Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert, Marquis du
Lafayette
(1757–1834) French aristocrat who fought with the American colonists
against the British in the American War for Independence. After returning to
France, he became an important figure in the early French Revolution, but also
held prominent positions in subsequent French regimes.
("The Long Watch", The Star Beast)
Lagrange point
A position between Earth and the moon at which a body will remain
approximately at rest relative to the two larger bodies. Of the five Lagrange
points (L-1 through L-5), only the fourth and fifth are truly stable
(stationary). Positioning a satellite or station at one of these two points
enables it to stay relatively motionless above a specific location on Earth.
The Lagrange points are named after their discoverer, Italian-French
mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange (1736–1813).
(The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, Friday)
Lake Louise
Lake and tourist resort in Banff National Park in southwestern Alberta,
Canada. It is named for Princess Louise, the daughter of Queen Victoria and
wife of the Marquess of Lorne (governor-general of Canada, 1878–83).
(Beyond This Horizon)
Lake of the Woods
Canadian Lake on the provincial border between Ontario and Manitoba; the
southern shore of the lake abuts the United States border(North Dakota).
(Friday)
Lambs Club
Social/professional club for actors in New York City, founded in 1875.
Many of the notables of Broadway have been members.
(Double Star)
lapis lazuli
Semiprecious stone with a deep blue color. Most lapis lazuli comes from
mines in Badakhshan; northeastern Afghanistan; and Chile, where it is usually
pale rather than deep blue.
(Number of the Beast, Time Enough for Love)
Las Vegas
Seat of Clark county, southeastern Nevada, and the principle city in the
state. It is famous as a gambling resort and tourist destination. [Spanish,
"the meadows"]
(Friday)
Lawrenceville
Four-year private co-educational boarding and day school five miles south
of Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1810 as the Maidenhead Academy, in later
years it was renamed Lawrenceville Classical and Commercial High School; the
school was "refounded" in 1883 as The
Lawrenceville School. Originally for boys only, the school began admitting
girls in 1987.
("The Black Pits of Luna")
Lazarus
In the Gospel of John, a friend of Jesus whom Jesus restores to life four
days after his death, at the urgent pleas of Lazarus' sisters Mary and Martha.
(Methuselah's Children, The Number of the Beast, Time
Enough for Love, To Sail Beyond the Sunset)
Lorelei Lee
Character in the novel Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by American
novelist and Hollywood screenwriter Anita Loos. The novel became the basis of
a popular play, two musicals, and two films. The most famous portrayal of this
archetypal "dumb blonde" was by Marilyn Monroe in the 1953 film.
(Number of the Beast, Time Enough for Love)
Leda
In Greek myth, the daughter of Thestius, king of Aetolia, and wife of
Tyndareus, king of Lacedaemon. She was seduced by Zeus, who took the form of a
swan to approach her. She was the mother of Helen of Troy; Clytemnestra, the
wife of Agamemnon; and of the twins Castor and Pollux. In some variants of the
myth, Castor was the son of her husband, and Pollux was the son of Zeus.
(Farmer in the Sky)
"Légion Étrangère"
Branch of the regular Armed Forces of France that accepts foreigners from
any country in the world into its ranks. Founded by King Louis-Philippe
(1773–1850, reigned 1793–1830) to control French colonial possessions in
Africa, the legion established its headquarters at Sidi bel Abbès, Algeria.
Its forces have fought or been stationed in such places as Spain, the Crimea,
Italy, Mexico, Dahomey (now Benin), Morocco, Syria, and Indochina. The legion
has been romanticized as a means of escaping an unpleasant past and
establishing a new identity. [French, "foreign legion"]
(Starship Troopers)
Legion of Space
Novel written by Jack Williamson in the 1930s, which helped to define the
genre of space opera.
(The Number of the Beast)
Simon Legree
The brutal slave owner in Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel
Uncle Tom's Cabin. He has Tom whipped to death for refusing to betray
the hiding place of two runaway women. The name has become a byword for cruel
treatment of the people under one's authority.
(Time Enough for Love)
Leningrad
In 1924, the Russian city of St. Petersburg was renamed Leningrad in honor
of Vladimir Lenin, first premier of the Soviet Union. After the collapse of
the Soviet Union in 1991, the original name was restored. The surrounding
province is still called Leningrad.
(The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, The Moon Is a Harsh
Mistress)
Juan Ponce de León
(1460–1521) Spanish explorer who founded the first European settlement in
Puerto Rico (1508–9), and discovered Florida (1513) while searching for a
mythical fountain of youth.
