Amsterdam (English /ˈæmstərdæm/; Dutch: [ˌɑmstərˈdɑm] ( listen)) is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The city's status as the capital of the nation is governed by the constitution. Amsterdam has a population of 790,654 within city limits, an urban population of 1,209,419 and a metropolitan population of 2,289,762. The city is located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country. It comprises the northern part of the Randstad, one of the larger conurbations in Europe, with a population of approximately 7 million.

Amsterdam's name is derived from Amstelredamme, indicative of the city's origin: a dam in the river Amstel. Settled as a small fishing village in the late 12th century, Amsterdam became one of the most important ports in the world during the Dutch Golden Age, a result of its innovative developments in trade. During that time, the city was the leading center for finance and diamonds. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the city expanded, and many new neighborhoods and suburbs were formed. The 17th-century canals of Amsterdam (in Dutch: 'Grachtengordel'), located in the heart of Amsterdam, were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in July 2010.

Emanuel Lasker (December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher who was World Chess Champion for 27 years. In his prime Lasker was one of the most dominant champions, and he is still generally regarded as one of the strongest players ever.

His contemporaries used to say that Lasker used a "psychological" approach to the game, and even that he sometimes deliberately played inferior moves to confuse opponents. Recent analysis, however, indicates that he was ahead of his time and used a more flexible approach than his contemporaries, which mystified many of them. Lasker knew the openings well but disagreed with many contemporary analyses. He published chess magazines and five chess books, but later players and commentators found it difficult to draw lessons from his methods.

Lasker made contributions to the development of other games. He was a first-class contract bridge player and wrote about bridge and other games, including Go and his own invention, Lasca. His books about games presented a problem which is still considered notable in the mathematical analysis of card games. Lasker was also a research mathematician who was known for his contributions to commutative algebra, which included proving the primary decomposition of the ideals of polynomial rings. On the other hand, his philosophical works and a drama that he co-authored received little attention.

Johann Hermann Bauer (June 30, 1861, Prague – April 5, 1891, Görz), was an Austrian chess master.

Born in Bohemia (then in the Austrian Empire), as a youth he settled in Vienna and won the master title at Frankfurt 1887 (the 5th DSB Congress, Hauptturnier A). His best tournament achievement was at Graz 1890 (+3 –0 =3) where he finished in 2nd place behind Gyula Makovetz and ahead of Emanuel Lasker and Georg Marco. In 1891 whilst playing in a double-round tournament at Vienna his health broke down when he was sharing the lead with Adolf Albin.

He won matches against Bernhard Fleissig (2 : 0) in 1890, and Albin (4 : 0) and Marco (3 : 1), both in 1891.

J.H. Bauer is known mainly for losing to Emanuel Lasker as a result of a brilliant double-bishop sacrifice at Amsterdam 1889.

He died of tuberculosis at the age of 29.

Johann, or Jean, Hermann (December 31, 1738 in Barr, Alsace - October 4, 1800 in Strasbourg) was a French physician and naturalist. He was professor of medicine at the University of Strasbourg. He was the author of Tabula affinitatum animalium (1783) and Observationes zoologicae quibus novae complures, published posthumously in 1804. His zoological collection was bought by the city of Strasbourg in 1804 and served as the base for the Strasbourg zoological Museum.

Hermann's name survives most famously through Hermann's Tortoise.

Hermann Bauer (22 July 1875—11 February 1958) was a German naval officer who served as commander of the U-boat forces of the Kaiserliche Marine during World War I. In addition to his World War I career, Bauer is well known as the author of the book Das Unterseeboot, a treatise on the design and operation of U-boats, which was later translated into English by Hyman G. Rickover. Rickover's translation became a basic text for the US submarine service.

Bauer joined the Kaiserliche Marine as a cadet in April 1892, completing his basic training aboard the sailing frigate SMS Stosch, before attending the Naval Academy in 1892-1893. He continued his training on the ship SMS Moltke and the cruiser SMS Deutschland. After a second period of study at the Naval Academy in 1894-1895 Bauer was promoted to Unterleutnant zur See on 15 September 1895 and subsequently served on the battleship SMS Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm.

In 1897 Bauer served on the frigate SMS Preußen before transferring to the light cruiser SMS Prinzeß Wilhelm as a deck officer. On 12 April 1899 he was promoted to Leutnant zur See and then served as watch officer on the torpedo training ship SMS Blucher. From October 1900 to September 1903, he served as a company officer, deck officer, first officer, and then the commander of the II. Torpedo-Abteilung ("2nd Torpedo Division"). Bauer served for more than a year as commander of the II. Torpedo-Abteilung, and was simultaneously commander of Torpedodivisionsbootes D9, Flag Lieutenant of II. Torpedobootsflottille, and Flag Lieutenant and commander of the torpedo boat S125. On 1 April 1904 he was promoted to Kapitänleutnant.