Lefort, François Jacob, Russian officer, born in Geneva, son of a merchant; after serving in France and Holland, in 1675 entered the service and gained the favour of Peter the Great, organised the army on the French model, laid the foundation of a navy, and died commander-in-chief both of the land forces and the navy (1656‒1699).
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Leeuwenhoek, Anton van * Left, The