(Glory Road, Tunnel in the Sky)
Lewis & Clark Expedition
First U.S. overland expedition to the Pacific coast and back, conducted
under the leadership of Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark.
They set out from St. Louis, Missouri, in 1804, traveled through North Dakota
and Montana to the mouth of the Columbia River in what is now Washington
State, and returned via the Marias, Yellowstone, and Missouri rivers to St.
Louis in 1806.
(Time for the Stars, To Sail Beyond the Sunset)
Lexington, Kentucky
City in north-central Kentucky, coextensive with Fayette County. Named in
1775 for the Battle of Lexington, Massachusetts, it was chartered by the
Virginia legislature in 1782.
(The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress)
Willy Ley
(1906–1969) German-born U.S. rocket scientist and writer. Ley founded the
German Society for Space Travel in 1927, and helped develop the liquid-fuel
rocket. He fled to the U.S.A. in 1935 rather than do weapons research for the
Nazi government. Unable to find financial support for rocket research, he
turned to writing about science from astronomy to zoology, and became widely
known as a popularizer of science.
(Beyond This Horizon, "It's Great to Be Back!", Rocket Ship
Galileo)
Leyte
Island in the Visayan group of the Philippines, east of Cebu and Bohol
across the Camotes Sea and southwest of Samar. The major cities are Ormoc and
the port of Tacloban. Leyte was the site of a World War II battle in 1944, in
which Allied forces expelled the Japanese from the island.
(Starship Troopers)
Libya
Country of North Africa on the Mediterranean Sea, bounded by Egypt (east),
Sudan (southeast), Niger and Chad (south), and Tunisia and Algeria (west). Its
capital is Banghazi (Benghazi) and its principal city is Tripoli (Tarabulus).
Most of its territory is within the Sahara.
(The Red Planet)
Trygve Halvdan Lie
(1896–1968) Norwegian politician and diplomat, the first Secretary General
of the United Nations (1946–52).
("The Long Watch", The Rolling Stones)
Abraham Lincoln
16th president of the United States (1861–65), who led the Union during
the American Civil War. His entire presidential tenure was taken up with the
Civil War, until his assassination in 1865 just days after the Confederacy
surrendered.
(Citizen of the Galaxy)
Hans Lippershey
(c. 1570 – c. 1619; also called Jan Lippersheim or Hans Lippersheim)
Spectacle maker from the Netherlands who is traditionally credited with
inventing the telescope.
(Double Star)
Walter Lippman
(1889–1974) U.S. newspaper columnist and author who, during a 60-year
career, was one of the most respected political commentators in the world. He
was a co-founder of the liberal magazine The New Republic and an
adviser to President Woodrow Wilson. His column in the New York Herald
Tribune was syndicated in more than 250 newspapers in the United States
and other nations, and won two Pulitzer Prizes (1958 and 1962).
(Stranger in a Strange Land)
Little America
Base in Antarctica for expeditions, located on the Ross Ice Shelf south of the Bay of Whales. Richard E. Byrd , a U.S. explorer, established and named Little America in 1929 and built bases on the same site in 1933-35, 1939-41, and 1946-48 for subsequent expeditions.
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Children's novel published in 1886 by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924),
about a young boy, Cedric Errol, whose widowed American mother brings him to
live with his irascible grandfather, a British nobleman who disinherited his
son for marrying an American. Cedric's innocence and charm gradually wins the
heart of his grandfather and the other people whom he and his mother meet in
their new life. The book was far more popular with parents who appreciated
Cedric's relentless goodness and golden curls far more than real-life children
would. Today, the name is sometimes used to describe an overly precious,
unnaturally well-behaved child.
(The Puppet Masters)
Liverpool
Seaport and industrial city in Lancashire, England, on the north shore of
the Mersey estuary a few miles from the Irish Sea. King John of England
granted a charter for the town in 1207.
(To Sail Beyond the Sunset)
Lochiel of Cameron
(1629–1719) Scottish Highland chieftain (from 1647 until his death) who
fought repeatedly for the Stuart cause. He was knighted by Charles II in
gratitude for his role in putting Charles on the throne of England. Following
the overthrow of James II by William of Orange and Mary II, Lochiel joined the
Jacobites, playing a key role in the 1689 victory over William's forces at
Killiecrankie Pass, Perthshire.
(Starship Troopers)
Lockheed Martin Corporation
The Lockheed Aircraft Company was founded in 1926 by Allan Loughead.
