mile: see English units of measurement.

Zola, Émile, 1840-1902, French novelist, b. Paris. He was a professional writer, earning his living through journalism and his novels. About 1870 he became the apologist for and most significant exponent of French naturalism, a literary school that maintained that the novel should be scientific in a strict sense. Inspired by his readings in social history and medicine, Zola decided to apply scientific techniques and observations to the depiction of French society under the Second Empire. He composed a vast series of novels in which the characters and their social milieus are impartially observed and presented in minute and often sordid detail.

Of his many novels, those considered most important are among the 20 that constitute the series Les Rougon-Macquart (1871-93), an account of the decay of a family as the result of heredity and environment, with special emphasis on alcoholism, disease, and degeneracy. Perhaps the best known of these are L'Assommoir (1877, tr. The Dram-Shop), on lower-class life in Paris; Nana (1880); and Germinal (1885, tr. 1901), a "proletarian" novel involving coal mining in N France. He also began the socialistic Quatre Évangiles [four gospels], of which he finished Fécondité (1899, tr. Fruitfulness, 1900), Travail (1901, tr. Labor, 1901), and Vérité (1903, tr. Truth, 1903).

Zola had an ardent zeal for social reform. He was anti-Catholic and wrote many diatribes against the clergy and the Church. His part in the Dreyfus Affair (notably his article, "J'accuse," 1898) was his most conspicuous public action, and he became the special object of the hatred of the anti-Dreyfus party. Prosecuted for libel (1898), he escaped to England, where he remained a few months until an amnesty enabled his return to France. He was accidentally asphyxiated in his bedroom after inhaling fumes from a blocked chimney.

Yersin, Alexandre Émile Jean, 1863-1943, French bacteriologist, of Swiss descent. He studied with Pasteur and worked on diphtheria antitoxin with P. P. E. Roux at the Pasteur Institute, Paris. Yersin discovered (1894) the bacillus of bubonic plague (independently of Shibasaburo Kitasato) and prepared a serum to combat the disease. He was director of the Pasteur Institute at Nhatrang (SE Annam) and inspector general of the Pasteur Institutes at Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), at Hanoi, and at Dalat (S of Nhatrang).

Verhaeren, Émile, 1855-1916, Belgian poet and critic, a Fleming who wrote in French. His dominant passion for social reform found expression successively in a disgust with mankind, as in the naturalistic verse of Les Flamandes (1883); in pessimism over the growth of urban industrialization, as in Les Villages illusoires and Les Villes tentaculaires (both 1895); and finally in optimistic glorification of the energy of man, as in the lyrical Les Forces tumultueuses (1902) and La Multiple Splendeur (1906). A period of gloom and melancholic unrest in which he traveled over Western Europe and spent much time in London is reflected in a trilogy of poetic works—Les Soirs and Les Débâcles (both 1888), and Les Flambeaux noirs (1891). He also wrote for his wife, Marthe Massin, a trilogy of love poems—Les Heures claires (1896, tr. The Sunlit Hours, 1916), Les Heures de l'après-midi (1905, tr. Afternoon, 1917), and Les Heures du soir (1911, tr. The Evening Hours, 1918). Outstanding among his dramas, which combine verse and prose, is Hélène de Sparte (1912, tr. 1916). The poems in Les Ailes rouges de la guerre [the red wings of war] (1917) are his bitter protest against war.

Vandervelde, Émile, 1866-1938, Belgian statesman and Socialist leader. He entered parliament in 1894, and served in many cabinets, notably as minister of justice (1918-21), foreign minister (1925-27), and vice premier and minister of public health (1936-37). He resigned in protest when the cabinet, headed by Paul van Zeeland, recognized the Franco government in the Spanish civil war. Influential in Belgian politics and in the European labor movement, Vandervelde played a leading role in the Second, or Socialist, International (1889-1914), serving as the first president of the International Socialist Bureau. He also taught political economy at the Univ. of Brussels from 1924 until his death and wrote several works on political science.

