Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Shop

0-9

Lanciani, Rodolfo Amadeo ... Langeland

Lanciani, Rodolfo Amadeo: Italian archaeologist, topographer, and authority on ancient Rome who discovered many antiquities at Rome, Tivoli, and Ostia. He published a 1:1,000-scale map of classical, medieval, and modern Rome in Forma ...
Lanciano: town, Chieti provincia, Abruzzi regione, south-central Italy. An archbishopric and agricultural centre, it has textile, machinery, and furniture manufactures. It originated as the Roman Anxanum. The town's Cistercian-Gothic church of ...
Lancisi, Giovanni Maria: Italian clinician and anatomist who is considered the first modern hygienist.
Lancret, Nicolas: French genre painter whose brilliant depictions of fetes galantes, or scenes of courtly amusements taking place in Arcadian settings, reflected the society of his time.
land bridge: any of several isthmuses that have connected the Earth's major landmasses at various times, with the result that many species of plants and animals have extended their ranges to new ...
land crab: any crab of the family Gecarcinidae (order Decapoda of the class Crustacea), typically terrestrial, square-bodied crabs that only occasionally, as adults, return to the sea. They occur in tropical America, ...
Land League: Irish agrarian organization that worked for the reform of the country's landlord system under British rule. The league was founded in October 1879 by Michael Davitt, the son of an ...
land mine: stationary explosive charge used against military troops or vehicles. See mine.
Land of Ten Thousand Sinks: in west-central Kentucky, U.S., area of numerous sinkholes and caves in the Pennyrile (or Pennyroyal) region. The area includes the interconnected caves of Mammoth Cave National Park and Flint Ridge ...
land reform: a purposive change in the way in which agricultural land is held or owned, the methods of cultivation that are employed, or the relation of agriculture to the rest of ...
land snail: any of the approximately 22,000 species of snails adapted to life away from water. Most are members of the subclass Pulmonata (class Gastropoda); a few are members of the subclass ...
Land's End: westernmost peninsula of the county of Cornwall, England. Composed of a granite mass, its tip is the southwesternmost point of England and lies about 870 miles (1,400 km) by road ...
Land, Edwin Herbert: American inventor and physicist whose one-step process for developing and printing photographs culminated in a revolution in photography unparalleled since the advent of roll film.
land-grant college: any of numerous American institutions of higher learning that were established under the first Morrill Act (1862). This act was passed by the U.S. Congress and was named for the ...
Landa, Diego de: Spanish Franciscan priest and bishop of Yucatan who is best known for his classic account of Mayan culture.
landau: four-wheeled carriage, invented in Germany, seating four people on two facing seats with an elevated front seat for the coachman. It was distinguished by two folding hoods, one at each ...
Landau: city, Rhineland-Palatinate Land (state), southwestern Germany. Its location is picturesque, along the Queich River in the Haardt Mountains. The settlement was first mentioned in 1106, and an ...
Landau, Ezekiel: Polish rabbi, the learned author of a much-reprinted book on Jewish law (Halakha).
Landau, Lev Davidovich: Soviet physicist who worked in such fields as low-temperature physics, atomic and nuclear physics, and solid-state, stellar-energy, and plasma physics. Several physics terms bear his name. He was awarded the ...
Lander: county, central Nevada, U.S. It is drained by the Humboldt and Reese rivers. The county is arid and is covered by the Shoshone and Toiyabe mountains, which include large segments ...
Lander: city, seat (1884) of Fremont county, west-central Wyoming, U.S., on the Popo Agie River, east of the Wind River Range, at an elevation of 5,360 feet (1,634 metres). Part of ...
Lander, Harald: Danish dancer and choreographer who was primarily responsible for rebuilding the faltering Royal Danish Ballet into a superb performing organization.
Lander, Richard Lemon: British explorer of West Africa who traced the course of the lower Niger River to its delta.
Landes: forest region bordering the Bay of Biscay in the Aquitaine Basin of southwestern France, extending northward to the Garonne Estuary and southward to the Adour River. With an area of ...
landform: any conspicuous topographic feature on the Earth or a similar planetary body or satellite. Familiar examples are mountains (including volcanic cones), plateaus, and valleys. Comparable structures have been detected on ...
landgrave: a title of nobility in Germany and Scandinavia, dating from the 12th century, when the kings of Germany attempted to strengthen their position in relation to that of the dukes ...
landing craft: small naval vessel used primarily to transport and tactically deploy soldiers, equipment, vehicles, and supplies from ship to shore for the conduct of offensive military operations. During World War II ...
