Luria \'lur-ya\, Isaac ben Solomon (b. 1534, Jerusalem—d. Aug. 5, 1572, Safed, Syria) Jewish mystic and founder of a school of Kabbala. He was brought up in Egypt, where he pursued rabbinic studies. He dedi¬ cated himself to the study of the Kabbala with messianic fervour, and in 1570 he journeyed to a centre of the movement in Galilee. He died two years later in an epidemic, having written little. The Lurianic Kabbala, a collection of Luria’s doctrines recorded after his death by a pupil, had great influence on later Jewish mysticism and on Hasidism. It propounds a theory of the creation and later degeneration of the world and calls for restoration of the original harmony through ritual meditation and secret combinations of words.
Luria \'lur-e-3\, Salvador (Edward) (b. Aug. 13, 1912, Turin, Italy—d. Feb. 6, 1991, Lexington, Mass., U.S.) Italian-born U.S. biolo¬ gist. He fled Italy for France in 1938, arriving in the U.S. in 1940. In 1942 he obtained an electron micrograph of phage particles that confirmed ear¬ lier descriptions of them as consisting of a round head and a thin tail. In 1943 he and Max DelbrOck showed that viruses can undergo permanent changes in their hereditary material. He also proved that the simultaneous existence of phage-resistant bacteria with phage-sensitive bacteria in the same culture was a result of the selection of spontaneous bacterial mutants. In 1945 he and A.D. Hershey demonstrated the existence not only of such bacterial mutants but also of spontaneous phage mutants. The three men shared a 1969 Nobel Prize.
Luristan Bronze Vlur-o-.stanV or Lorestan Bronze \'16r-3-,stan\ Objects excavated since the late 1920s in the valleys of the Zagros Moun¬ tains in the Luristan region of western Iran. Dating from c. 1500 to c. 500 bc, they consist of utensils, weapons, jewelry, horse trappings, belt buck¬ les, and ritual and votive objects. They are believed to have been pro¬ duced either by the Cimmerians or by Indo-European peoples of Media or Persia.
Lusaka \lu-'sa-ka\ City (pop., 1999 est.: metro, area, 1,577,000), capi¬ tal of Zambia. In the 1890s the area was taken by the British South Africa Company during the formation of Northern Rhodesia; it became the capi¬ tal in 1935. After the federation of Northern and Southern Rhodesia in 1953, it was a centre of the civil disobedience movement that led to the creation of the independent state of Zambia in 1960, with Lusaka as its capital. Possessing some light industry, it is also a commercial centre for the surrounding agricultural region. The University of Zambia (founded 1965) is located nearby.
Lushun VliB-'shuM or Lu-shun formerly Port Arthur Former city, since 1950 a district of Dalian city, Liaoning province, northeastern China. Situated at the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula, it was used as a staging post as early as the 2nd century bc. Fortified under the Ming dynasty, it was captured by the Manchus in 1633 and served as the seat of a defense unit under the Qing dynasty. In 1878 it became the chief base for China’s first modem naval force. Leased to Russia in 1898, it was captured by Japan (1905) during the Russo-Japanese War and was made the seat of a provincial government. Under a 1945 treaty it became a Sino-Soviet military base; the Soviet forces withdrew in 1955.
Lusitania British ocean liner sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland on May 7, 1915. The British Admiralty had warned the Lusi¬ tania to avoid the area and to use the evasive tactic of zigzagging, but the crew ignored these recommendations. Though unarmed, the ship was car¬ rying munitions for the Allies, and the Germans had circulated warnings that the ship would be sunk. The loss of life—1,198 people drowned, including 128 U.S. citizens—outraged public opinion. The U.S. protested Germany’s action, and Germany limited its submarine campaign against Britain. When Germany renewed unrestricted submarine warfare, the U.S. entered World War I in April 1917.