During World War II, Lockheed began a long association with the U.S. military;
after the war, the company re-entered the civilian market but continued
providing military craft. By the 1980s it was a major producer of rockets and
ballistic missiles. Lockheed merged with Martin-Marietta in 1995 to form
Lockheed Martin.
(Friday)
Locus
California-based magazine, owned by Charles N. Brown, that provides news
about the science fiction community and reviews of new publications.
(The Number of the Beast)
Loki
In Norse myth, a trickster-god who had the ability to change his shape and
sex. Although his father was the giant Fárbauti, he was included among the
Aesir (the tribe of gods). Loki is presented both as the companion of the
other gods, albeit an unpredictable one, and as their enemy; for example, he
caused the death of Balder.
(Job: A Comedy of Justice)
London
Capital of the United Kingdom, in England on the River Thames about 50
miles (80 km) upstream from the North Sea. The city was founded by the Romans
in the 1st century CE as Londinium, a military and trading base. Modern London
comprises this original territory, Southwark on the south bank of the Thames,
and Westminster upstream from London City.
(Between Planets)
London Times
One of Britain's oldest and most influential newspapers. It was Founded by
John Walter in 1785 as The Daily Universal Register, and renamed The
Times of London in 1788. It came to be seen as the epitome of the British
establishment.
(Double Star, "If This Goes On—", Tunnel in the Sky)
Huey Long
(1893–1935) Governor of Louisiana and U.S. Senator. His combination of a
populism, demagoguery, and autocracy made him popular with the voters, but
also gained him powerful enemies. He was assassinated by assassinated by Carl
Austin Weiss, whose father Long had attacked.
(Double Star)
R. A. Long Building
Office building constructed in the 1880s at Tenth and Grand Avenue in
Kansas City, Missouri. It was built by Adam and John Long, who owned Long
Brothers Grocery Company. It is now called the United Missouri Bank Building.
(Time Enough for Love)
Los Angeles, California
Seat of Los Angeles County in southern California. It was founded in 1781
by Spanish settlers who named it El Pueblo de la Reyna de los Angeles
(the Town of the Queen of the Angels). Its territory was annexed by the United
States in 1846.
("Blowups Happen", "The Man Who Sold the Moon", "The Roads Must Roll")
Los Angeles Daily News
Newspaper founded in 1911 as the Van Nuys Daily News. It was
purchased in 1998 by MediaNews Group Inc. and continues to be published as the
Los Angeles Daily News.
("Let There Be Light")
Howard Phillips Lovecraft
(1890–1937) American author of fantastic and macabre short novels and
stories, one of the 20th-century masters of the Gothic tale of terror. His
Cthulhu Mythos series of tales describe ordinary New Englanders' encounters
with horrific extraterrestrial beings. His works include The Case of
Charles Dexter Ward (1928), At the Mountains of Madness (1931), and
The Shadow Over Innsmouth (1936).
(The Number of the Beast)
Percival Lowell
(1855–1916) American astronomer who predicted the existence of the planet
Pluto from mathematical irregularities in the orbit of Uranus. Lowell's
interest in astronomy began in the 1890s when he decided to devote himself to
studying the planet Mars; he championed the theory that the lines observed
through telescopes on Mars' surface were canals built by long-dead intelligent
beings.
(Podkayne of Mars, The Red Planet, Space Cadet)
Lucifer
In Greek and Roman myth, the morning star (the planet Venus at dawn),
personified as a male figure bearing a torch. Lucifer was transformed in
Christian myth into the angel who led the rebellion against God, and was cast
into Hell and renamed Satan, Prince of Evil. [Latin, "light bearer"; from
Greek phosphorus or eosphorus]
(Job: A Comedy of Justice, The Rolling Stones, Space
Cadet)
Lyceum
Athenian school founded by Aristotle in 335 BCE. Its name has come to
refer to public lectures or discussions on educational topics.
Lyle
Lyle is the maiden name of Robert Heinlein's mother, Bam Lyle Heinlein.
Lysistrata
Comedy by the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes, in which the women of
Greece, tired of the endless fighting between the cities, refuse to have sex
with their husbands until the men end the war.
("Delilah and the Space Rigger", The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress)
The Heinlein
Society was founded by Virginia Heinlein on behalf of her husband, science
fiction author Robert Anson Heinlein, to "pay forward" the legacy of Robert A. Heinlein to future generations of "Heinlein's Children."
