Charles François du Fay Biography

Charles François du Fay

(Charles François de Cisternay du Fay; Paris, 1698-id., 1739) French physicist.He continued the investigations of Stephen Gray on the conduction of electricity and determined in 1733 the existence of two classes of electricity obtained by rubbing: resinous and vitreous, corresponding to what would later be called positive and negative electricity.He also distinguished between conductors and insulators and revealed the repulsion between electrically charged bodies of the same sign.He also conducted studies on crystalline optics.

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Hevelius [Johannes Havelke] Biography

Hevelius [Johannes Havelke] (Danzig, 1611- id. , 1687) German astronomer.He drew up a first lunar map, published under the name Selenography (1647), in which he assigned names to the various features of the lunar surface and called the dark areas the sea.He determined the period of rotation of the Sun, observed its spots and discovered the faculae.In 1657 he began a catalog in which he determined the positions of 1,500 stars and that he could not finish because of a fire that destroyed his observatory (1679).

José Agustín Pérez del Pulgar Biography

José Agustín Pérez del Pulgar (Madrid, 1875-1939) Physicist and Spanish Jesuit.He was professor of physics in 1897 at the Chamartín de la Rosa school in Madrid, where he founded a meteorological observatory whose bulletin he directed between 1900 and 1904.He obtained a degree in physics in 1905 and moved to Belgium, Holland and Germany, where he carried out various theology courses. José Agustín Pérez del Pulgar A student of the eminent mathematicians David Hilbert and Felix Klein at the universities of Liège and Göttingen, his interest in mathematics led him to study geometry projective, particularly in aspects related to electrostatic theory, as reflected in works such as The theory of potential and the curvature of space (1907) or Stokes's theorem and the fundamental laws of electromagnetism (1913). He was the founder of the Catholic Institute of Arts and Industries of Madrid and of the School of mechanical-electric assemblers.In an article, published in 1915, entit...

Francisco Sá Carneiro Biography

Francisco Sá Carneiro (Francisco Lumbrales Sá Carneiro; Oporto, 1934-Lisbon, 1980) Portuguese politician and lawyer.Throughout his career, his membership in the National Salvation Board stands out in 1974, being a minister without portfolio in the Palma Carlos cabinet.Once the so-called Carnation Revolution ended, as secretary of the Popular Democratic Party, he got a seat that he renewed in 1976.From then on he was placed in the ranks of the Portuguese Social Democratic Party, a formation with which he triumphed in the December elections.1979, becoming Prime Minister in 1980. Sá Carneiro studied law at the University of Lisbon, joining the ranks of the Catholic Action Youth movement.It was not until 1969 that he began his career as a politician, practicing as a lawyer, meanwhile, in Porto.In the year indicated, elections were called for Marcelo Caetano, after Oliveira Salazar retired.Carneiro was unable to be elected, but Caetano counted on him, among others, to join the National...

Isaac Jesus Barrera Quiroz Biography

Isaac Jesús Barrera Quiroz (Otavalo, 1884-Quito, 1970) Ecuadorian writer.He stood out for the publication of different biographies focused on characters from the colonial era such as the Ecuadorian writer, politician and diplomat Vicente Rocafuerte (1783-1847) and the liberator Simón Bolívar (1783-1830).He also stood out for his studies in the history of literature: Studies of Castilian Literature and History of Ecuadorian Literature .He directed the Ecuadorian Academy of History and was a corresponding member of the Academy of Language.

Frank Lloyd Biography

Frank Lloyd (Glasgow, 1889-Santa Monica, 1960) American film director of British origin.He specialized in adventure films ( Cabalgata , 1933; Rebellion on board , 1935; Lords of the sea , 1939; Last order , 1955).

Gilbert Bécaud Biography

Gilbert Bécaud (François Silly, called Gilbert Bécaud, Toulon, 1927) French singer and composer.He was a pianist for E.Piaf and, from 1963, created a new type of melodic song.He has also composed a cantata, an opera and music for the cinema.

Josep Maria de Sagarra Biography

Josep Maria de Sagarra (Josep Maria de Sagarra i Castellarnau; Barcelona, 1894-1961) Spanish poet, playwright and storyteller in the Catalan language who was the most popular author on the Catalan scene during the decades of 1920 and 1930.Son of a linajuda native family of the region of La Segarra, his father, Ferran de Sagarra i de Siscar, was a notable historian and archaeologist specialized in stealth.Sagarra's literary vocation was manifested from his childhood: at the age of eight he wrote verses and performed comedies at home. Josep Maria de Sagarra He was educated with the Jesuits of Barcelona; one of his teachers, Father Moreu, encouraged him in his penchant for poetry.At the age of twelve he saw his first verses published, and in 1914 his first book appeared: Primer llibre de poemes .He studied Law at the University of Barcelona: among his friends and classmates were the poets Josep Maria López-Picó and Carles Riba.It was presented to Joan Maragall, who guessed i...

Jose Maria Nemesio Otaño Biography

José María Nemesio Otaño (José María Nemesio Otaño y Eguino, Azcoitia, 1880-San Sebastián, 1956) Spanish composer and musicologist, one of the essential figures in the reform of sacred music in Spain during the first half of the 20th century. He studied organ in Guipúzcoa and later counterpoint and composition with Vicente Goicoechea in Valladolid.In 1896 he entered the Society of Jesus and soon obtained the position of organist at the Loyola Basilica. In 1907 he organized the First National Congress of Sacred Music in Valladolid, and that same year he founded the magazine Hispanic Sacred Music , which, following the proposals of Pope Pius X, served to give new air to the religious music that had been performed in Spain until now. Since 1911 he was director of the choir of the Pontifical University of Comillas, which became a model of good functioning for other religious choral groups in Spain.Simultaneously, Otaño continued composing, giving classes and organizing activities...

Francis Thompson Biography

Francis Thompson (Preston, 1859-London, 1907) English poet.He was the son of a homeopathic doctor.In accordance with his inclinations, well seen by the family, who were Catholic, he was oriented towards the priesthood, and, because of this, he was trained at Ushaw College (Durham) in classical studies.After a change of opinion, advised by his superiors, he later studied medicine, although without ever obtaining a degree, at Owens College in Manchester and in Glasgow. Francis Thompson A fervent Catholic, in love with literature and an independent character, he abandoned his family and studies when he realized that he was not understood in his aspirations, still unclear, and he went to London in 1885, where the failures of the various and humble occupations through which he tried to earn a living for four years (match-seller, horse-keeper, bookseller) threw him, because of the growing and bitter sadness of loneliness, the vice of opium, contracted after an illness. On a piece of...

Josef Willem Mengelberg Biography

Josef Willem Mengelberg (Utrecht, 1871-Zuort, 1951) Dutch conductor.He studied in his hometown with Richard Hol, Henri Wilhelm Petri and Anton Averkamp and later moved to Cologne (Germany), in whose conservatory he studied theory and counterpoint with G.Jensen, piano with I.Seiss and organ with F.W.Franke, in addition to directing and composing with Franz Wüllner. He was musical director of the Lucerne Conservatory in 1892 and years later, in 1895, he obtained the position of director of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, a position he held until 1945.He also continued directing the Museum Concerts group in Frankfurt between 1907 and 1920.From 1899 he annually conducted the Amsterdam Toonkunst Choir in its interpretation of the Passion According to Saint Matthew by JS Bach. He also conducted the American National Symphony Orchestra in New York between 1920 and 1929 and was principal conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra from 1921 until he left it due to differen...

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