Franz Kafka was an Austrian-Czech novelist and writer from Prague. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature; he wrote in German. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typically features isolated protagonists facing bizarre or surrealistic predicaments and incomprehensible socio-bureaucratic powers. It has been interpreted as exploring themes of alienation, existential anxiety, guilt, and absurdity. His best known works include the novella The Metamorphosis and the novels The Trial and The Castle. The term Kafkaesque has entered English to describe absurd situations like those depicted in his writing.
Gary Stanley Becker was an American economist who received the 1992 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He was a professor of economics and sociology at the University of Chicago, and was a leader of the third generation of the Chicago school of economics.
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until his death in 1916. In the early part of his reign, his realms and territories were referred to as the Austrian Empire, but were reconstituted as the dual monarchy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1867. From 1 May 1850 to 24 August 1866, he was also president of the German Confederation.
Steely Dan is an American rock band formed in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, in 1971 by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. Originally having a full band lineup, Becker and Fagen chose to stop playing live by the end of 1974 and continued Steely Dan as a studio-only duo, utilizing a revolving cast of session musicians. Rolling Stone has called them "the perfect musical antiheroes for the seventies".
Giacomo Meyerbeer was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Mozart and Wagner". With his 1831 opera Robert le diable and its successors, he gave the genre of grand opera 'decisive character'. Meyerbeer's grand opera style was achieved by his merging of German orchestra style with Italian vocal tradition. These were employed in the context of sensational and melodramatic libretti created by Eugène Scribe and were enhanced by the up-to-date theatre technology of the Paris Opéra. They set a standard that helped to maintain Paris as the opera capital of the nineteenth century.
Boris Franz Becker is a German former world No. 1 tennis player. Becker is the youngest-ever winner of the gentleman's singles Wimbledon Championships title, a feat he accomplished aged 17 in 1985. Becker is one of the greatest Tennis players of all time and was featured in the list of Tennis magazine's 40 greatest players of all time, on the magazine's 40th anniversary in 2006. He won 64 titles overall, including an Olympic gold medal in doubles in 1992. Becker won 49 singles and 15 doubles titles including six Grand Slam singles titles: three Wimbledon Championships, two Australian Opens and one US Open, 13 Masters titles, three year-end championships and leading Germany to back-to-back championship wins in Davis Cup 1988 and 1989.
Johann Franz Encke was a German astronomer. Among his activities, he worked on the calculation of the periods of comets and asteroids, measured the distance from the Earth to the Sun, and made observations of the planet Saturn.
Donald Jay Fagen is an American musician who was the co-founder, lead singer, co-songwriter, and keyboardist of the band Steely Dan, formed in the early 1970s with musical partner Walter Becker. In addition to his work with Steely Dan, Fagen has released four solo albums, beginning with The Nightfly in 1982, which was nominated for seven Grammys.
Walter Carl Becker was an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He was the co-founder, guitarist, bassist, and co-songwriter of the jazz rock band Steely Dan.
The Diocese of Wilmington is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory – or diocese, of the Catholic Church in the eastern United States. The diocese comprises the entire state of Delaware and the Eastern Shore Region of Maryland.
The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Paderborn is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Germany; its seat is Paderborn. It was a diocese from its foundation in 799 until 1802, and again from 1821 until 1930. In 1930, it was promoted to an archdiocese. From 1281 until 1802, the Bishopric of Paderborn was also a state of the Holy Roman Empire.
Benjamin Becker is a German former professional tennis player. He is most known for defeating former world No. 1 Andre Agassi in the third round at the 2006 US Open, in Agassi's last match as a professional player.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I.
Deportes Temuco is a Chilean football club based in Temuco, Araucanía Region. It currently plays in the Chilean Primera División B, holding home games at the new Estadio Municipal Germán Becker.
Becker Island is an island in Franz Josef Land, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russian Arctic.
Jakob Becker was a German artist noted mainly for his genre paintings of peasants.
Josef Kriehuber was an Austrian lithographer and painter, notable for the high quality of his lithographic portraits. A prolific yet meticulous artist, he made numerous portraits for nobility, well-known personalities, and government officials. Josef Kriehuber left more than 3000 lithographs, with portraits of many people including some of the most illustrious figures of mid-19th century Central Europe.
Johann Becker was a German lawyer and politician of the German People's Party. From January 1916 to November 1918 he served as finance minister of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. He was elected a member of the Weimar National Assembly in 1919. He continued to serve as a delegate in the Reichstag until 1930. In 1922/1923 he was Minister of Economics, under Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno, during the onset of hyperinflation.
Hermann Becker-Freyseng was a German physician, consultant for aviation medicine with the Luftwaffe and a convicted Nazi war criminal, who oversaw human experimentation on concentration camp prisoners. Becker-Freyseng was tried and convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Doctors' Trial in 1947; he was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, but his sentence was commuted to 10 years and he was released in 1952.
Max Joseph Becker was a Kingdom of Prussia-born American civil engineer who served as a railroad and civil engineer. He was president of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1889, and the president of the Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania in 1893.
