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Bouguer, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Bouguer, Pierre pyĕr bo͞ogĕrˈ [key], 1698–1758, French mathematician and hydrographer. He made some of the first photometric measurements, calculating the intensity of the light of the sun as co...

Pierre, Abbé

(Encyclopedia)Pierre, Abbé äbāˈ pyĕr [key], 1912–2007, French priest and social activist, b. Lyons as Henri Antoine Grouès. Renouncing a wealthy inheritance to become a Capuchin monk in 1931, he left the mo...

Pelletier, Pierre Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Pelletier, Pierre Joseph pyĕr zhôzĕfˈ pĕlətyāˈ [key], 1788–1842, French chemist. With J. B. Caventou, he was cofounder of alkaloid chemistry and codiscoverer of quinine, strychnine, brucine,...

Gemayel

(Encyclopedia)Gemayel zhĕmīˈəl [key], Maronite Christian family active in Lebanese politics; leaders of the Phalange party (1937–82), and later the Phalange militia. Pierre Gemayel, 1905–84, founded the rig...

rationalism

(Encyclopedia)rationalism [Lat.,=belonging to reason], in philosophy, a theory that holds that reason alone, unaided by experience, can arrive at basic truth regarding the world. Associated with rationalism is the ...

Gouthière, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Gouthière, Pierre pyĕr go͞otyĕrˈ [key], 1732?–c.1813, French metalworker. The greatest artist of ornamental bronzes of the period of Louis XVI, he produced a vast number of superb cast and chis...

Augereau, Pierre François Charles

(Encyclopedia)Augereau, Pierre François Charles pyĕr fräNswäˈ shärl ōzhərōˈ [key], 1757–1816, marshal of France. He fought in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars and was a principal in the coup...

Cauchon, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Cauchon, Pierre pyĕr kōshôNˈ [key], d. 1442, bishop of Beauvais, France, president of the ecclesiastic court that convicted (1431) Joan of Arc at Rouen. His violent partisanship for the English ma...

Saint-Pierre town, Martinique

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Pierre săN pyĕr [key], town (1990 est. pop. 5,550), Martinique, West Indies. Founded by Esnambuc in 1635 and once the chief commercial city of the island, it was engulfed by a mass of flame, l...

Messmer, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Messmer, Pierre (Pierre Joseph Auguste Messmer) pyĕr mĕsmāˈ [key], 1916–, French political leader. In World War II he fought with the Free French forces before joining General de Gaulle's staff....
 

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