All Biography Page 4
-
Gutenberg
Lived from 1400-1468 While Joan of Arc was busy rescuing France from the English, another wonderful worker was busy in Germany. This was John Gutenberg, who was born in Mainz. The Germans--and most other people--think that he was the inv... Harun-al-Rashid
Caliph from 786-809 A.D. The most celebrated of all Mohammedan caliphs was Harun-al-Rashid, which means, in English, Aaron the Just. Harun is the hero of several of the stories of the "Arabian Nights," a famous book, which perhaps you have... Henry Cavendish
It would not be easy to mention two men between whom there was a greater contrast, both in respect of their characters and lives, than that which existed between Benjamin Franklin and the Honourable Henry Cavendish. The former of humble birth, but... Henry the Fowler
King from 919-936 A.D. About a hundred years had passed since the death of Charlemagne, and his great empire had fallen to pieces. Seven kings ruled where he had once been sole emperor. West of the Rhine, where the Germans lived, the las... Henry the Second
1154-1189 and His Sons 1189-1216 In 1154, while Barbarossa was reigning in Germany, Henry II, one of England's greatest monarchs, came to the throne. Henry was the son of Geoffrey Plantagenet (Plan-tag'-e-net), Count of Anjou in France, and Mat... Henry V
King from 1413-1422 Of all the kings that England ever had Henry V was perhaps the greatest favorite among the people. They liked him because he was handsome and brave and, above all, because he conquered France. In his youth, Prince Hal... HONORE DE BALZAC AND EVELINA HANSKA
I remember once, when editing an elaborate work on literature, that the publisher called me into his private office. After the door was closed, he spoke in tones of suppressed emotion. "Why is it," said he, "that you have such a lack of proporti... Horace Greeley
Among the hills of New Hampshire, in a lonely, unpainted house, Horace Greeley was born, Feb. 3, 1811, the third of seven children. His father was a plain farmer, hard-working, yet not very successful, but aided by a wife of uncommon energy and go... James Clerk Maxwell
The story of the life of James Clerk Maxwell has been told so recently by the able pen of his lifelong friend, Professor Lewis Campbell, that it is unnecessary, in the few pages which now remain to us, to attempt to give a repetition of the tale w... James Watt
The history of inventors is generally the same old struggle with poverty. Sir Richard Arkwright, the youngest of thirteen children, with no education, a barber, shaving in a cellar for a penny to each customer, dies worth two and one-half million ... Jean Paul Richter
Vasari, who wrote the lives of the Italian painters, truly said, "It is not by sleeping, but by working, waking, and laboring continually, that proficiency is attained and reputation acquired." This was emphatically true of Richter, as it is of ev... Joan of Arc
Lived from 1412-1431 In the long wars between the French and English not even the Black Prince or King Henry V gained such fame as did a young French peasant girl, Joan of Arc. She was born in the little village of Domrémy (dom-re-me'). ... John James Audubon
The problem why certain men and women come to eminence, and why others, with apparently as much ability, remain forever in obscurity, is an interesting one to solve. Most persons desire fame; most persons desire wealth; but, for one reason or a... John Sebastian Bach
(1685-1750) THE CHILD MUSICIAN Long ago, in a little German town, lived a jolly old miller. From morning till night he sang about his work, for he loved music dearly. He had learned to play upon the lute, which is an instrument with string... Joseph Henry Lld
On Thursday evening, January 16, 1879, a large company gathered in the hall of the House of Representatives at Washington. They came to honor the memory of one of our greatest in science, since Franklin,--Joseph Henry, the Secretary of the Smit...