulogizing George Washington as “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” After 1800 Lee failed in several land and financial speculations and was twice imprisoned for debt. He was the father of Robert E. Lee.

Learn more about Lee, Henry with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Dec. 5, 1932, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. theoretical physicist. He joined the faculty at Harvard University in 1967. With Steven Weinberg (b. 1933) and Abdus Salam (1926–1996), he received a 1979 Nobel Prize for formulation of the electroweak theory, unifying electromagnetism and the weak force. In extending the early, limited theory of Weinberg and Salam to include more classes of elementary particles, he had to invent an important new property (charm) for quarks.

Learn more about Glashow, Sheldon Lee with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born March 26, 1874, San Francisco, Calif., U.S.—died Jan. 29, 1963, Boston, Mass.) U.S. poet. Frost's family moved to New England early in his life. After stints at Dartmouth College and Harvard University and a difficult period as a teacher and farmer, he moved to England and published his first collections, A Boy's Will (1913) and North of Boston (1914). At the outbreak of war he returned to New England. He closely observed rural life and in his poetry endowed it with universal, even metaphysical, meaning, using colloquial language, familiar rhythms, and common symbols to express both its pastoral ideals and its dark complexities. His collections include New Hampshire (1923, Pulitzer Prize), Collected Poems (1930, Pulitzer Prize), A Further Range (1936, Pulitzer Prize), and A Witness Tree (1942, Pulitzer Prize). He was unique among American poets of the 20th century in simultaneously achieving wide popularity and deep critical admiration. Many of his poems, including “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” “Birches,” “The Death of the Hired Man,” “Dust of Snow,” “Fire and Ice,” and “Home Burial,” are widely anthologized.

Learn more about Frost, Robert (Lee) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Aug. 31, 1874, Williamsburg, Mass., U.S.—died Aug. 9, 1949, Montrose, N.Y.) U.S. psychologist. He trained under William James and James McKeen Cattell and later taught at Columbia University (1904–40). A pioneer in the fields of animal learning and educational psychology, he developed a form of behaviourism known as connectionism, which holds that learning takes place through associative bonds. He contributed significantly to the development of quantitative experimental methods and to more efficient and scientifically based methods of teaching. Among his writings are Introduction to the Theory of Mental and Social Measurements (1904), Principles of Teaching Based on Psychology (1906), Animal Intelligence (1911), and The Psychology of Wants, Interests, and Attitudes (1935).

Learn more about Thorndike, Edward L(ee) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Aug. 23, 1869, Garnett, Kan., U.S.—died March 5, 1950, Philadelphia, Pa.) U.S. poet and novelist. He grew up on his grandfather's farm and became a lawyer in Chicago. He wrote undistinguished poetry and plays before publishing Spoon River Anthology (1915), his major work. Its 245 free-verse epitaphs in the form of monologues are spoken from the grave by the former inhabitants of a fictitious small town, who tell of their bitter, unfulfilled lives in its dreary confines.

Learn more about Masters, Edgar Lee with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Aug. 26, 1873, Council Bluffs, Iowa, U.S.—died June 30, 1961, Hollywood, Calif.) U.S. inventor. He had invented many gadgets by age 13, including a working silverplating apparatus. After earning a Ph.D. from Yale University, he founded the De Forest Wireless Telegraph Co. (1902) and the De Forest Radio Telephone Co. (1907). In 1907 he patented the Audion vacuum tube detector, which allowed more sensitive reception of radio signals such as his live broadcast of a performance by Enrico Caruso (1910). He developed a sound-on-film optical-recording system called Phonofilm and demonstrated it in theatres (1923–27). A poor businessman who was twice defrauded by business partners, he eventually sold his patents at low prices to such firms as American Telephone & Telegraph Co., which profited highly from their commercial development. Though embittered, he was widely honoured as the father of radio and the grandfather of television.

Learn more about De Forest, Lee with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Sept. 6, 1890, Commerce, Texas, U.S.—died July 27, 1958, New Orleans, La.) U.S. brigadier general. He served in the army air corps for 20 years before retiring in 1937 because of increasing deafness. He became an air adviser to Chiang Kai-shek, and he formed the group of U.S. volunteer aviators called the Flying Tigers to combat the Japanese. Recalled to active duty in World War II, he commanded U.S. Army Air Forces in China (1942–45). He and his Chinese wife, Anna, remained influential supporters of Chiang Kai-shek.

Learn more about Chennault, Claire L(ee) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Sept. 6, 1890, Commerce, Texas, U.S.—died July 27, 1958, New Orleans, La.) U.S. brigadier general. He served in the army air corps for 20 years before retiring in 1937 because of increasing deafness. He became an air adviser to Chiang Kai-shek, and he formed the group of U.S. volunteer aviators called the Flying Tigers to combat the Japanese. Recalled to active duty in World War II, he commanded U.S. Army Air Forces in China (1942–45). He and his Chinese wife, Anna, remained influential supporters of Chiang Kai-shek.

