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François Pelletier
François Pelletier was a French illusionist, famed in his time for his use of magnets as an entertainment basis for his act. His reputation was such that he was invited to perform at the court of Maria Theresa of Austria at Schönbrunn Palace in 1769. His act inspired the construction of the purported chess-playing automaton The Turk, following observation of the performance by the Hungarian Wolfgang von Kempelen. References ''Correspondance littéraire, philosophique et critique'', January 1770, pp. 444-5."Optique" in ''Nouvelles de la république des lettres et des arts'', 31 July 1782, pp. 231-2.François Pelletier, ''Hommage aux amateurs des arts, ou Mémoire contenant un détail abrégé d'inventions utiles et agréables dans la mécanique, l'optique'', Saint-Germain-en-Laye chez l'auteur, 1782.''Mémoires secrets'', 12 juin 1783."Course" in ''Journal de Paris'', 23 December 1785, p. 1477.* Luc-Vincent Thiéry, ''Guide des amateurs et des étrangers voyageurs à Paris'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magnet
A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, cobalt, etc. and attracts or repels other magnets. A permanent magnet is an object made from a material that is magnetized and creates its own persistent magnetic field. An everyday example is a refrigerator magnet used to hold notes on a refrigerator door. Materials that can be magnetized, which are also the ones that are strongly attracted to a magnet, are called ferromagnetic (or ferrimagnetic). These include the elements iron, nickel and cobalt and their alloys, some alloys of rare-earth metals, and some naturally occurring minerals such as lodestone. Although ferromagnetic (and ferrimagnetic) materials are the only ones attracted to a magnet strongly enough to be commonly considered magnetic, all other substances respond weakly to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maria Theresa Of Austria
Maria Theresa (Maria Theresia Walburga Amalia Christina; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was the ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position in her own right. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Transylvania, Slavonia, Mantua, Milan, Moravia, Galicia and Lodomeria, Dalmatia, Austrian Netherlands, Carinthia, Carniola, Gorizia and Gradisca, Austrian Silesia, Tyrol, Styria and Parma. By marriage, she was Duchess of Lorraine, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, and Holy Roman Empress. Through her aunt, Charlotte Christine Sophie, she was cousins with Peter II of Russia, and through her other aunt Antoinette, Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, she was cousins with Elisabeth Christine, Queen of Prussia, the wife of Frederick the Great, and was also cousins with Duke Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick, the husband of Ivan VI’s regent, Sophie, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saafeld and Queen Juliana Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schönbrunn Palace
Schönbrunn Palace (Austrian German, German: Schloss Schönbrunn ) was the main summer residence of the House of Habsburg, Habsburg rulers, located in Hietzing, the 13th district of Vienna. The name ''Schönbrunn'' (meaning "beautiful spring") has its roots in an artesian well from which water was consumed by the court. The 1,441-room Baroque architecture, Baroque palace is one of the most important architectural, cultural, and historic monuments in the country. The history of the palace and its vast gardens spans over 300 years, reflecting the changing tastes, interests, and aspirations of successive Habsburg monarchs. It has been a major tourist attraction since the mid-1950s. History In 1569, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian II purchased a large floodplain of the Wien River, Wien river beneath a hill, situated between Meidling and Hietzing. The former owner, in 1548, had erected a mansion called ''Katterburg''. The emperor ordered the area t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chess
Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arranged in an 8×8 grid. The players, referred to as White and Black in chess, "White" and "Black", each control sixteen Chess piece, pieces: one king (chess), king, one queen (chess), queen, two rook (chess), rooks, two bishop (chess), bishops, two knight (chess), knights, and eight pawn (chess), pawns, with each type of piece having a different pattern of movement. An enemy piece may be captured (removed from the board) by moving one's own piece onto the square it occupies. The object of the game is to "checkmate" (threaten with inescapable capture) the enemy king. There are also several ways a game can end in a draw (chess), draw. The recorded history of chess goes back to at least the emergence of chaturanga—also thought to be an ancesto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Automaton
An automaton (; : automata or automatons) is a relatively self-operating machine, or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions. Some automata, such as bellstrikers in mechanical clocks, are designed to give the illusion to the casual observer that they are operating under their own power or will, like a mechanical robot. The term has long been commonly associated with automated puppets that resemble moving humans or animals, built to impress and/or to entertain people. Animatronics are a modern type of automata with electronics, often used for the portrayal of characters or creatures in films and in theme park attractions. Etymology The word ' is the latinization of the Ancient Greek (), which means "acting of one's own will". It was first used by Homer to describe an automatic door opening, or automatic movement of wheeled tripods. It is more often used to describe non-electronic moving machines, e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mechanical Turk