Three Mile Island, site of a nuclear power plant 10 mi (16 km) south of Harrisburg, Pa. On Mar. 28, 1979, failure of the cooling system of the No. 2 nuclear reactor led to overheating and partial melting of its uranium core and production of hydrogen gas, which raised fears of an explosion and dispersal of radioactivity. Thousands living near the plant left the area before the 12-day crisis ended, during which time some radioactive water and gases were released. A federal investigation, assigning blame to human, mechanical, and design errors, recommended changes in reactor licensing and personnel training, as well as in the structure and function of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The accident also increased public concern over the dangers of nuclear power and slowed construction of other reactors. See also nuclear energy.

Stevens, Alfred Émile, 1823-1906, Belgian portrait and genre painter. He often lived in Paris and exhibited there regularly. His chief subjects, painted with admirable technique and color, were society women, fashionable Parisian interiors, and marine scenes. His Japanese Robe is in the Metropolitan Museum, and he is well represented in museums in Brussels and Marseilles. He is the author of Impressions sur la peinture (1886).

Roux, Pierre Paul Émile, 1853-1933, French physician and bacteriologist. He was a pupil of and coworker with Pasteur. In 1888 he and A. E. J. Yersin demonstrated that the diphtheria bacillus produces a toxin; this led to the development by E. A. von Behring of methods of producing a specific antitoxin, which revolutionized the treatment of diphtheria. Roux worked with the veterinarian E. I. C. Nocard in the study (1898) of bovine pneumonia and with Élie Metchnikoff on syphilis.

Ollivier, Émile, 1825-1913, French statesman, a leading figure in the "Liberal Empire" of Napoleon III. Widely known as a brilliant lawyer, he was elected to the legislature in 1857. He and Jules Favre were the chief figures of the liberal opposition that sought to gain reforms by constitutional means. After 1863, Ollivier cooperated with the duc de Morny to gain liberal concessions from Napoleon and gradually drew away from his republican colleagues to lead a new liberal group supporting cooperation with the government. Growing public discontent led Napoleon to call on Ollivier to form a ministry, and the Ollivier ministry was organized in Jan., 1870. The new ministry instituted sweeping constitutional reforms, transforming the empire into a parliamentary regime. Unfortunately, the dispute over the Hohenzollern succession in Spain soon erupted into hostilities in the Franco-Prussian War. Although Ollivier was initially opposed to war, he endorsed the final decision to declare war on Prussia. Replaced as premier (Aug., 1870), Ollivier went to Italy. He returned to France after three years and spent his later life writing historical and political books, many of them in defense of his ministry. His major collection is L'Empire libéral (18 vol., 1895-1918).

Mâle, Émile, 1862-1954, French art historian. Mâle pioneered the study of French art of the Middle Ages, its forms, and especially the Eastern sources of sculptural iconography of the cathedrals of France. He was a director of the Académie de France à Rome and a member of the Académie Française. Among Mâle's major works are L'Art religieux du XIIIe siècle en France (1913, tr. The Gothic Image, 1958) and L'Art religieux du XIIe au XVIIIe siècle (1945, tr. 1949).

Loubet, Émile François, 1838-1929, president of the French republic (1899-1906). As a member of the chamber of deputies, he advocated secular education. After serving (1887-88) as minister of public works he became premier in 1892. His hesitance to investigate the Panama Canal scandal forced his resignation, but he continued as minister of the interior until 1893 and became president of the senate in 1896. In 1899 he succeeded Félix Faure as president of the republic. Favoring revision in the Dreyfus Affair, Loubet pardoned Alfred Dreyfus in 1899; in foreign affairs his reception of King Edward VII of Great Britain symbolized the growing rapprochement between the two countries. During his presidency premiers René Waldeck-Rousseau and Émile Combes secured the limiting of Church privilege, culminating (1905) in the separation of Church and state in France. Loubet retired in 1906 and was succeeded by Armand Fallières.

