Leonardo da Vinci \'vin-che\ (b. April 15, 1452, Anchiano, Republic of Florence—d. May 2, 1519, Cloux, France) Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, draftsman, architect, engineer, and scientist. The son of a land- owner and a peasant, he received training in painting, sculpture, and mechanical arts as an apprentice to Andrea del Verrocchio. In 1482, hav¬ ing made a name for himself in Florence, he entered the service of the duke of Milan as “painter and engineer.” In Milan his artistic and creative genius unfolded. About 1490 he began his project of writing treatises on the “science of painting,” architecture, mechanics, and anatomy. His theo¬ ries were based on the belief that the painter, with his powers of percep¬ tion and ability to pictorialize his observations, was uniquely qualified to probe nature’s secrets. His numerous surviving manuscripts are noted for being written in a backward script that requires a mirror to be read. In 1502-03, as military architect and engineer for Cesare Borgia, he helped lay the groundwork for modern cartography. After five years of painting and scientific study back in Florence (1503-08), he returned to Milan, where his scientific work flourished. In 1516, after an interlude under Medici patronage in Rome, he entered the service of Francis I of France; he never returned to Italy. Though only some 17 completed paintings sur¬ vive, they are universally seen as masterpieces. The power of The Last Supper (1495-97) comes in part from its masterly composition. In the Mona Lisa (c. 1503-06) the features and symbolic overtones of the sub¬ ject achieve a complete synthesis. The unique fame that Leonardo enjoyed in his lifetime and that, filtered by historical criticism, has remained undimmed to the present day rests largely on his unlimited desire for knowledge, a trait that guided all his thinking and behaviour.
Leoncavallo \la-,on-ka- , val-lo\ / Ruggero (b. March 8, 1857/58, Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies—d. Aug. 9, 1919, Montecatini Terme, near Florence, Italy) Italian composer. After attending Naples Con¬ servatory and earning a doctorate in literature, he toured as a pianist while writing operas. His first, Chatterton (1878), was produced with little suc-
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cess, but its libretto attracted the interest of the publisher Giulio Ricordi. Giacomo Puccini’s rejection of Leoncavallo’s help with Manon Lescaut and Ricordi’s rejection of his own projects caused him in anger to write the verismo one-act opera Pagliacci (1892) for Ricordi’s rival. Though he wrote several other operas and operettas, Pagliacci was his only endur¬ ing success.
Leone \la-'o-na\, Sergio (b. Jan. 3, 1929?, Rome, Italy—d. April 30, 1989, Rome) Italian film director. After working as an assistant to Italian and U.S. directors, he made his directing debut with The Colossus of Rhodes (1961). He won a wide audience with A Fistful of Dollars (1964), the first of the violent Italian-made “spaghetti westerns”; the equally popular For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966) also starred Cunt Eastwood. Among his other films are the epics Once upon a Time in the West (1968) and Once upon a Time in America (1984). Many of his films were at first poorly received by crit¬ ics, but Leone was eventually recognized for his meticulous care for his¬ torical accuracy and his powerful sense of visual composition.
Leonidas Ue-'a-no-dosX (d. 480 bc, Thermopylae, Locris [Greece]) King of Sparta (c. 490^180 bc). He is noted for his heroic stand against the Persians at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480. Seeing the hopelessness of the situation, he sent most of his troops in retreat and with his 300-man royal guard withstood the Persian army for two days, battling valiantly to the last man. He became the object of a hero cult at Sparta, and he stands as the epitome of bravery against overwhelming odds. The legend that Spartans never surrender derived from this episode.
Leonov Me-'a-noA, Aleksey (Arkhipovich) (b. May 30, 1934, near Kemerovo, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Soviet cosmonaut. He joined the Soviet air force in 1953 and was selected for cosmonaut training in 1959. In 1965 he became the first person to perform a spacewalk. After exiting the spacecraft (Voskhod 2) and while tethered to the ship, Leonov made obser¬ vations, took motion pictures, and practiced maneuvering in free fall before reentering the ship. A decade later he commanded the Soyuz craft that linked in orbit with the U.S. Apollo craft in July 1975.
Leontief Vle-'an-te-.eA, Wassily (b. Aug. 5, 1906, St. Petersburg, Russia—d. Feb. 5, 1999, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Russian-born U.S. econo¬ mist. After studying at the universities of Leningrad (1921-25) and Ber¬ lin (1925-28), he immigrated to the U.S. in 1931. At Harvard University (1931-75) he articulated his input-output analysis. He also described what is known as the Leontief Paradox: that capital, not labour, is the scarce factor of production in the U.S. He was awarded the 1973 Nobel Prize. From 1975 until his death he taught at New York University.
leopard or panther Big cat {Panthera pardus) of the bush and for¬ est, found throughout sub-Saharan Africa, in North Africa, and in Asia. The average leopard weighs 110-200 lbs (50-90 kg) and is about 6 ft
Leopard (Panthera pardus)
LEONARD LEE RUE III
(210 cm) long, excluding the 35-in. (90-cm) tail, and 24-28 in. (60-70 cm) high at the shoulder. The background colour is typically yellowish above and white below. The dark spots arranged in rosettes over much of the body lack a central spot, unlike those of the jaguar. The leopard is solitary and mainly nocturnal. An agile climber, it frequently stores the remains of its kills in tree branches. It generally preys on antelope and deer. It also hunts dogs and, in Africa, baboons. It sometimes takes live¬ stock and may attack humans. The leopard is considered an endangered species by the U.S. but not by the IUCN (International Union for Con¬ servation of Nature). See also cheetah; cougar; snow leopard.
leopard seal or sea leopard Species ( Hydrurga leptonyx ) of gen¬ erally solitary earless seal (family Phocidae) found in Antarctic and sub- Antarctic regions. It is the only seal that feeds on penguins, young seals, and other warm-blooded prey. It is slender and has a long head and long three-cusped cheek teeth. Named for its black-spotted gray coat, it attains a maximum length and weight (greater in the female) of about 12 ft (3.5 m) and 840 lbs (380 kg). It has a reputation for ferocity but is not known to make unprovoked attacks on humans.
Leopardi \,la-o-'par-de\, Giacomo (b. June 29, 1798, Recanati, Papal States—d. June 14, 1837, Naples) Italian poet, scholar, and philosopher. Congenitally deformed, he suffered throughout his life from chronic ail¬ ments and frustrated hopes. His usually pessimistic poetry is admired for its brilliance, intensity, and effortless musicality. His verse collections include Canzoni (1824), Versi (1826), and I canti (1831). His finest poems are probably the lyrics called “Idillii” in early editions of his poetry. Operette morali (1827; “Minor Moral Works”) is an influential philo¬ sophical exposition, mainly in dialogue form, of his doctrine of despair. He is considered among the great Italian writers of the 19th century.
Leopold I orig. Leopold-Georges-Chretien-Frederic (b. Dec. 16, 1790, Coburg, Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld—d. Dec. 10, 1865, Laeken, Belg.) First king of the Belgians (1831-65). The son of Francis, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, he married Charlotte, daughter of the future English king George IV in 1816. After her death in 1817 Leopold contin¬ ued to live in England until elected king of the newly formed Belgium. He helped strengthen the country’s new parliamentary system and scru¬ pulously maintained Belgian neutrality. Highly influential in European diplomacy, he used marriages to strengthen his ties. In 1832 he married the daughter of Louis- Philippe. In 1840 he helped arrange the marriage of his niece, Victoria, to his nephew. Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. In 1857 he arranged the marriage of his daughter to Maximilian, archduke of Austria.