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Portal:Biography/Did you know

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< Portal:Biography

Did you know 1

Portal:Biography/Did you know/1

... that American frontier doctor Charles Boarman (pictured), a founding member of the Society of California Pioneers, died fighting a smallpox epidemic in Amador County, California?
... that Tomás Menéndez Márquez was abducted from his ranch by pirates and rescued by Native Americans?
... that in 2007, Frederic Hauge appeared on Time magazine's list of "Heroes of the Environment"?
... that Isa ibn Shaykh al-Shaybani ruled a short-lived bedouin state in Palestine, governed Armenia for the Abbasids, and finally became ruler of Diyar Bakr, where he was succeeded by his son Ahmad?
... that almost all kings of Hungary after 1046 descended from Michael, the second son of Grand Prince Taksony?
... that Japanese surrealist gothic horror author Yumeno Kyūsaku dropped dead due to a cerebral hemorrhage while at an autograph signing party hosted by his publisher?
... that William Cantelo invented an early machine gun, then mysteriously disappeared?

Did you know 2

Portal:Biography/Did you know/2

... that French artist Maximilien Luce (self-portrait pictured) published an album of lithographs documenting his experiences as a political prisoner?
... that Diego García de Moguer was a 16th-century pioneer in exploring the Paraná River, as well as the Sierra de la Plata of the Río de la Plata?
... that between 1955 and 1960, Hassan Mamoun issued 11,992 fatwas ("edicts"), more than any other Egyptian grand mufti?
... that botanist Reidar Jørgensen was a national champion in middle-distance running?
... that sisters Ada and Andrine Hegerberg scored one goal each when the Norwegian team won 2–1 against Canada in the 2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup?
... that Mark Sutton portrayed a skydiving James Bond during the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics?
... that although he was expelled by the Jesuit order for supporting the ordination of women, William R. Callahan insisted he was just "following the example of Jesus, who was never willing to shut up"?

Did you know 3

Portal:Biography/Did you know/3

... that actress Shangguan Yunzhu (pictured) was said to have had an affair with Mao Zedong, for which she was persecuted during the Cultural Revolution, leading to her suicide?
... that Munir Hussain was the first to introduce Urdu commentary to cricket?
... that Israeli golfer Laetitia Beck won her first Israeli Ladies Championship at the age of 12?
... that at the 2012 Olympics, Kayla Harrison became the first American to win a gold medal in judo?
... that an alleged first cousin of the King of Spain, Alfonso de Bourbon, was killed by a truck while dumpster diving?
... that Lawrence H. Johnston was the only man to witness the Trinity nuclear test, the bombing of Hiroshima, and the bombing of Nagasaki?
... that as education minister, Abd al-Wahhab Hawmad launched the largest foreign scholarship program in Syrian history, sending 300 students to study abroad at Western universities?

Did you know 4

Portal:Biography/Did you know/4

... that Dave Gunness (pictured) designed concert loudspeakers used by Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Iron Maiden, Pearl Jam, Usher, and Snoop Dogg?
... that former Israeli politician and Speaker of the Knesset Shlomo Hillel was in charge of an underground ammunition factory disguised as a laundry facility during the British Mandate of Palestine?
... that Hasan ibn Zayd, the founder of the Zaydid emirate of Tabaristan, was succeeded by his brother Muhammad, who lost it to the Samanids?
... that Thomas Jefferson Ramsdell built the opera house where James Earl Jones started his career?
... that British physiologist Mabel Purefoy FitzGerald attended Oxford before women were granted degrees and 75 years later received an honorary master's when she was 100 years old?
... that Fredrik Magnus Piper introduced the English landscape garden to Sweden?
... that although Kosta Manojlović was instrumental in the establishment of the Belgrade Music Academy, serving as its first rector, he was forced to retire from it for political reasons?

Did you know 5

Portal:Biography/Did you know/5

... that at the age of 23, Helge André Njåstad (pictured) became Norway's youngest mayor?
... that Imtiaz Ali Taj was a 20th-century Urdu dramatist who wrote Anarkali, the romance behind the 1960 Indian feature film Mughal-e-Azam?
... that HIV/AIDS activist Spencer Cox designed a clinical trial that resulted in the approval of a protease inhibitor?
... that Beatrice Hicks, the founding president of the Society of Women Engineers, created a device that made the moon landings possible?
... that in the 1946 Wimbledon Championships Polish tennis champion Ignacy Tłoczyński was declared stateless by the People's Republic of Poland because of his Allied affiliations in World War II?
... that offensive tackles Mitchell Schwartz and Geoff Schwartz are the first Jewish brothers to play in the National Football League since Arnold Horween and Ralph Horween, in 1923?
... that Mexican journalist Rodolfo Rincón Taracena was kidnapped, tortured, and burned to death for writing about drug trafficking?

