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The Biography Portal

Biography (from the Greek words bíos (βίος), meaning 'life', and gráphein (γράφειν), meaning 'to write') is a genre of literature or film which presents a relatively full account of the most interesting and important events of a notable person's life. While a biography may focus on a fictional person, the term usually refers to non-fiction works. As opposed to summaries of people's lives, such as profiles or curriculum vitae, a biography is a continuous narrative which interprets and explains the person's character, personality, and social context.

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Featured biography

Sylvanus Morley (June 7, 1883 – September 2, 1948) was an American archaeologist, epigrapher and Mayanist scholar who made significant contributions towards the study of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization in the early 20th century. He is particularly noted for his extensive excavations of the Maya site of Chichen Itza. He also published several large compilations and treatises on Maya hieroglyphic writing, and wrote popular accounts on the Maya for a general audience. To his contemporaries he was one of the leading Mesoamerican archaeologists of his day; although more recent developments in the field have resulted in a re-evaluation of his theories and works, his publications (particularly on calendric inscriptions) are still cited. In his directorship of various projects sponsored by the Carnegie Institution he oversaw and encouraged a good many others who would go on to establish notable careers in their own right. Overall, his commitment and enthusiasm for Maya studies would generate the interest and win the necessary sponsorship and backing to finance projects which would ultimately reveal much about the Maya of former times. (read more please...)

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Selected portrait

McCoy Tyner (born December 11, 1938) is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is best known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet, playing with Coltrane, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones. His brother, Jarvis Tyner, was the Communist Party USA vice-presidential candidate in 1976. (read more...)

Photo credit: Gisle Hannemyr

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Did you know...

• ... that former Regimental Sergeant Major Harry Lapwood was known as having the loudest voice in the New Zealand House of Representatives?
• ... that in 1951, Bulgarian politician and exile G. M. Dimitrov helped found the first Bulgarian NATO company?
• ... that Edith Killgore Kirkpatrick published a short book of favorite songs titled Louisiana Let's Sing in honor of her husband Claude's unsuccessful candidacy for Governor of Louisiana in 1963?
• ... that canal engineer Hugh Henshall was both pupil of and brother-in-law to James Brindley, the famous canal architect of the Industrial Revolution?
• ... that it took Peter Steinfeld six and a half weeks to write the opening eleven pages of his first screenplay, Drowning Mona?

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See also: Biographies of living persons • Manual of Style (biographies)

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On this day - December 1

Births

• 1761 - Marie Tussaud, creator of wax sculptures (Madame Tussauds) (d. 1850)
• 1913 - Mary Martin, American actor and singer (d. 1990) (pictured)
• 1935 - Woody Allen, American film director, actor, and comedian
• 1935 - Lou Rawls, American singer (d. 2006)
• 1940 - Richard Pryor, American actor, comedian (d. 2005)
• 1945 - Bette Midler, American actress

Deaths

• 1135 - Henry I of England
• 1707 - Jeremiah Clarke, English composer (b. 1674)
• 1825 - Tsar Alexander I of Russia (b. 1777)
• 1973 - David Ben-Gurion, first Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1886)

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