(b. March 26, 1874, San Francisco, Calif., U.S.-d. Jan. 29, 1963, Boston, Mass.) The American poet Robert Frost was much admired for his depictions of the rural life of New England, his command of American colloquial speech, and his realistic verse portraying ordinary people in everyday situations. Frost attended Dartmouth College and continued to labour […]
(b. July 12, 1904, Parral, Chile-d. Sept. 23, 1973, Santiago) Pablo Neruda, a Chilean poet, diplomat, and politician, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. He was perhaps the most important Latin American poet of the 20th century. Born Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto, Neruda began to write poetry at age 10. His father
(b. July 21, 1899, Cicero [now in Oak Park], Ill., U.S.-d. July 2, 1961, Ketchum, Idaho) Ernest Hemingway, an American novelist and shortstory writer, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. He was noted both for the intense masculinity of his writing and for his adventurous and widely publicized life. His succinct and
(b. Sept. 4, 1908, near Natchez, Miss., U.S.-d. Nov. 28, 1960, Paris, France) The novelist and short-story writer Richard Wright was among the first black American writers to protest white treatment of blacks, notably in his novel Native Son (1940) and his autobiography, Black Boy (1945). He inaugurated the tradition of protest explored by other
(b. Aug. 19, 1883, Saumur, France-d. Jan. 10, 1971, Paris) The French fashion designer Coco Chanel ruled over Parisian haute couture for almost six decades. Her elegantly casual designs inspired women of fashion to abandon the complicated, uncomfortable clothes-such as petticoats and corsets-that were prevalent in 19thcentury dress. Among her now-classic innovations were the Chanel
(b. Nov. 22, 1943, Long Beach, Calif., U.S.) The American athlete and tennis player Billie Jean King (née Billie Jean Moffitt) is noteworthy for having elevated the status of women’s professional tennis through her influence and playing style, beginning in the late 1960s. In her career she won 39 major titles, competing in both singles
(b. July 25, 1920, London, Eng.-d. April 16, 1958, London) The British scientist Rosalind Franklin was an unacknowledged contributor to the discovery of the molecular structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), a constituent of chromosomes that serves to encode genetic information. Rosalind Elsie Franklin attended St. Paul’s Girls’ School before studying physical chemistry at Newnham College,
(fl. 14th century BCE) Nefertiti, also called Neferneferuaten-Nefertiti. was the queen of Egypt and wife of King Akhenaton (formerly Amenhotep IV; reigned c. 1353–36 BCE ), and she played a prominent role in the cult of the sun god (Aton, or Aten) that he established. Nefertiti’s parentage is unrecorded, but, as her name translates as
(b. May 3, 1898, Kiev [Ukraine]-d. Dec. 8, 1978, Jerusalem, Israel) Golda Meir was one of the founders of the State of Israel and its fourth prime minister (1969–74). Born Goldie Mabovitch, Meir and her family immigrated to Milwaukee, Wis., in 1906. She attended the Milwaukee Normal School (now the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) and later
(b. June 21, 1947, Hamadan, Iran) For her efforts to promote democracy and human rights, especially those of women and children in Iran, Shirin Ebadi received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2003. She was the first Muslim woman and the first Iranian to receive the award. Ebadi was born into an educated Iranian family;