The Mechanical Turk, also known as the Automaton Chess Player (, ; ), or simply The Turk, was a fraudulent chess-playing Chess engine, machine constructed in 1770, which appeared to be able to play a strong game of chess against a human opponent. For 84 years, it was exhibited on tours by various owners as an automaton. The machine survived and continued giving occasional exhibitions until 1854, when a fire swept through the museum where it was kept, destroying the machine. Afterwards, articles were published by a son of the machine's owner revealing its secrets to the public: that it was an elaborate hoax, suspected by some, but never proven in public while it still existed.See Schaffer, Simon (1999), "Enlightened Automata", in Clark et al. (Eds), ''The Sciences in Enlightened Europe'', Chicago and London, The University of Chicago Press, pp. 126–165. Constructed and unveiled in 1770 by Wolfgang von Kempelen (1734–1804) to impress Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, the mech ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hungarian People
Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common culture, language and history. They also have a notable presence in former parts of the Kingdom of Hungary. The Hungarian language belongs to the Ugric branch of the Uralic language family, alongside the Khanty and Mansi languages. There are an estimated 14.5 million ethnic Hungarians and their descendants worldwide, of whom 9.6 million live in today's Hungary. About 2 million Hungarians live in areas that were part of the Kingdom of Hungary before the Treaty of Trianon in 1920 and are now parts of Hungary's seven neighbouring countries, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Austria. In addition, significant groups of people with Hungarian ancestry live in various other parts of the world, most of them in the United States, Canada, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Chile, Brazil, Australia, and Argentina, and therefore constitute the Hungarian diaspora (). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wolfgang Von Kempelen
Johann Wolfgang Ritter von Kempelen de Pázmánd (; 23 January 1734 – 26 March 1804) was a Hungarian author, engineer, and inventor, known for his chess-playing "automaton" hoax The Turk and for his speaking machine. Personal life Von Kempelen was born in Pressburg (today's Bratislava, Slovakia), then capital city of the Kingdom of Hungary within the Habsburg Empire, the last child of Engelbert Kempelen (1680–1761), and Anna Theresa Spindler. Contrary to some reports, he did not hold the title of "Ritter" or "Baron." This misconception may stem from historical confusion with one of his older brothers, Johannes Nepomuk Joseph, who attained the rank of general within the Habsburg Empire, and who was granted the title ''Kempelen von Pázmánd'' after purchasing a former Jesuit estate in Pázmánd, a village south of Budapest. Von Kempelen studied law and philosophy in Pressburg, and attended the Academy in Győr, Vienna and Rome, but mathematics and physics also intereste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive with a respective county. The city is the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the United States by both population and urban area. New York is a global center of finance and commerce, culture, technology, entertainment and media, academics, and scientific output, the arts and fashion, and, as home to the headquarters of the United Nations, international diplomacy. With an estimated population in 2024 of 8,478,072 distributed over , the city is the most densely populated major city in the United States. New York City has more than double the population of Los Angeles, the nation's second-most populous city. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jefferson, North Carolina
Jefferson is a town in and the county seat of Ashe County, North Carolina, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 1,622. History The North Carolina General Assembly created a special commission in 1799 to found a county seat for Ashe County. The commission purchased of land to form the town of Jeffersonton, later named Jefferson. It is one of the first towns in the nation to bear the name of Thomas Jefferson, who was the vice president of the United States in 1799. The Ashe County Courthouse and Poe Fish Weir are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Geography Jefferson is located in the Appalachian Mountains. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which , or 0.20%, is water. The New River, which is part of the Ohio River watershed and one of the oldest and most scenic rivers in the eastern United States, flows through the town. Climate Due to its high elevation, Jefferson has a subtropical highland c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Magicians
French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), a British rock band * "French" (episode), a live-action episode of ''The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!'' * ''Française'' (film), a 2008 film * French Stewart (born 1964), American actor Other uses * French (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * French (tunic), a type of military jacket or tunic * French's, an American brand of mustard condiment * French (catheter scale), a unit of measurement * French Defence, a chess opening * French kiss, a type of kiss See also * France (other) * Franch, a surname * French Revolution (other) * French River (other), several rivers and other places * Frenching (other) * Justice French (other) Justice French may refer to: * C. G. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Year Of Birth Missing
A year is a unit of time based on how long it takes the Earth to orbit the Sun. In scientific use, the tropical year (approximately 365 solar days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45 seconds) and the sidereal year (about 20 minutes longer) are more exact. The modern calendar year, as reckoned according to the Gregorian calendar, approximates the tropical year by using a system of leap years. The term 'year' is also used to indicate other periods of roughly similar duration, such as the lunar year (a roughly 354-day cycle of twelve of the Moon's phasessee lunar calendar), as well as periods loosely associated with the calendar or astronomical year, such as the seasonal year, the fiscal year, the academic year, etc. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by changes in weather, the hours of daylight, and, consequently, vegetation and soil fertility. In temperate and subpolar regions around the planet, four seasons are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
