World Biographical Encyclopedia

Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman was an English actor and director. He was best known for portraying memorable villains in films like Die Hard and the Harry Potter film series. He was also a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, performing in modern and classical theatre productions.

Florence Kelley

Florence Kelley was an American social and political reformer and the pioneer of the term Wage abolitionism.

Henry Fielding

Henry Fielding was an English writer and magistrate who established the mechanisms of the modern novel. He was one of the great novelists of the 18th century. His novels, in which the author himself tells the story and controls the plot structure, are considered the first accurate portrayal of contemporary manners.

Abu al-Biruni

Abu Rayhan al-Biruni was a Persian astronomer, mathematician, anthropologist, historian, and geographer. He lived during a period of unusual political turmoil in the eastern Islamic world. He served more than six different princes, all of whom were known for their bellicose activities and a good number of whom met their ends in violent deaths. Nevertheless, he managed to become one of the most or...

Joseph Story

Joseph Story was an American lawyer and jurist who served on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1811 to 1845. He is most remembered for his opinions in Martin v. Hunter's Lessee and The Amistad case, and especially for his magisterial Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, first published in 1833.

Omotola Ekeinde

Omotola Jalade Ekeinde is an actress, singer, and philanthropist from Lagos, Nigeria. Since her Nollywood film debut in 1995, she has appeared in an astounding 300 films, selling millions of video copies. After receiving numerous high-profile awards, launching a music career, and amassing an enviable fan base, the press has revered the Screen Nation 'Best Actress' as Africa's biggest star.

Gazanfar Khaligov

Gazanfar Khaligov was an Azerbaijani artist and cartoonist. He was an Honored Artist of the Azerbaijan SSR and People's Artist of the Azerbaijan SSR. He was also known as an outstanding artist and decorator of cinema and theater.

Pierre Proudhon

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was a French libertarian socialist and journalist whose doctrines became the basis for later radical and anarchist theory.

Gerardus Mercator

Gerardus Mercator was a Flemish cartographer, geographer and cosmographer.

Johann Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist of the Baroque Period. Although Bach sang, played several instruments and composed music, he is better known for his compositions on the organ. Some people consider his work to be the greatest organ music ever.

François L'Ouverture

Toussaint L'Ouverture or Toussaint Bréda was the best-known leader of the Haitian Revolution. His military and political acumen saved the gains of the first Black insurrection in November 1791. He first fought for the Spanish against the French; then for France against Spain and Britain; and finally, for Saint-Domingue (modern Haiti)'s colonial sovereignty against Napoleonic France.

Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber, in full Justin Drew Bieber, is a Grammy Award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter and a teen idol who lives in the United States. Releasing his first album at the age of 15, Justin Bieber has gone on to become one of the most talked about artists in recent times, both for good and bad reasons.

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist. He is one of the most influential singer-songwriters of the 20th century, known for songs that chronicle social and political issues.

Tyrone Power III

Tyrone Edmund Power III was an American film, stage and radio actor. From the 1930s to the 1950s Power appeared in dozens of films, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known films include The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan, Prince of Foxes, Witness For The Prosecution, The Black Rose, and Captain from Castile. Power's own favorite film among those that he star...

Gregg Allman

Gregg Allman was an American musician and singer-songwriter. He is remembered as a co-founder of the American rock band The Allman Brothers Band.

Francis Galton

Sir Francis Galton was an English scientist, biometrician, and explorer. He founded the science of eugenics and introduced the theory of the anticyclone in meteorology.