personal account
Francis Harry Compton Crick was a British molecular biologist, biophysicist and neuroscientist. He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1962.
During World War II he had to work on developments for the military, and in 1947 he turned to biology at the Strangeways Research Laboratory, University of Cambridge. In 1949 he moved to the University Medical Research Council at Cavendish Laboratories. Using X-ray diffraction studies of DNA by biophysicist Maurice Wilkins (1916-2004) and X-ray diffraction images taken by Rosalind Franklin, biophysicist James Watson and Crick were able to construct a molecular model consistent with the known physical and chemical properties of DNA.
This achievement became a cornerstone of genetics and was regarded as one of the most important discoveries of 20th century biology. In 1962, Francis Crick, along with James Watson and Maurice Wilkins, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for determining the molecular structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the chemical ultimately responsible for the hereditary control of life functions.
From 1977 until the end of his life, Crick served as professor emeritus at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, California, where he conducted research on the neurological basis of consciousness. He also wrote several books. In 1991, Francis Crick received the Order of Merit.
Mark Twain, real name Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was an American humanist writer, journalist, and social activist.
As a young man, Samuel worked in the printing press and in the gold mines, then went on a steamboat trip to Europe and the "Holy Land". His travel letters, full of vivid descriptions and ironic observations, were very well received by the public and were later revised into his first book, Innocents Abroad, published in 1869.
The pseudonym "Mark Twain" first appeared in 1863 under one of Samuel Clemens' short stories, and since then all his significant works have been signed by that name.
A talented storyteller, a peculiar humorist and moralist, Twain knew and loved his many diverse characters. His scandalizers and dreamers, caring aunts and ambitious politicians, grumpy widows and lying aristocrats, cunning but generous slaves, sentimental moralists, brave and naive children - all these types of American people Twain gave voice to thanks to his masterful command of colloquial language, slang and jargon. Twain wrote a lot and in a variety of genres: humor and satire, philosophical fiction and journalism and others, but he always stood on the position of humanist and democrat.
Mark Twain became world famous for his travel stories and adventure novels about his childhood, these are "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (1876) and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (1885). Twain is still one of America's, and indeed the world's, best and most beloved writers. His works have been and are still being published in many languages around the world.
Ulysses S. Grant, born Hiram Ulysses Grant, was an American politician and military leader who was the 18th President of the United States (March 4, 1869 - March 4, 1877).
Grant's father was a tanner and enrolled his son in the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Ulysses Grant distinguished himself in the Mexican-American War, then fought in the Civil War, was a brigadier general, and was given command of the District of Southeast Missouri. In March, 1864, Grant became lieutenant general and was given command of all the armies of the United States. In 1866, he was promoted to the newly established rank of general in the U.S. Army.
Grant continued as commander-in-chief after Lincoln's assassination and during the administration of U.S. President Andrew Johnson. However, the situation was such that Ulysses Grant won the next presidential election and became the 18th President of the United States on March 4, 1869. He was politically inexperienced and personally clean, but his time as president was marked by corruption and scandals. During his two presidential terms, Grant worked hard to re-unite the North and South, opposing the nascent Ku Klux Klan.
In 1877, after leaving the presidency, Grant traveled around the world with his wife, and everywhere he was received with glee. Then his attempts at business led to complete bankruptcy. Ulysses Grant spent the last years of his life writing his memoirs while battling poverty and throat cancer. With the help of writer Mark Twain, his two-volume work was published in 1885, two months before the author's death.
Nathaniel Hawthorne is an American writer and author.
Hawthorne is a recognized short story writer and a master of allegorical and symbolic narrative. One of the first fiction writers in American literature, he is best known for his works The Scarlet Letter (1850) and The House of Seven Gables (1851). Hawthorne's artistic works are considered part of the American Romantic movement and, in particular, of so-called dark Romanticism, a popular mid-19th-century fascination with the irrational, the demonic, and the grotesque.
Herman Melville was an American writer, poet, and sailor.
Melville's hardship-filled youth ended on a whaling ship. He returned from his adventures in the South Seas in October 1844, and wrote "Taipi" the following spring. The book was based on the events surrounding Melville's desertion from the whaling ship Acushnet in 1842 and subsequent adventures in the Marquesas Islands.
Melville wrote several other novels and short stories and many poems, but during his lifetime his works were little appreciated by his contemporaries. Only in the 1920s began to rethink Melville, and he was recognized as a classic of world literature. World fame Melville already in the 20th century brought irrational novel "Moby Dick".
Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, (sometimes called Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann), was a French furniture designer and interior decorator, who was one of the most important figures in the Art Deco movement. His furniture featured sleek designs, expensive and exotic materials and extremely fine craftsmanship, and became a symbol of the luxury and modernity of Art Deco. It also produced a reaction from other designers and architects, such as Le Corbusier, who called for simpler, functional furniture.
Richard Henry Dana Jr. was an American lawyer, politician, and writer, and a prominent abolitionist.
His father was the Romantic poet and critic Richard Henry Dana Sr. (1787-1879). Richard Jr. did not finish his studies at Harvard College and went to California as a sailor. Two years later, having gained a wealth of experience, he completed his studies and became head of the American bar, an expert on maritime law and an advocate for the rights of merchant seamen.
In 1840, Dana published his autobiographical book Two Years to the Mast, which immediately gained wide popularity. Dana's description of his voyage to California, which was virtually unknown to Americans at the time, became the best contemporary description of the territory captured by the United States just a few years later. He describes the lives of sailors in the ports and their work processing hides on the coast, and pays close attention to the daily lives of the peoples of California, including Hispanics, Native Americans, and Europeans.
In 1841, Dana published The Seafarer's Friend, which became the standard reference book on the legal rights and responsibilities of seamen. He defended many ordinary seamen in court. Despite vigorous opposition, Dana provided free legal aid to blacks as well. Both as a writer and a lawyer, he was a defender of the oppressed, from sailors to runaway slaves and freedmen.
He was U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts from 1861 to 1866 and a member of the Massachusetts legislature from 1867 to 1868.
Diego Giacometti was a Swiss sculptor and designer, and the younger brother of the sculptor Alberto Giacometti.
Herman Melville was an American writer, poet, and sailor.
Melville's hardship-filled youth ended on a whaling ship. He returned from his adventures in the South Seas in October 1844, and wrote "Taipi" the following spring. The book was based on the events surrounding Melville's desertion from the whaling ship Acushnet in 1842 and subsequent adventures in the Marquesas Islands.
Melville wrote several other novels and short stories and many poems, but during his lifetime his works were little appreciated by his contemporaries. Only in the 1920s began to rethink Melville, and he was recognized as a classic of world literature. World fame Melville already in the 20th century brought irrational novel "Moby Dick".