Littré, Maximilien Paul Émile, 1801-81, French lexicographer. Known as a positivist philosopher and as professor of history and geography at the École polytechnique, Littré is best remembered for his dictionary of the French language (5 vol., 1863-72), for his translation of Hippocrates, and for his works in medical history.

Levasseur, Émile (Pierre Émile Levasseur), 1828-1911, French economist. He was noted especially for his historical approach to the study of economics. He studied at the École normale supérieure, Paris, and taught (1868-72) economic history at the Collège de France before becoming (1872) professor of geography, history, and economic statistics. His most famous works are histories of the French working class, Histoire des classes ouvrières en France depuis la conquěte de Jules César jusqu'à la révolution (1859) and Histoire des classes ouvrières en France depuis la révolution jusqu'à nos jours (1867). He also wrote La Question de l'or [the question of gold] (1858), La Population française (3 vol., 1889-92), and Histoire du commerce de la France (1911-12).

Lecoq de Boisbaudran, Paul Émile: see Boisbaudran.

Jaques-Dalcroze, Émile, 1865-1950, Swiss educator and composer, b. Vienna, studied at the Geneva Conservatory, at the Paris Conservatory with Léo Delibes, and in Vienna with Anton Bruckner. From 1892 to 1909 he taught at the Geneva Conservatory, where he developed his system of eurythmics as an aid to his own teaching. After successful demonstrations of his method he established (1910-14) the Jaques-Dalcroze School at Hellerau, near Dresden. In 1915 the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze was opened at Geneva. Jaques-Dalcroze also composed music and wrote several books, including an autobiography (1942).

Girardin, Émile de, 1806-81, French journalist. He was editor of La Presse (1836-56, 1862-66), La Liberté (1866-70), and La France (1874). Actively interested in politics and social betterment, he served for a time in the chamber of deputies. He also wrote plays and novels.

Gautier, Émile Félix, 1864-1940, French geographer, an authority on Algiers, the Sahara, and the French African possessions. He explored W Madagascar (1892-94) and traversed the Sahara in various directions. His books include Madagascar (1902), Le Sahara (1923: tr. Sahara, the Great Desert, 1935), Un Siècle de colonisation (1930), and L'Afrique blanche (1939).

Faguet, Émile, 1847-1916, French literary critic and historian. His prolific studies stimulated interest in French intellectual history of the 17th, 18th, and 19th cent. His major work is Jean-Jacques Rousseau (5 vol., 1911-13).

Durkheim, Émile, 1858-1917, French sociologist. Along with Max Weber he is considered one of the chief founders of modern sociology. Educated in France and Germany, Durkheim taught social science at the Univ. of Bordeaux and the Sorbonne. His view that the methods of natural science can be applied to the study of society was influenced by the positivist philosophy of Auguste Comte. Durkheim held that the collective mind of society was the source of religion and morality and that the common values developed in society, particularly in primitive societies, are the cohesive bonds of social order. In more complex societies, he suggests, the division of labor makes for cohesiveness, but the loss of commonly held values leads to social instability and disorientation of the individual. Durkheim studied suicide to show the importance of anomie, the loss of morale that accompanies decline in social identity. To support his theories he drew extensively on anthropological and statistical materials. His important works include The Division of Labor in Society (1893, tr. 1933), The Rules of Sociological Method (1895, tr. 1938), Le Suicide (1897), and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912, tr. 1915).

Durand, Charles Auguste Émile: see Carolus-Duran.

Deschanel, Émile, 1819-1904, French author and politician. Of his numerous works the best known are such critical studies as Études sur Aristophane (1867) and Le Romantisme des classiques (1882). His Catholicisme et socialisme (1850) offended Louis Napoleon (later Napoleon III), and Deschanel spent the years 1851-59 in exile. He was made a professor at the Collège de France and a senator in 1881.

