- Industry: Library & information science
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Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks. It was founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books. The ...
Italian composer, born at Roncole, Parma; his musical talent was slow of recognition, but the appearance of his "Lombardi" and "Ernani" in 1843-44 established his repute, which was confirmed by "Rigoletto" in 1851 and "Il Trovatore" and "La Traviata" in 1853; born 1813.
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Italian painter and architect, born in Arezzo; was the author of biographies of Italian artists, and it is on these, with the criticism they contain, that his title to fame rests (1511-1574).
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Italian philosopher, born at Naples, where he was for 40 years professor of rhetoric; his great work "Scienza Nuova," by which he became the father of the philosophy of history, which he resolved Calvinistically into a spiritual development of the purpose of God (1668-1744).
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Italian physicist, born at Como; professor of Physics at Pavia; made electrical discoveries which laid the foundation of what is called after him voltaic electricity; volt, the unit of electric motive force, being a term among sundry others in electric science similarly derived (1745-1827).
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Journalist, founded The World newspaper; wrote a supremely interesting "Autobiography" (1831-1894).
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Jurist and economist, born in Westminster; professor of Political Economy at Oxford, and subsequently of Civil Law; drew up in 1884 a constitution for the Congo Free State; his writings include "View of the Progress of Political Economy since the Sixteenth Century," "International Law," "The Law of Nations," all of which rank as standard and authoritative works (1809-1897).
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King of England, born at Falaise; became Duke of Normandy by the death of his father; being an illegitimate son had to establish his power with the sword; being the cousin of Edward the Confessor was nominated by him his successor to the English throne, which being usurped by Harold, he invaded England and defeated Harold at Senlac in 1066 and assumed the royal power, which he established over the length and breadth of the country in 1068; he rewarded his followers with grants of land and lordships over them, subject to the crown; the Doomsday Book was compiled by his order, and the kingdom brought into closer relation with the Church of Rome, his adviser in Church matters being Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury; died by a fall from his horse when suppressing rebellion in Normandy, and was buried at Caen. He was, as characterised by Carlyle, "in rude outline a true God-made king, of most flashing discernment, of most strong lion-heart—in whom, as it were, within a frame of oak and iron the gods had planted the soul of 'a man of genius' ... the essential element, as of all such men, not scorching fire (merely), but shining illuminative light ... the most sure-eyed perception of what is what on this God's earth." His invasion of England is known as the Norman Conquest, and it involved the introduction of the feudal system and Norman manners in the habits and speech of the English people (1027-1087).
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King of England, born at The Hague, son of William II., Prince of Orange, by Mary, the daughter of Charles I.; during a contest on the part of the United Provinces with Louis XIV. was, in 1672, elected Stadtholder, and by his valour and wisdom brought the war to an end in 1678; married his cousin Mary, daughter of James II.; being invited to England, landed with a large army at Torbay, and on the flight of James to France, he and Mary were proclaimed king and queen of Great Britain and Ireland in 1689; the Scotch and the Irish offered resistance in the interest of the exiled monarch, but the former were defeated at Killiecrankie in 1689, and the latter at the battle of the Boyne in 1690; he was an able man and ruler, but his reign was troubled by an interminable feud with France, and by intrigues on behalf of James both at home and abroad; he died by a fall from his horse at Kensington just as a great war with France was impending; he was through life the adversary of the covetous schemes of Louis, and before his death he had prepared the materials of that coalition which, under Marlborough and Prince Eugene, brought Louis to the brink of ruin; his reign forms one of the great epochs in the history of England, and is known as the Revolution (1650-1702).
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King of England, known as the "sailor king," born in Buckingham Palace, the third son of George III.; entered the navy in 1779; saw service under Rodney and Nelson, but practically retired in 1789, as from insubordination he had to do, though he was afterwards promoted to be Admiral of the Fleet, and even Lord High Admiral, and continued to take great interest in naval affairs; after living, as Duke of Clarence, from 1792 to 1816 with Mrs. Jordan, the actress, by whom he had 10 children, he married in 1810 Adelaide, eldest daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen; on the death of the Duke of York in 1827 became heir-presumptive, and on the death of George IV. in 1830 succeeded to the throne; his reign was distinguished by the passing of the first Reform Bill in 1832, the abolition of slavery in the colonies in 1833, the reform of the poor-laws in 1834, and the Municipal Reform Act in 1835; died at Windsor, and was succeeded by his niece. Queen Victoria (1765-1837).
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King of Sardinia, and afterwards of united Italy, born in Turin, eldest son of Charles Albert; became king in 1849 on the abdication of his father; distinguished himself in the war against Austria, adding Austrian Lombardy and Tuscany to his dominions, and by the help of Garibaldi, Naples and Sicily, till in 1861 he was proclaimed King of Italy, and in 1870 he entered Rome as his capital city (1820-1878).
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