Learn more about Chennault, Claire L(ee) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born April 24, 1897, Winthrop, Mass., U.S.—died July 26, 1941, Wethersfield, Conn.) U.S. linguist. He worked professionally as a fire-prevention authority. The concept he developed (under Edward Sapir's influence) of the equation of culture and language became known as the Whorf (or Sapir-Whorf) hypothesis. He maintained that a language's structure tends to condition the ways its speakers think—for example, that the way a people views time and punctuality may be influenced by the types of verb tenses in its language. Whorf was also noted for his studies of Uto-Aztecan languages, especially Hopi, and Mayan hieroglyphic writing.

Learn more about Whorf, Benjamin Lee with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Feb. 29, 1736, Manchester, Eng.—died Sept. 8, 1784, Watervliet, N.Y., U.S.) British-American religious leader. A factory worker in her youth in Manchester, she joined the Shakers in 1758 and was acknowledged as their leader in 1770. Persecuted by the English authorities and compelled by what she believed was a vision, she immigrated to America in 1774. With a band of followers, she founded a settlement at Niskeyuna (present-day Watervliet), N.Y., in 1776, and thereafter her movement spread rapidly. Mother Ann, as she came to be known, was said to have performed miracles, including healing the sick by touch. She was imprisoned briefly for treason because of her pacifist doctrines and refusal to sign an oath of allegiance.

Learn more about Lee, Ann with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee OM KBE FRS FREng FRSA (born 8 June 1955) is an English computer scientist, who is credited with inventing the World Wide Web. On 25 December 1990 he implemented the first successful communication between an [] client and server via the Internet with the help of Robert Cailliau and a young student staff at CERN. He was ranked Joint First alongside Albert Hofmann in The Telegraph's list of 100 greatest living geniuses. Berners-Lee is the director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which oversees the Web's continued development, the founder of the World Wide Web Foundation and he is a senior researcher and holder of the 3Com Founders Chair at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).

Biography

Background and early career

His parents, both mathematicians, were employed together on the team that built the Manchester Mark I, one of the earliest computers. They taught Berners-Lee to use mathematics everywhere, even at the dinner table. Berners-Lee attended Sheen Mount Primary School, before moving on to study his O-Levels and A-Levels at Emanuel School in Battersea, where a computer centre is dedicated in his name.

He is alumnus of The Queen's College, Oxford. While at Queen's, Berners-Lee built a computer with a soldering iron, TTL gates, an M6800 processor and an old television. During his time at university, he was caught hacking with a friend and was subsequently banned from using the university computer. He graduated in 1976 with a degree in physics.

He met his first wife Jane while at Oxford and they married soon after they started work in Poole. After graduation, Berners-Lee was employed at Plessey Controls Limited in Poole as a programmer. Jane also worked at Plessey Telecommunications Limited in Poole. In 1978, he worked at D.G. Nash Limited (also in Poole) where he wrote typesetting software and an operating system.

Inventing the World Wide Web

While an independent contractor at CERN from June to December 1980, Berners-Lee proposed a project based on the concept of hypertext, to facilitate sharing and updating information among researchers. While there, he built a prototype system named ENQUIRE. After leaving CERN, in 1980, he went to work at John Poole's Image Computer Systems Ltd in Bournemouth but returned to CERN in 1984 as a fellow. In 1989, CERN was the largest Internet node in Europe, and Berners-Lee saw an opportunity to join hypertext with the Internet: "I just had to take the hypertext idea and connect it to the Transmission Control Protocol and domain name system ideas and — ta-da! — the World Wide Web. He wrote his initial proposal in March 1989, and in 1990, with the help of Robert Cailliau, produced a revision which was accepted by his manager, Mike Sendall. He used similar ideas to those underlying the Enquire system to create the World Wide Web, for which he designed and built the first web browser and editor (called WorldWideWeb and developed on NeXTSTEP) and the first Web server called httpd (short for HyperText Transfer Protocol daemon).

The first Web site built was at CERN and was first put online on 6 August 1991. It provided an explanation about what the World Wide Web was, how one could own a browser and how to set up a Web server. It was also the world's first Web directory, since Berners-Lee maintained a list of other Web sites apart from his own.

In 1994, Berners-Lee founded the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It comprised various companies that were willing to create standards and recommendations to improve the quality of the Web. Berners-Lee made his idea available freely, with no patent and no royalties due. The World Wide Web Consortium decided that their standards must be based on royalty-free technology, so they can be easily adopted by anyone.

