Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

0-9

Lane, Sir Allen ... Lanier, Willie

Lane, Sir Allen: 20th-century pioneer of paperback publishing in England, whose belief in a market for high-quality books at low prices helped to create a new reading public and also led to improved printing and binding techniques.
Lanfranc: Italian Benedictine who, as archbishop of Canterbury (1070-89) and trusted counsellor of William the Conqueror, was largely responsible for the excellent church-state relations of William's reign after the Norman Conquest of England.
Lanfranco, Giovanni: Italian painter, one of the early exponents of High Baroque illusionism. He was a pupil of Agostino Carracci in Parma (1600-02) and later studied with Annibale Carracci in Rome. The decisive influence on his work, however, was not the Baroque ...
Lang Mountains: mountainous area lying south and west of the Dovre Mountains in west-central Norway. The Lang Mountains include the Jotunheim Mountains, the Jostedals Glacier, the Hardanger Ice Cap, the Hardanger Plateau, the Bykle Hills, and many lesser features. The highest mountains ...
Lang Ping: volleyball player and coach, who was the lead spiker on the Chinese national teams that dominated women's international volleyball in the early 1980s. Known as the "Iron Hammer," she was revered for her elegant athleticism, fierce spiking, and tactical brilliance.
Lang, Andrew: Scottish scholar and man of letters noted for his collections of fairy tales and translations of Homer.
Lang, Cosmo Gordon Lang, Baron: influential and versatile Anglican priest who, as archbishop of Canterbury, was a close friend and adviser to King George VI. He was also briefly suspected of having conspired to bring about the abdication in 1936 of King Edward VIII, who ...
Lang, Eddie: American musician, among the first guitar soloists in jazz and an accompanist of rare sensitivity.
Lang, Fritz: Austrian-born American motion-picture director whose films, dealing with fate and man's inevitable working out of his destiny, are considered masterpieces of visual composition.
Lang, Jack: Australian statesman and Labor premier of New South Wales (1925-27, 1930-32) whose defiance of Australia's Labor prime minister James Henry Scullin's economic policies contributed to Scullin's defeat in 1931 and to the decline of the Labor Party from national power.
Lang, John Dunmore: Australian churchman and writer, founder of the Australian Presbyterian Church, and an influence in shaping colonization of that continent.
Lang, Matheson: English romantic actor and dramatist whose imposing presence, commanding features, and fine voice were as well suited to Othello as to such popular and picturesque characters as Mr. Wu and the Wandering Jew.
Lang, Matthaus: German statesman and cardinal, counsellor of the emperor Maximilian I.
Langdell, Christopher Columbus: American educator, dean of the Harvard Law School (1870-95), who originated the case method of teaching law.
Lange, Antoni: Polish poet, literary critic, and translator who was a pioneer of the Young Poland movement.
Lange, Christian Lous: Norwegian peace advocate, secretary-general of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (1909-33), and cowinner (with Karl Branting) of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1921.
Lange, David: New Zealand lawyer and politician, who was prime minister of New Zealand (1984-89).
Lange, Dorothea: American documentary photographer whose portraits of displaced farmers during the Great Depression greatly influenced later documentary and journalistic photography.
Lange, Friedrich Albert: German philosopher and Socialist, important for his refutation of materialism and for establishing a lasting tradition of Neo-Kantianism at the University of Marburg.
Lange, Oskar Ryszard: Polish-born economist who taught in the United States and Poland and was active in Polish politics. Lange's belief that a state-run economy could be as efficient as (or more efficient than) a market economy prompted his return to Poland after ...
Langeais: town, west-central France, Indre-et-Loire departement, on the right bank of Loire River. It has a 15th-century chateau, notable as a fine example of pre-Renaissance architecture. The ruins of a keep first built there by Fulk III Nerra, count of Anjou, ...
Langeland: island (area 110 square miles [284 square km]), Fyn amtskommune (county), Denmark, in the Baltic Sea between Funen and Lolland islands. Langeland's castle of Tranekaer has been a royal residence since 1231 (rebuilt 1550), and its principal ...
Langen, Eugen: German engineer who pioneered in building internal-combustion engines.
Langer, Frantisek: physician and writer, one of the outstanding Czech dramatists of the interwar period.
Langer, Susanne K.: American philosopher and educator who wrote extensively on linguistic analysis and aesthetics.
Langerhans, islets of: irregularly shaped patches of endocrine tissue located within the pancreas of most vertebrates. They are named for the German physician Paul Langerhans, who first described them in 1869. The normal human pancreas contains about 1,000,000 islets. The islets consist of ...
Langhorne, John: poet and English translator of the 1st-century Greek biographer Plutarch; his work anticipates that of George Crabbe in its description of the problems facing the poor. He was a country rector after 1766. His best work is perhaps The Country ...