landing ship, tank: naval ship specially designed to transport and deploy troops, vehicles, and supplies onto foreign shores for the conduct of offensive military operations. LSTs were designed during World War II to ...
Landini, Francesco: leading composer of 14th-century Italy, famed during his lifetime for his musical memory, his skill in improvisation, and his virtuosity on the organetto, or portative organ, as well as for ...
Landis, Kenesaw Mountain: American federal judge who, as the first commissioner of organized professional baseball, was noted for his uncompromising measures against persons guilty of dishonesty or other conduct he regarded as damaging ...
landler: traditional couple dance of Bavaria and Alpine Austria. To lively music in 34 time, the dancers turn under each other's arms using complicated arm and hand holds, dance back to ...
landlord and tenant: the parties to the leasing of real estate, whose relationship is bound by contract. The landlord, or lessor, as owner or possessor of a property-whether corporeal, such as lands or ...
Landnamabok: unique Icelandic genealogical record, probably originally compiled in the early 12th century by, at least in part, Ari Thorgilsson the Learned, though it exists in several versions of a later ...
Lando: pope from July/August 913 to early 914. He reigned during one of the most difficult periods in papal history-from c. 900 to 950. The Holy See was then dominated by ...
Landon, Alf: governor of Kansas (1933-37) and unsuccessful U.S. Republican presidential candidate in 1936.
Landon, Letitia Elizabeth: also called L.e.l. English poet and novelist who, at a time when women were conventionally restricted in their themes, wrote of passionate love. She is remembered for her high-spirited social ...
Landor, Walter Savage: English writer best remembered for Imaginary Conversations, prose dialogues between historical personages.
Landowska, Wanda: Polish-born harpsichordist who initiated the revival of the harpsichord in the 20th century.
Landrum-Griffin Act: a legislative response to widespread publicity about corruption and autocratic methods in certain American labour unions during the 1950s. Even though the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations) ...
Landry, Tom: American professional gridiron football coach, notably with the National Football League (NFL) Dallas Cowboys from 1960 to 1989. He molded the Cowboys into a dominant team from the late 1960s ...
Landsat: any of a series of unmanned U.S. scientific satellites. The first three Landsat satellites were launched in 1972, 1975, and 1978. These satellites were primarily designed to collect information about ...
landscape architecture: the development and decorative planting of gardens, yards, grounds, parks, and other planned green outdoor spaces. Landscape gardening is used to enhance nature and to create a natural setting for ...
Landseer, Sir Edwin: British painter and sculptor best known for his paintings of animals.
Landshut: city, Bavaria Land (state), southeastern Germany. It lies on the Isar River northeast of Munich. Named for its early position as the protector (Hut) ...
landskap: traditional subdivision (province) of Sweden. The 25 landskaper (provinces) developed during the pre-Viking and Viking eras and were governed by councils that met outdoors. Although they no longer have any ...
Landskrona: town and port, Skane lan (county), southern Sweden, on The Sound (Oresund), north-northwest of the city of Malmo. It has the only natural harbour on The Sound. The town was ...
landslide: the movement downslope of a mass of rock, debris, earth, or soil (soil being a mixture of earth and debris). Landslides occur when gravitational and other types of shear stresses ...
Landstad, Magnus Brostrup: pastor and poet who published the first collection of authentic Norwegian traditional ballads (1853).
Landsteiner, Karl: Austrian American immunologist and pathologist who received the 1930 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the major blood groups and the development of the ABO system ...
Landuma: group of some 20,000 people located principally in Guinea, 30 to 60 miles (50 to 100 km) inland along the border of Guinea-Bissau. Their language, also called Landuma or Tyapi, ...
Lane, Alfred Church: U.S. geologist and educator who originated, promoted, and directed research on the determination of the age of the Earth. He was petrographer, assistant state geologist, and state geologist for the ...
Lane, Franklin K: U.S. lawyer and politician who, as secretary of the interior (1913-20) made important contributions to conservation.
Lane, Harriet: acting American first lady (1857-61), niece of bachelor James Buchanan, 15th president of the United States.
Lane, Jonathan Homer: U.S. astrophysicist who was the first to investigate mathematically the Sun as a gaseous body. His work demonstrated the interrelationships of pressure, temperature, and density inside the Sun and was ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...