Timeline

1976	A Physics graduate of The Queen's College, Oxford University, UK. Principal engineer with PlesseyTelecommunications in PooleFounding.
1980	First hypertext system called "Enquire"
1981-1984	Director of ImageComputer Systems
1989	Started at CERN, Geneva Switzerland and writes his "www proposal"
1990	Invents World Wide Web server and client software for NeXTStep.
1995	Received a "Kilby Young Innovator" award by the The Kilby Awards Foundation and was a co-recipient of the ACM Software Systems Award.
July, 1996	Was awarded a Distinguished Fellowship of the British Computer Society
Currently	The Director of the W3C and also a Principal Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Laboratory for Computer Science (MIT LCS). A director of The Web Science Research Initiative (WSRI) , and a member of the advisory board of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence

Current Life

In 2001, he became a patron of the East Dorset Heritage Trust having previously lived in Colehill in Wimborne, East Dorset, UK.

In December 2004 he accepted a chair in Computer Science at the School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, UK, to work on his new project — the Semantic Web.

Berners-Lee believes the future of Semantic Web holds immense potential for how machines will collaborate in the coming days. In an interview with an Indian publication, he shared his views as:

"It is evolving at the moment. The data Web is in small stages, but it is a reality, for instance there is a Web of data about all kinds of things, like there is a Web of data about proteins, it is in very early stages. When it comes to publicly accessible data, there is an explosion of data Web in the life sciences community. When you look about data for proteins and genes, and cell biology and biological pathways, lots of companies are very excited. We have a healthcare and life sciences interest group at the Consortium, which is coordinating lot of interest out there."

He has also become one of the pioneer voices in favour of Net Neutrality..

He feels that ISPs should not intercept customers' browsing activities, the way companies like Phorm do. He has such strong views about this that he would change ISPs to get away from such activities.

Criticising Domain Extensions

In the past, Sir Tim Berners-Lee has vehemently opposed the addition of new tier domain names like ‘.xxx’ and ‘.mobi’. In fact, when the ‘.mobi’ came into existence, he was the biggest dissenter. He argues that every one should be able to access the same web, irrespective of whether it is from a computer or a mobile phone.

"We have spoken about the mobile Web and how different people would be accessing the Web at different times and on different devices, a very great diversity. You have a screen with 3 million pixels one moment and would have a 3 inch screen the next moment. But it is important that if I refer to something like a train timetable for example and if I bookmark it using my phone, I can view it on my computer screen. Hence, it very important that the same URI works on different devices.

The problem with .mobi, I didn’t want to have a domain that limited accessibility from certain devices, small devices in this regard. Then this would mean that, there would be a different URI for the computer and mobile devices. I fail to understand the need for it. The important thing is that the same URI should work, I don’t want to keep track of two URI for same thing, and I do not want to keep two bookmarks of same thing, depending on whether I am using my computer or my mobile device. It is very pragmatical engineering reason.

The engineering of the Web depends on you have a general one URI for something and wherever you use it, it works, irrespective of the software or the hardware you are using. That is part of the universitality of the Web. I think the consortium behind .mobi have the best intention because they are trying to -- and we are working closely with them -- see a lot of content available from mobile devices. But architecturally I feel that .mobi is a gimmick, the same URI should work very well on different devices."

There has also been an ongoing tussle between different government bodies and ICANN on the ownership of the domain names, especially ".com". Berners-Lee supports the contention that no body should own the domain names, as they constitute a public resource.

"The roots of the domain names should not be owned, it is a public domain resource and it should be managed very carefully for the people of the world. There is a lot of management that has to be done for the domain names and it has to be done carefully. As you know I am not in favor of creating just top-level domain left, right and center. I think the Internet can happily survive for the next ten years without the need of a new top-level domain. I think most of the time people are doing this not because they think it will help the society but because they can own a whole lot of Internet real estate. For instance I don’t think that the .info domain has really helped as very much, people still feel they should get a .com and it only adds to the confusion if different companies have the .com, .biz and so on. And there isn’t very clear definition what each domain is for."

In an interview, he hinted that an international body like the UN could do the governance of the domain names.

"I think that the top level domains, it is very important, are run fairly internationally with a fair representation of businesses and consumers worldwide, not just the companies that run the Internet. I think that whenever you have something that represents the whole world, like the United Nations, it becomes bureaucratic and it becomes slow, because it takes a long time to take into account everybody’s point of view. So we should be prepared to put up with some bureaucracy."

Berners-Lee also dismissed the whole controversy saying that the domain names are not as critical as the standard setting process is.