Langiewicz, Marian: Polish soldier and patriot who played a key role in the Polish Insurrection of 1863.
Langjokull: (Icelandic: "Long Glacier"), large ice field, west-central Iceland. Langjokull is 40 miles (64 km) long and 15 miles (24 km) wide and covers an area of 395 square miles (1,025 square km). It rises to 4,757 feet (1,450 m) above ...
Langkawi Island: main island of the Langkawi group, in the Strait of Malacca, Peninsular (West) Malaysia. It lies just south of the Thai island of Tarutao. Langkawi, 18 miles (29 km) long and 10 miles (16 km) wide, rises to 2,887 feet ...
Langland, William: presumed author of one of the greatest examples of Middle English alliterative poetry, generally known as Piers Plowman, an allegorical work with a complex variety of religious themes. One of the major achievements of Piers Plowman is that it translates ...
Langley: city ("district municipality"), southwestern British Columbia, Canada, just east-southeast of Vancouver, near the U.S. (Washington) border. The historic Hudson's Bay Company post, Fort Langley (named for Thomas Langley, a company director), was established nearby on the south bank of the ...
Langley, Samuel Pierpont: American astronomer, physicist, and aeronautics pioneer who contributed to the knowledge of solar phenomena as related to meteorology and built the first heavier-than-air flying machine to achieve sustained flight.
Langlois, Charles-Victor: one of the leading French scholars of the late 19th century, who is best known for his bibliographic and historical studies of medieval France.
Langmuir, Irving: American physical chemist whose studies of molecular films on solid and liquid surfaces opened new fields in colloid research and biochemistry and won him the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1932.
Lango: people inhabiting the marshy lowlands northeast of Lakes Kwania and Kyoga in northern Uganda and speaking an Eastern Sudanic language of the Nilo-Saharan language family.
Langport: town (parish), South Somerset district, administrative and historic county of Somerset, England, at the head of the Somerset marshes and for centuries the main crossing point of the River Parrett.
Langres: town, eastern France, Haute-Marne departement, Champagne-Ardenne region, north-northeast of Dijon. A medieval fortified city, it is situated 1,529 feet (466 metres) above sea level on a promontory at the northern end of the Langres ...
Langston University: public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Langston, Oklahoma, U.S. It is Oklahoma's only historically black institution of higher learning and has land-grant status. It includes schools of Arts and Sciences, Business, Education and Behavioral Sciences, Agricultural and Applied Sciences, ...
Langston, John Mercer: black leader, educator, and diplomat, who is believed to have been the first black ever elected to public office in the United States.
Langtoft, Peter: author of an Anglo-Norman chronicle in alexandrines, canon of the Augustinian priory at Bridlington. He took his name from the village of Langtoft in East Yorkshire. It is known that he acted as procurator for the prior or chapter (1271-86), ...
Langton, Stephen: English cardinal whose appointment as archbishop of Canterbury precipitated King John's quarrel with Pope Innocent III and played an important part in the Magna Carta crisis.
Langton, Walter: a leading adviser of King Edward I of England; he was treasurer of the exchequer from 1295 to 1307 and bishop of Lichfield from 1296 until his death. In both capacities he was greedy and unpopular.
Langtry, Lillie: British beauty and actress, known as the Jersey Lily.
language: a system of conventional spoken or written symbols by means of which human beings, as members of a social group and participants in its culture, communicate.
Languedoc: historical and cultural region encompassing the southern French departements of Herault, Gard, and Ardeche and parts of Haute-Loire, Lozere, Tarn, Tarn-et-Garonne, Haute-Garonne, and Ariege and coextensive with the former province of Languedoc.
Languedoc-Roussillon: region of France encompassing the southern departements of Lozere, Gard, Herault, Aude, and Pyrenees-Orientales and roughly coextensive with the former province of Languedoc. Languedoc-Roussillon is bounded by the regions of Midi-Pyrenees ...
langur: the general name given to numerous species of Asian monkeys belonging to the subfamily Colobinae. The term is often restricted to nearly two dozen species of leaf monkeys but is also applied to various other members of the subfamily.
Lanier, Nicholas: English composer, singer, and painter, who probably introduced Italian monody into England. In 1617 he painted the scenery, composed the music for, and sang in Ben Jonson's masque Lovers Made Men, using the new monodic recitative style. In 1626 he ...
Lanier, Sidney: American musician and poet whose verse often suggests the rhythms and thematic development of music.
Lanier, Willie: American professional gridiron football player who was an outstanding defensive player for the Kansas City Chiefs in the 1960s and '70s, overturning the stereotype that African Americans could not handle the key defensive position of middle linebacker. He was enshrined ...