| People (Page 1) | |
| Lin Yutang (1895-1976) | |
| Lin Yü-t'ang, but commonly written as Lin Yutang, he was a Chinese author and philosopher. Editor of several English-language journals and in 1932; founded Lun-yü pan-yüeh-kan - the first Western-style satirical magazine in China; invented of the Chinese indexing system and was a collaborator in the official romanization plan. Lived chiefly in the US (from 1936). Authored in Chinese and English of novels, critical and satirical essays, plays, short stories, works on philosophy and history, translations etc. Major works include My Country and My People (1936), The Importance of Living (1937), Moment in Peking (1939), With Love and Irony (1940), A Leaf in the Storm (1941), Chinatown Family (1948), Lady Wu (1956), etc. | |
| Confucius (551-479 B.C.) | |
| K'ung Ch'iu, literary name Chung -ni, called K'ung Fu-tzu (or Master Kung), latinized as Confucius. A chinese philosopher, who dedicated his life to achieving reform in the government; failing to secure an official post for himself, he turned to teaching, gathering groups of intelligent disciples whom he trained in literature, music, human relations and above all ethics; taught that rulers exist to secure the happiness of the subjects, that family provides the model for all human relations. He briefly help a post in the native state of Lu, but with no authority; enjoyed considerable success in placing his students in positions of power. Became in time the most revered person in Chinese history, and though he taught no system or religion, the eponym of a rich and complex philosophy and of a state cult of Confucianism. Wrote no surviving works, but many are traditionally attributed to him, and a great many more are traditionally called Confucian Classics. | |
| Colette, Sidonie-Gabrielle (1873-1954) | |
| French writer, who wrote four "Claudine novels" published by first husband under his pseudonym "Willy": Claudine à l'école (1900), Claudine à Paris (1901), Claudine en ménage (1902), Claudine e'en va (1903); briefly a hall music performer. Subsequently wrote novels of extreme sensitivity, including La Retraite sentimentale (1907), L'Ingénue libertine (1909), La Vagabonde (1910), L'Envers du music-hall (1913), Mitsou (1916), Chérie (1920), La Maison de Claudine (1922), Le Blé en herbe (1923), La Fin de Chérie (1926), La Naissance du jour (1928), Sido (1930), La Chatte (1933), Duo (1934), Bellavista (1937), Le Tontonnier (1939), Le Képi (1943), Gigi (1944); wrote volumes of memoirs as Mes apprentissages (1936), L'Étoile vesper (1947), Le Fanal bleu (1949). | |
| Isadora Duncan (1878-1927) | |
| American dancer, born San Francisco. Under patronage of Mrs. Patrick Campbell, aroused enthusiasm in London and Paris, Vienna and Budapest. Established school of dancing for children at Grünewald near Berlin (1904). Was invited to Russia in 1921 and opened school in Moscow; married Sergey Yesenin in 1922. Wrote her autobiography, My Life (1926-27). Killed in an automobile accident. | |
| Kahlil Gibran (or Jibran) (1883-1931) | |
| In full Jubrãn Kahlil Jubrãn. Syrian poet, novelist, essayist and artist. Resident in New York City from 1922 onwards; a founder of the Pen League (1920). Was influenced by William Blake, Nietzsche, the Bible; wrote in Arabic and in English. His works, usually deeply religious and mystical in nature, included 'Arã'-is al-murüj (1910, Nymphs of the Valley), Dam'a wa ibtisãmah (1914, A Tear and a Smile), The Madman (1918), The Forerunner (1920), al-Ajnihah a-mutakassirah (1922, Broken Wings), The Prophet (1923), al-Awasif (1923, The Storms), Sand and Foam (1926), Jesus, the Son of Man (1928). | |
| George Horace Lorimer (1867-1937) | |
| American editor, born in Louisville. Kentucky Editor in chief of The Saturday Evening Post (1899-1936); president (1923-34), chairman (from 1934), Curtis Publishing Co; Author of Letters from a Self-made Merchant to his Son (1902), Old Gordon Graham (1904), Etc. | |
| Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) | |
| American clergyman and reformer. Born in Atlanta, Ga. Ordained Baptist minister (1954); led boycott of Montgomery, Ala. transit system to force desegregation of city's buses (1956); founder (1957) and president of Southern Christian Leadership Conference; advocate of nonviolence and racial brotherhood; copaster with his father of Ebenezer Baptist Church< Atlanta (1960 onwards); major organiser of massive March on Washington where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech (Aug. 1963); awarded Nobel peace prize in 1964; assasinated at Memphis, Tenn. | |
| Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) | |
| American inventor and educator, born in Edinburg, Scotland. Assistant to father at University (1868-70); to Canada (1870) and the U.S. (1871) as teacher of father's visible speech system; opened school for training teachers of the deaf, Boston (1872). Experimented with electrical and accoustical devices; invented telegraph multiplexing system (patented in 1875); produced first intelligent transmission of voice (June 3, 1875) to assistant Thomas A. Watson; patented telephone (1876); successfully defended patent against Elisha Gray's claims and others. In 1877, With Gardiner G. Hubbard and others, formed the Bell Telephone Co. Moved to Washington, D.C. in 1879; naturalised in 1882. In 1880, established Volta Laboratory, where experiments led to photophone, audiometer, improvements in phonograph, induction balance for locating metallic objects in bodies etc. Founded journal Science in 1883, the American Association to Promote Teaching of Speech to the Deaf in 1890; and the Aerial Experiment Association in 1907. Served as the President of the National Geographic Society (1896-1904). | |
| Albert Einstein (1879-1955) | |
| American physicist, born in Germany. Naturalised Swiss at the age of 15, Professor Zürich (1909-11, 1912-14), Deutsche University, Prague (1911-12); invited to Berlin by Prussian Academy of Sciences, adopted German citizenship, and became professor, University of Berlin (1914). Director, Kaiser Wilhelm Physical Institute, Berlin (1914). Went to the U.S. in 1933; member of the Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton (1933-55); became naturalised American citizen in 1940. Enunciated theory of relativity, publishing account of special theory of relativity in 1905 and of general theory in 1916, papers on a unified field of theory which sought to include in a single mathematical formula the laws of electromagnetism and gravitation (1929); explained Brownian movement and gave formula for it; deduced influence of gravity on propagation of light; discovered and formulated equivalence of mass and energy; developed law of photoelectric effect to explain transformation of light quanta. Awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics. Author of The Meaning of Relativity (1923), Builders of the Universe (1932), Why War? (with Sigmund Freud 1933), The World As I See It (1934) and Out of My Later Years (1950). | |
| Walter Elias Disney (1901-1966) | |
| American film producer, born in Chicago. Creator of animated cartoons featuring Oswald the Rabbit, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, etc. ; Produced the first full-length animated film with sound Steamboat Willie (1928); also produced Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937); Pinocchio (1940); Fantasia (1940); Dumbo (1941); Cinderella (1950); Alice in Wonderland (1951); Peter Pan (1953), etc. Also made a few nature films, including Seal Island (1948); The Living Desert (1953); built Disneyland amusement park, California and Disney World, Florida. | |
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