"We don’t need a domain name system in which you could very very quickly get a new domain name. Domain names are not the most critical part for the functioning of the Web. The Web depends on the development of standards, I think we should put our energy into creating new standards, bringing new technologies, like open standards for video encoding, open standards for data communication, putting scientific and clinical data out there on the Web, to spread that sort of information between countries. I think that sort of thing is very important, that’s where our energy should be spent."

Personal life

Berners-Lee currently lives in Lexington, Massachusetts (USA) with his wife, Nancy, and two children, Alice and Ben.

He left the Church of England, a religion in which he had been brought up, as a teenager just after being confirmed because he could not "believe in all kinds of unbelievable things." He and his family eventually found a Unitarian Universalist church while they were living in Boston.

Recognition

Millennium Technology Prize laureate
Tim Berners-Lee
Millennium Technology Prize
Year awarded:	2004
Invention:	World Wide Web
Prize presented by:	Tarja Halonen
Previous laureate:
Following laureate:	Shuji Nakamura

• The University of Southampton was the first to recognise Berners-Lee's contribution to developing the World Wide Web with an honorary degree in 1996 and he currently holds a Chair of Computer Science in the School of Electronics and Computer Science. In 1996 he was also awarded the Mountbatten Medal. He was the first holder of the 3Com Founders Chair at MIT, and is also now a Senior Research Scientist there. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society, an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
• In 1997 he was made an Officer in the Order of the British Empire, became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2001, and received the Japan Prize in 2002. In 2002 he received the Principe de Asturias award in the category of Scientific and Technical Research. He shared the prize with Lawrence Roberts, Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf. Also in 2002, the British public named him among the 100 Greatest Britons of all time, according to a BBC poll spanning the entire history of the nation and he was awarded the Telluride Tech Festival Award of Technology in Telluride, Colorado.
• In May 2006 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
• On 15 April 2004 he was named as the first recipient of Finland's Millennium Technology Prize for inventing the World Wide Web. The cash prize, worth one million euros (about £663,000 or USD$1.5 million), was awarded on 15 June, in Helsinki, Finland by President of the Republic of Finland, Tarja Halonen.
• He was given the rank of Knight Commander (the second-highest rank in the Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II as part of the 2004 New Year's Honours and was invested on 16 July 2004.
• On 21 July 2004 he was presented with the degree of Doctor of Science (honoris causa) from Lancaster University.
• On 27 January 2005 he was named Greatest Briton of 2004 for his achievements as well as displaying the key British characteristics of "diffidence, determination, a sharp sense of humour and adaptability" as put by David Hempleman-Adams, a panel member. Time Magazine included Berners-Lee in its list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century, published in 1999.
• On 3 October 2005 Berners-Lee was given the Quadriga Award in Berlin.
• On 8 January 2007 it was announced that he had won the 2007 Charles Stark Draper Prize. The prize includes a $500,000 award and is founded in honour of Charles Stark Draper.
• On 14 January 2007 he was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering
• On 13 June 2007 he received the Order of Merit, a personal gift from Queen Elizabeth II where ministerial advice is not required, becoming one of only 24 living members entitled to hold the award and use 'OM' after their name.
• On 20 September 2008 he was awarded the IEEE/RSE Wolfson James Clerk Maxwell Award for conceiving and further developing the World Wide Web IEEE
• On 10 October 2008 he was presented with the degree of Doctor of Science (honoris causa) from Universitat Oberta de Catalunya.

Works

• Berners-Lee, Tim; Mark Fischetti (1999). Weaving the Web: Origins and Future of the World Wide Web. Britain: Orion Business. ISBN 0-7528-2090-7.

See also

• History of the World Wide Web
• Semantic Web

Notes

References

• Tim Berners-Lee and the Development of the World Wide Web (Unlocking the Secrets of Science) Ann Gaines (Mitchell Lane Publishers, 2001) ISBN 1-58415-096-3
• Tim Berners-Lee: Inventor of the World Wide Web (Ferguson's Career Biographies) Melissa Stewart (Ferguson Publishing Company, 2001) ISBN 0-89434-367-X children's biography
• Weaving the Web Fischetti, Mark (Harper Collins Publishers,1999) ISBN 0-06-251586-1(cloth) ISBN 0-06-251587-X(paper)
• How the Web was Born: The Story of the World Wide Web Robert Cailliau, James Gillies, R. Cailliau (Oxford University Press, 2000) ISBN 0-19-286207-3
• Profile of Tim Berners-Lee – patron of East Dorset Heritage Trust
• School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton
• BBC2 Newsnight – Video interview clip of Berners-Lee on the read/write Web
• Technology Review interview

External links

• Berners-Lee's home page
• Berners-Lee talk entited "The Future Of The Web" given at the Oxford internet institute