Arthur Conan Doyle

Born on May 22, 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a writer and physician best known for his detective stories featuring the character Sherlock Holmes. He was educated at Stonyhurst College and the University of Edinburgh, where he studied medicine. After he graduated, he worked as a ship's doctor and later set up an unsuccessful practice in Plymouth, England. He wrote fiction in his free time, and in 1886, he published his first Sherlock Holmes story, "A Study in Scarlet," in The Strand Magazine. The story was an immediate success, and Doyle went on to write many more stories featuring Holmes and his sidekick, Dr. John Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are considered some of the greatest works of crime fiction of all time and have been widely adapted for stage, film, and television. Beyond the popular Sherlock Holmes series, Doyle was also a prolific writer of science fiction, fantasy, and historical novels, as well as plays, poems, and romances. In addition to his writing career, he was an avid supporter of social and political causes, including the rights of prisoners and the promotion of the British Empire. In his later years, Doyle became an increasingly devout follower of spiritualism, likely influenced by the death of many of his loved ones in the first two decades of the 20th century. He died on July 7, 1930, at the age of 71.