Dalcroze, Émile Jaques: see Jaques-Dalcroze.

Coué, Émile, 1857-1926, French psychotherapist. He is remembered for his formula for curing by optimistic autosuggestion, "Day by day, in every way, I am getting better and better." His teaching achieved a vogue in England and the United States in the 1920s.

Combes, Émile, 1835-1921, French statesman. An able politician of the left democratic group, he was minister of education under Léon Bourgeois (1895-96) and, succeeding René Waldeck-Rousseau, was (1902-5) premier and minister of interior and religion. Anticlericalism, growing out of the Dreyfus Affair, was rampant, and Combes rigorously enforced the law of 1901 requiring religious associations to seek government authorization. He abolished religious education and initiated the separation of church and state in France; abrogation of the Concordat of 1801 was formalized in 1905 in a law introduced by Aristide Briand. Combes was a member of the Briand cabinet in World War I.

Chartier, Émile Auguste, 1868-1951, French essayist and philosopher who wrote under the pseudonym Alain. He is best known for thousands of aphoristic essays, called propos, which he contributed to his own weekly Libres Propos and other journals. These essays cover a variety of literary and political topics, many of them expressing Chartier's commitment to pacifism and distrust of official power. His many other works include Système des beaux arts (1920) and Histoire de mes pensées (1936).

Chabas, Paul Émile, 1869-1937, French academic painter. He is remembered chiefly for his nude, September Morn, which created a sensation when it was exhibited in 1912. It was sold to a Russian, hidden during the Russian Revolution, and in 1935 rediscovered in a private collection in Paris. It is now owned by the Metropolitan Museum.

Cammaerts, Émile, 1878-1953, Belgian poet. In 1908 he settled in England, becoming a professor at the Univ. of London in 1933. His poetry of World War I, which appeared in French, was translated and collected in Belgian Poems (1915) and New Belgian Poems (1916). Later works, in English, include Upon This Rock (1943), a poignant character sketch of a son killed in the war, and volumes on Belgian history and culture.

Bourdelle, Émile Antoine, 1861-1929, French sculptor; son of a cabinetmaker of Montauban. He went to Paris in 1884, where he studied successively under Falguière, Dalou, and Rodin. Bourdelle differed sharply from Rodin in his preoccupation with the relation of sculpture to architecture. Seeking his inspiration in archaic Greece and the Gothic, he achieved his greatest success in heroic and monumental works such as Hercules, of which there is a cast in the Metropolitan Museum; his colossal Virgin of Alsace; his bas-reliefs for the Théâtre des Champs Élysées; and his monument to Americans who died in World War I (Pointe de Grave). He is also noted for his numerous portrait heads.

Botta, Paul Émile, 1805-70, French archaeologist and government official. While consular agent at Mosul (1843) he made his renowned discoveries of Assyrian inscriptions at Khorsabad. The first investigator to uncover an Assyrian palace, Botta believed he was excavating Nineveh when he was actually exposing the palace of King Sargon II. The cuneiform inscriptions and relief pictorials recovered by Botta, now at the Louvre, played a key role in the emerging discipline of Middle Eastern archaeology. Botta wrote Monument de Ninive (5 vol., 1849-50).

Borel, Félix Édouard Émile, 1871-1956, French mathematician. He is noted for his work in infinitesimal calculus and the calculus of probabilities. He was professor at the Univ. of Paris (1904-41), director of the Henri Poincaré Institute (from 1927), and a representative in the French chamber of deputies (1924-36).

Boisbaudran, Paul Émile Lecoq de, 1838-1912, French discoverer of the elements gallium, samarium, and dysprosium. He also made contributions in the field of spectroscopy, including his experimentation with the rare-earth metals.

