Lederberg Vla-dor-.bergV Joshua (b. May 23, 1925, Montclair, N.J., U.S.) U.S. geneticist. He earned his Ph.D. at Yale University. With his student Norton Zinder, Lederberg discovered that certain viruses were capable of carrying a bacterial gene from one bacterium to another, a dis¬ covery that made bacteria as important a tool of genetic research as Droso¬ phila and the bread mold Neurospora. He also developed breeding techniques for bacterial genetics. In 1958 he shared the Nobel Prize with George Wells Beadle and Edward L. Tatum for discovery of the mechanisms of genetic recombination in bacteria.
Ledo Road See Stilwell Road
Ledoux \b-'dii\, Claude-Nicolas (b. March 21, 1736, Dormans-sur- Marne, France—d. Nov. 19, 1806, Paris) French architect. In the 1760s and early 1770s he designed private houses in an innovative Neoclassical style, among them Madame du Barry’s famous chateau at Louveciennes (1771-73). In the mid 1770s he planned a new saltworks and surround¬ ing town at the Salines de Chaux, Arc-et-Senans; the design, in which rings of workers’ dwellings enclosed a central factory, was designed both to facilitate production and ensure healthy conditions for the workers. His theatre at Besangon (1771-73) was revolutionary in its provision of seats for the general public as well as the upper classes. The elaborate barrieres (tollhouses) he designed for Paris (1785-89) were ruinously expensive, and Ledoux was removed from the project. Arrested during the French Revolution, he did not practice architecture after his release.
Ledru-Rollin Uo-'driE-ro-TaA, Alexandre-Auguste (b. Feb. 2, 1807, Paris, France—d. Dec. 31, 1874, Fontenay-aux-Roses) French radi¬ cal politician. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1839, but his insistence on the need for a republican government isolated him from other leftists. Following the February Revolution, through his influence as minister of the interior in the provisional government (1848), elections for a new legislature were held for the first time under universal manhood suffrage. In 1849 he demanded the impeachment of Louis-Napoleon (later Napoleon III) and led an unsuccessful insurrection. He fled to England but returned to France after the amnesty of 1870.
Lee, Ann (b. Feb. 29, 1736, Manchester, Eng.—d. Sept. 8, 1784, Water- vliet, N.Y., U.S.) British-American religious leader. A factory worker in her youth in Manchester, she joined the Shakers in 1758 and was acknowl¬ edged as their leader in 1770. Persecuted by the English authorities and compelled by what she believed was a vision, she immigrated to America in 1774. With a band of followers, she founded a settlement at Niskeyuna (present-day Watervliet), N.Y., in 1776, and thereafter her movement spread rapidly. Mother Ann, as she came to be known, was said to have performed miracles, including healing the sick by touch. She was impris¬ oned briefly for treason because of her pacifist doctrines and refusal to sign an oath of allegiance.
Lee, Bruce orig. Lee Yuen Kam (b. Nov. 27, 1940, San Francisco, Calif., U.S.—d. July 20, 1973, Hong Kong) U.S. film actor. The son of a touring Chinese opera star, he spent his childhood in Hong Kong, where he acted in several movies. He returned to the U.S., and in 1966 he landed a role in the television series The Green Hornet. In the early 1970s he became a popular star of martial- arts action films, including Fist of Fury (1972) and Enter the Dragon (1973), which gained an interna¬ tional cult following. His career was cut short by his sudden death at 33 from a brain edema suffered after taking a pain killer. Nevertheless, his films remained popular and became widely imitated. His son Brandon Lee (1965-93) was emerging as an action-movie star when he died in a shooting accident on a movie set.
Lee, Gypsy Rose orig. Rose Louise Hovick (b. Jan. 9, 1914,
Seattle, Wash., U.S.—d. April 26,
1970, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. strip¬ tease artist. She appeared in a vaude¬ ville act with her sister from 1919
Gypsy Rose Lee, 1944
COURTESY OF UNITED ARTISTS CORPORATION; PHOTOGRAPH, FROM THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART FILM STILLS ARCHIVE, NEW YORK
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Lee ► leech I 1091
and made her debut in a burlesque show in 1929. She became the head¬ liner at Billy Minsky’s Republic Theatre on Broadway (1931) and appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies (1936). She was noted for her grace, style, and sophisticated wit. After retiring from burlesque (1937), she appeared in nightclubs and on television. Her autobiography, Gypsy (1957), was the basis for a successful 1959 musical (film, 1962).