Did you know 6

Portal:Biography/Did you know/6

... that Admiral Eduard von Capelle (pictured) was responsible for writing the legislation that funded the battleships of the German High Seas Fleet before World War I?
... that Cornelia Adair, during World War I, invited Belgian refugees to stay at her Glenveagh Castle in County Donegal, Ireland?
... that Ervin Marton, an internationally known Hungarian photographer based in Paris, was part of the French Resistance during World War II?
... that Bulla Felix was a legendary bandit who mocked and eluded Imperial Roman authorities for years, until betrayed by a lover and condemned to the beasts in the arena?
... that author and anti-globalization advocate Tim Costello started his writing career in the back of his truck while traveling as a long-haul truck driver?
... that King Stephen of England threatened to hang Roger le Poer, his ex-Lord Chancellor, in order to force Roger's mother to surrender the castle she held?
... that Yang Kyoungjong was a Korean soldier who was drafted into the Japanese, Soviet and German armies, and captured by US soldiers in Normandy on D-Day?

Did you know 7

Portal:Biography/Did you know/7

... that on 12 December 2009, Kaiane Aldorino (pictured) became the first Miss World from Gibraltar?
... that Francis Amasa Walker was brevetted a Brigadier General in the Union Army at the age of 24 and placed in charge of the 1870 United States Census at 29?
... that paintings by Finnish artist Ilona Harima were influenced by the cultures of India and Tibet but she never visited either country?
... that the Tswana ruler and rainmaker Sechele I, denounced for polygamy by David Livingstone, was one of the most successful Christian missionaries of the 19th century?
... that Henry Hallowell Farquhar, the leading scorer on the first Michigan Wolverines basketball team in 1909, became a professor at Harvard Business School?
... that American, Belgian and British soldiers attended the funeral of Walter Waddington, along with an entire French cavalry brigade?
... that Jacques Legrand, a former translator at the French embassies in Mongolia and China, has studied the anthropology of Mongolian pastoralism?

Did you know 8

Portal:Biography/Did you know/8

... that Filipina TV host Daphne Oseña-Paez (pictured) got her big break by waiting for a network executive in the ABS-CBN parking lot to show him a TV program that she filmed, shot, and edited herself?
... that Abdulai Silá is the author of the first novel to be written and published in Guinea-Bissau?
... that Elizabeth Howe was one of nineteen people found guilty of practicing witchcraft and executed in the Salem witch trials?
... that college football coach Mike Pecarovich, appeared in several movies with Bing Crosby and was an acclaimed public speaker who some compared to Knute Rockne?
... that Thepchai Yong won an International Press Freedom Award for reporting on Thailand's Black May uprising despite military pressure to censor coverage?
... that American philosopher John Arthur helped organize a lawsuit against the state of Tennessee to address racial segregation in the higher education system?
... that singer-pianist Rosie Vanier, whose musical style has been described as "Kate Bush on crack with Goldfrapp on synths", grew up in Bodmin Moor without electricity and TV?

Did you know 9

Portal:Biography/Did you know/9

... that European welterweight champion Johnny Basham (pictured) faced a manslaughter charge after killing an opponent in a boxing match?
... that Gioachino Rossini's opera Tancredi premiered in 1813 at Teatro La Fenice in Venice with Adelaide Malanotte performing in the title role?
... that Canadian painter Lorne Kidd Smith designed a poster for Canada's Victory Loan campaign and worked in the art department at General Motors?
... that Valerie Bettis was the first modern dance choreographer to work with a major ballet company?
... that the life of Wenlock Christison, who was condemned to death for being a Quaker while in Massachusetts Bay Colony by Governor John Endicott, was spared by King Charles II?
... that Cuban journalist Yndamiro Restano Díaz was reportedly released from prison at the request of Danielle Mitterand, the wife of the former President of France?
... that Adelbert Theodor Wangemann recorded the voice of Helmuth von Moltke in 1890, the only known recording of someone born in the 18th century?

Did you know 10

Portal:Biography/Did you know/10

... that Kentucky native Morton M. McCarver (pictured) helped found Burlington, Iowa, and Linnton, Oregon, before helping draft the California Constitution and founding Tacoma, Washington?
... that George Bazeley, Mark Paterson, Liam de Young, Tim Deavin and Andrew Charter moved to Perth so they could train with the Australia men's national field hockey team?
... that Janja Kantakouzenos was executed together with his two brothers, four sons, and twelve grandchildren?
... that the Beirut-based actor and visual artist Rabih Mroué had to premiere a piece in Tokyo because it was banned at home?
... that Ali al-Sulayhi, originally an Ismaili missionary, brought all of Yemen under the control of his Sulayhid dynasty before capturing Mecca in 1063?
... that Sanusi Pane has been called the most important Indonesian dramatist prior to the national revolution?
... that Itō Chūta was the leading architect of early twentieth-century Imperial Japan?

