City in North Dakota (USA).

(1694-1778) French writer and philospher; author of Candide; Also called: Francois-Marie Arouet.
Pen name of François-Marie Arouet (1694-1778) French writer, the embodiment of the 18th-century Enlightenment. He wrote histories, books of political analysis and philosophy, essays on science and literature, plays, poetry, and the satirical fable Candide 1759, his best-known work. A trenchant satirist of social and political evils, he was often forced to flee from his enemies and was twice imprisoned. His works include Lettres philosophiques sur les Anglais/Philosophical Letters on the English 1733 (essays in favor of English ways, thought, and political practice), Le Sičcle de Louis XIV/The Age of Louis XIV 1751, and Dictionnaire philosophique 1764.
Voltaire was born in Paris, the son of a notary, and used his pen name from 1718. He was twice imprisoned in the Bastille and exiled from Paris 1716–26 for libelous political verse. Oedipe/Oedipus, his first essay in tragedy, was staged 1718. While in England 1726–29 he dedicated an epic poem on Henry IV, La Henriade/The Henriade, to Queen Caroline, and on returning to France published the successful Histoire de Charles XII/History of Charles XII 1731, and produced the play Zaďre 1732.
He took refuge with his lover, the Marquise de Châtelet, at Cirey in Champagne, where he wrote the play Mérope 1743 and much of Le Sičcle de Louis XIV. Among his other works are histories of Peter the Great, Louis XV, and India; the satirical tale Zadig 1748; La Pucelle/The Maid 1755, on Joan of Arc; and the tragedy Irčne 1778. From 1751 to 1753 he stayed at the court of Frederick II (the Great) of Prussia, who had long been an admirer, but the association ended in deep enmity. From 1754 he established himself near Geneva, and after 1758 at Ferney, just across the French border.
His remains were transferred 1791 to the Panthéon in Paris.