Lee, Harper (b. April 28, 1926, Monroeville, Ala., U.S.) U.S. novelist. The daughter of a lawyer, Lee attended the University of Alabama but left for New York City before obtaining a law degree. An editor helped her transform a series of short stories into the novel To Kill a Mockingbird (1960). Lee’s only novel, it was nationally acclaimed, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1961, and was adapted into a memorable film in 1962. The novel’s hero is the white lawyer Atticus Finch, whose just and compassionate acts include an unpopular defense of a black man falsely accused of raping a white girl. The book continued to resonate into the 21st century.
Lee, Henry (b. Jan. 29, 1756, Prince William county, Va.—d. March 25, 1818, Cumberland Island, Ga., U.S.) American army officer and politician. In the American Revolution he rose to cavalry commander (earning the nick¬ name “Light-Horse Harry”) and led victories at Paulus Hook, N.J., and in the South. As governor of Virginia (1791-94), he commanded the army that suppressed the Whiskey Rebellion (1794). In the U.S. House of Representa¬ tives (1799-1801), he wrote the resolution eulogizing George Washington as “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” After 1800 Lee failed in several land and financial speculations and was twice imprisoned for debt. He was the father of Robert E. Lee.
Lee, Ivy Ledbetter (b. July 16, 1877, Cedartown, Ga., U.S.—d. Nov. 9, 1934, New York, N.Y.) U.S. public relations pioneer. He worked as a newspaper reporter before becoming press representative for a group of coal miners in 1906 and for the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. in 1912. His success in improving their public images brought him many powerful cli¬ ents, including the Rockefeller interests. His greatest innovation was his frankness with the press, which he took care to notify of newsworthy developments at the companies he represented.
Lee, Peggy orig. Norma Deloris Egstrom (b. May 26, 1920, Jamestown, N.D., U.S.—d. Jan. 21, 2002, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. popu¬ lar singer. She endured a difficult childhood after her mother’s early death. Singing with a group in Chicago, she was engaged by Benny Goodman as his principal singer in 1941. She began singing on her own in 1943 and also began collaborating on songs, often with her husband, Dave Barbour, including “Fever,” “Manana,” and several songs for Walt Disney’s Lady and the Tramp (1955). With her smooth, lightly husky voice, usually backed by jazz-influenced arrangements, she produced other hits such as “Lover” and “Is That All There Is?”
Lee, Richard Henry (b. Jan. 20, 1732, Stratford, Va.—d. June 19, 1794, Chantilly, Va., U.S.) U.S. statesman. As a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses (1758-75), he opposed the Stamp Act and the Town- shend Acts. He helped initiate the Committees of Correspondence and was active in the First and Second Continental Congress. On June 7, 1776, he introduced a resolution calling for independence from Britain. Its adoption led to the Declaration of Independence, which he signed, as he did the Articles of Confederation. He again served in Congress from 1784 to 1787, acting as its president in 1784. He opposed ratification of the Constitution
of the United States because it lacked a bill of rights. He later served in the first U.S. Senate (1789-92).
Lee, Robert E(dward) (b. Jan. 19, 1807, Stratford, Westmoreland county, Va., U.S.—d. Oct. 12, 1870, Lexington, Va.) U.S. and Confeder¬ ate military leader. He was the son of Henry Lee. After graduating from West Point, he served in the engi¬ neering corps and in the Mexican War under Winfield Scon. He trans¬ ferred to the cavalry in 1855 and commanded frontier forces in Texas (1856-57). In 1859 he led U.S. troops against the slave insurrection attempted by John Brown at Harpers Ferry. In 1861 he was offered com¬ mand of a new army being formed