Portal:Biography

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Biography (from the Greek words bíos (βίος), meaning 'life', and gráphein (γράφειν), meaning 'to write') is a genre of literature or film which presents a relatively full account of the most interesting and important events of a notable person's life. While a biography may focus on a fictional person, the term usually refers to non-fiction works. As opposed to summaries of people's lives, such as profiles or curriculum vitae, a biography is a continuous narrative which interprets and explains the person's character, personality, and social context.

Featured biography

Shen Kuo or Shen Kua (Chinese: 沈括; pinyin: Shěn Kuò; Wade–Giles: Shen K'uo) (1031–1095), style name Cunzhong and pseudonym Mengqi Weng, was a polymathic Chinese scientist and statesman of the Song Dynasty (960–1279). Excelling in many fields of study and statecraft, he was a mathematician, astronomer, meteorologist, geologist, zoologist, botanist, pharmacologist, agronomist, archaeologist, ethnographer, cartographer, encyclopedist, general, diplomat, hydraulic engineer, inventor, academy chancellor, finance minister, governmental state inspector, poet, and musician. He was the head official for the Bureau of Astronomy in the Song court, as well as an Assistant Minister of Imperial Hospitality. At court his political allegiance was to the Reformist faction known as the New Policies Group, headed by Chancellor Wang Anshi (1021–1086). (Read more...)

Selected portrait

Albert Einstein (March 14, 1879 – April 18, 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, who is widely regarded as the greatest scientist of the 20th century. He proposed the theory of relativity and also made major contributions to the development of quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, and cosmology. He was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics for his explanation of the photoelectric effect in 1905 (his "miracle year"). (Read more...)

Photo credit: Oren Jack Turner, Source: Library of Congress.

Did you know...

• 
  ... that botanist Thomas Frederic Cheeseman (pictured) had a wide range of interests: he also described a few species of marine gastropods?
• ... former Regimental Sergeant Major Harry Lapwood was known as having the loudest voice in the New Zealand House of Representatives?
• ... that in 1951, Bulgarian politician and exile G. M. Dimitrov helped found the first Bulgarian NATO company?
• ... that Edith Killgore Kirkpatrick published a short book of favorite songs titled Louisiana Let's Sing in honor of her husband Claude's unsuccessful candidacy for Governor of Louisiana in 1963?
• ... that canal engineer Hugh Henshall was both pupil of and brother-in-law to James Brindley, the famous canal architect of the Industrial Revolution?
• ... that it took Peter Steinfeld six and a half weeks to write the opening eleven pages of his first screenplay, Drowning Mona?

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See also: Biographies of living persons • Manual of Style (biographies)

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On this day – September 5

Births

• 1638 - Louis XIV of France (d. 1715)
• 1888 - Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, second President of India (d. 1975)
• 1905 - Arthur Koestler, Hungarian writer (d. 1983)
• 1921 - Jack Valenti, American political advisor and film executive (d. 2007)
• 1939 - George Lazenby, Australian actor
• 1940 - Raquel Welch, American actress
• 1942 - Werner Herzog, German film director
• 1946 - Freddie Mercury, Zanzibar-born singer Queen (d. 1991)
• 1963 - Juan Alderete, American bassist (Racer X)
• 1973 - Rose McGowan, Italian-born actress

Deaths

• 1857 - Auguste Comte, French sociologist (b. 1798)
• 1902 - Rudolf Virchow, German pathologist and politician (b. 1821)
• 1988 - Gert Fröbe, German actor (b. 1913)
• 1997 - Mother Teresa, Albanian missionary and humanitarian, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1910)

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