Augier, Émile (Guillaume Victor Émile Augier), 1820-89, French dramatist. His plays, early examples of realism, satirize the social foibles of his time and uphold the values of bourgeois family life. His chief work, Le Gendre de M. Poirier (1854, tr. 1915), was written with Jules Sandeau.

Any of various units of distance, including the statute mile of 5,280 ft (1.61 km). It originated from the Roman mille passus, or “thousand paces,” which measured 5,000 Roman ft (4,840 English ft [1.475 km]). A nautical mile is the length on the Earth's surface of one minute of arc or, by international definition, 1,852 m (6,076.12 ft [1.1508 statute mi]); it remains in universal use in both marine and air transportation. A knot is one nautical mile per hour. Seealso International System of Units; metric system.

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Nuclear power station near Harrisburg, Pa., site of the most serious accident in the history of the U.S. nuclear power industry (March 28, 1979). Mechanical failures and human errors caused a partial meltdown of the nuclear core and the release of radioactive gases. Despite assurances that there had been little risk to people's health, the accident increased public fears about the safety of nuclear power and strengthened public opposition to its use, effectively stopping construction of nuclear reactors and further development of U.S. nuclear power plants.

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(born Dec. 31, 1869, Le Cateau, Picardy, Fr.—died Nov. 2, 1954, Nice) French painter, sculptor, and graphic artist. He was a law clerk when he became interested in art. After study with Gustave Moreau at the École des Beaux-Arts, he exhibited four paintings at the Salon and scored a triumph when the government bought his Woman Reading (1895). Self-confident and venturesome, he experimented with pointillism but eventually abandoned it in favour of the swirls of spontaneous brushwork and riots of colour that became known as Fauvism. Though his subjects were largely domestic and figurative, his works exhibit a distinctive Mediterranean verve. He also took up sculpture and would produce some 60 pieces during his lifetime. The Armory Show exhibited 13 of his paintings. In 1917 he moved to the French Riviera, where his paintings became less daring but his output remained prodigious. After 1939 he became increasingly active as a graphic artist and in 1947 published Jazz, a book of reflections on art and life with brilliantly coloured illustrations made by “drawing with scissors”: the motifs were pasted together after being cut out of sheets of coloured paper. He was ill during most of his last 13 years; he designed the magnificent Chapelle du Rosaire at Vence (1948–51) as a gift to the Dominican nuns who cared for him. His well-known paintings include Joy of Life (1906), The Red Studio (1915), Piano Lesson (1916), and The Dance I and The Dance II (1931–33).

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

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

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(born Dec. 31, 1869, Le Cateau, Picardy, Fr.—died Nov. 2, 1954, Nice) French painter, sculptor, and graphic artist. He was a law clerk when he became interested in art. After study with Gustave Moreau at the École des Beaux-Arts, he exhibited four paintings at the Salon and scored a triumph when the government bought his Woman Reading (1895). Self-confident and venturesome, he experimented with pointillism but eventually abandoned it in favour of the swirls of spontaneous brushwork and riots of colour that became known as Fauvism. Though his subjects were largely domestic and figurative, his works exhibit a distinctive Mediterranean verve. He also took up sculpture and would produce some 60 pieces during his lifetime. The Armory Show exhibited 13 of his paintings. In 1917 he moved to the French Riviera, where his paintings became less daring but his output remained prodigious. After 1939 he became increasingly active as a graphic artist and in 1947 published Jazz, a book of reflections on art and life with brilliantly coloured illustrations made by “drawing with scissors”: the motifs were pasted together after being cut out of sheets of coloured paper. He was ill during most of his last 13 years; he designed the magnificent Chapelle du Rosaire at Vence (1948–51) as a gift to the Dominican nuns who cared for him. His well-known paintings include Joy of Life (1906), The Red Studio (1915), Piano Lesson (1916), and The Dance I and The Dance II (1931–33).

Learn more about Matisse, Henri (-Émile-Benoǐt) with a free trial on Britannica.com.