Lussac, Joseph Gay- See Joseph Gay-Lussac
lustre In mineralogy, the appearance of a mineral surface in terms of its light-reflecting qualities. Lustre depends on a mineral’s refractivity (see refraction), transparency, and structure. Variations in these properties pro¬ duce different kinds of lustre, from metallic (e.g., gold) to dull (e.g., chalk).
lustred glass or lustered glass Art glass of the Art Nouveau style, delicately iridescent with rich colours, mimicking the iridescent sheen produced by the corrosion of ancient buried glassware. In 1893 Louis Comfort Tiffany founded the Stourbridge Glass Co. to produce lustred drinking glasses, bowls, vases, lamps, and jewelry. His lustred glass, pro¬ duced by metallic pigments applied to opaque glass, produced a pearly sheen, whereas that produced in Europe in the 1870s used transparent glass, which resulted in a mirrorlike surface. Tiffany’s wares were so popular that he made thousands of pieces annually until 1933.
lute Plucked stringed instrument popular in 16th-17th-century
Europe. It originated from the Arab C UD, which reached Europe in the 13 th century. Like the c ud, the lute has a deep pear-shaped body with an ornamental soundhole, a fretted neck with a bent-back pegbox, and strings hitched to a bridge glued to the instrument’s belly. In later years it acquired several unstopped bass strings. It became the preferred instrument for cultivated amateur musicians and acquired an extensive literature of song accompaniments
Angel playing a lute, from "Presenta¬ tion in the Temple," painted altarpiece by Vittore Carpaccio, 1510; in the Accademia, Venice.
and solo and consort music.
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Luther ► Luxembourg I 1151
Luther, Martin (b. Nov. 10, 1483, Eisleben, Saxony—d. Feb. 18, 1546, Eisleben) German priest who sparked the Reformation. The son of a miner, he studied philosophy and law before entering an Augustinian monastery in 1505. He was ordained two years later and continued his theological studies at the University of Wittenberg, where he became a professor of biblical studies. He was shocked by the corruption of the clergy on a trip to Rome in 1510 and was later troubled by doubts centring on fear of divine retributive justice. His spiritual crisis was resolved when he hit on the idea of justification by faith, the doctrine that salvation is granted as a gift through God’s grace. He urged reform of the Roman Catholic church, protesting the sale of indulgences and other abuses, and in 1517 he dis¬ tributed to the archbishop of Mainz and several friends his Ninety-Five Theses (according to legend, Luther nailed the theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg); the theses questioned Roman Catholic teach¬ ing and called for reform. In 1521 he was excommunicated by Pope Leo IX and declared an outlaw at the Diet of Worms (see Worms, Diet of). Under the protection of the elector of Saxony, Luther took refuge in Wart- burg. There he translated the Bible into German; his superbly vigorous translation has long been regarded as the greatest landmark in the history of the German ianguage. He later returned to Wittenberg, and in 1525 he married the former nun Katherina von Bora, with whom he raised six children. Though his preaching was the principal spark that set off the Peasants' War (1524-25), his vehement denunciation of the peasants con¬ tributed to their defeat. His break with Rome led to the founding of the Lutheran Church (see Lutheranism); the Lutheran confession of faith or, Augsburg Confession, was produced with Luther’s sanction by Philipp Melanchthon in 1530. Luther’s writings included hymns, a liturgy, and many theological works.
Lutheranism Protestant movement founded on the principles of Mar¬ tin Luther. Lutheranism arose at the start of the Reformation, after Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses in Wittenberg. It spread through much of Ger¬ many and into Scandinavia, where it was established by law. It was brought to the New World by the colonists of New Netherland and New Sweden and spread through the U.S. Middle Atlantic states in the 18th century and the Midwest in the 19th century. Its doctrines are contained in the catechisms of Luther and in the Augsburg Confession. Lutheran doctrine emphasizes salvation by faith alone and the primacy of the Bible as the church’s authority. The Lutheran ministry is one of service—not special status—and is described as the priesthood of all believers. Luth¬ erans accept two sacraments (baptism and the Eucharist) and believe in predestination to salvation. The Lutheran World Federation is based in Geneva. See also Pietism.