Did you know 11

Portal:Biography/Did you know/11

... that combat medic David B. Bleak (pictured) was awarded the Medal of Honor in the Korean War after killing five Chinese soldiers, four using only his hands?
... that Indonesian writer Clara Ng was reportedly able to read The Adventures of Tintin by kindergarten?
... that Elmer Stricklett is considered to have been the first baseball pitcher to master the spitball?
... that U.S. Air Force weather officer J. Murray Mitchell investigated the Arctic haze and became an eminent climatologist commemorated by the Mitchell Glacier?
... that Alexis Bachelot, who led the first Catholic mission to Hawaii, was suspected of being a covert agent of the French government by some Hawaiian chiefs?
... that Olympic athlete Arthur Keily ran over 130 miles (210 km) a week to train for marathons?
... that after the death of François de Pâris in 1727, many people reported miracle cures through convulsions by consuming the earth around his grave?

Did you know 12

Portal:Biography/Did you know/12

... that child actress Nozomi Ōhashi (pictured), who sang the theme song for the 2008 film Ponyo, started acting when she was just three years old?
... that pioneering ecologist William Gardner Smith only became active in the field after the sudden death of his brother Robert, who had left an unfinished manuscript that William completed?
... that Florence Violet McKenzie, Australia's first female electrical engineer, taught Morse code to thousands of sailors free of charge?
... that Hieronim Ossoliński, a 16th-century Polish politician who helped to unite Poland and Lithuania, also wanted to establish a Protestant national church?
... that part of the financing for the first published work by Romanian communist activist Mihail Roller reportedly came from Baptists?
... that Amanda Clement was the first woman paid to umpire a baseball game?
... that John Knox's journals provide one of the most complete accounts of the British Army's campaigns in North America from 1757 to 1760?

Did you know 13

Portal:Biography/Did you know/13

... that Prince Antasari (pictured), who led a war against Dutch colonists for over three years, was ultimately defeated by smallpox?
... that Tonya Butler, while playing for the University of West Alabama under head coach Randy Pippin, became the first female to score a field goal in an NCAA college football game?
... that the partitioning of the state of Jin, during the reign of Duke Chu, is often considered the start of China's Warring States period?
... that Shlomo Moussaieff owns rare gemstones worth millions of dollars, including a flawless blue diamond and the world's largest known red diamond?
... that baseball pitcher Darin Downs had to regain the ability to speak after being hit in the head by a batted ball?
... that in 2013, Singaporean politician Desmond Lim set a new record for the lowest percentage garnered in an election since the independence of Singapore in 1965?
... that due to his role in the national uprising, Bahraini human rights activist Mohammed al-Maskati received a number of death threats?

Did you know 14

Portal:Biography/Did you know/14

... that, six years after shocking the public with his primitivist paintings in 1910, Ion Theodorescu-Sion (self portrait pictured) was employed to depict the Romanian Armed Forces in action?
... that Yan Gomes is the first Brazilian-born player to appear in Major League Baseball?
... that German anarchist Johannes Holzmann edited twenty-five issues of the journal Der Kampf, but eleven of them were banned?
... that Duke Zhuang II of Qi ascended the throne with the help of minister Cui Zhu, but was later killed by Cui for having an affair with his wife?
... that Yaakov Yosef Herman manufactured and sold kosher wine out of his home throughout the Prohibition era with the approval of a New York City judge?
... that Shirley Reilly, winner of the women's wheelchair race at the 2012 Boston Marathon, has Inupiat heritage?
... that Herbert Olivecrona brought neurosurgery to Sweden and later became the namesake of the so-called "Nobel Prize of Neurosurgery"?

Did you know 15

Portal:Biography/Did you know/15

... that U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe Charles A. Ray (pictured) was the first person to serve as U.S. Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam?
... that the La Follette family opposed Glenn Frank's nomination for the University of Wisconsin presidency, appointed the Regents that removed him, and held the Senate seat he later sought?
... that Steve Lazarides was the agent for graffiti artist Banksy and is credited with creating the popularity of urban art in the 2000s?
... that Alexander Purdie's Virginia Gazette was the first American newspaper to publish the complete full text of the United States Declaration of Independence?
... that in 1996, Edo Ronchi became the first Green politician to hold a cabinet post in Italy?
... that 2012 Paralympic wheelchair basketball player Alejandro Zarzuela Beltran has a twin brother who plays in the same sport and a father who represented Spain at the 2008 Paralympics in archery?
... that Late Gothic architect Benedikt Rejt rebuilt parts of Prague Castle and built the vault for St. Barbara's Church in Kutná Hora?

Did you know 16

Portal:Biography/Did you know/16

... that Jean Thurel (pictured) was a soldier in the French Régiment de Touraine for more than 90 years?
... that military historian Lars Borgersrud's research includes taboo subjects like the fate of war children and Norwegian military officers with Nazi sympathies prior to and during World War II?
... that the farming of celery was first introduced to the United States by George Taylor in 1856?
... that Louisiana Sheriff Henderson Jordan sought to keep the death car of Bonnie and Clyde to compensate the officers who in 1934 risked their lives to capture the fugitives?
... that Thado Dhamma Yaza II, Viceroy of Prome in the 1500s, fought in nearly every military campaign of his brother King Bayinnaung, and helped to expand and defend the Toungoo Empire?
... that Donald S. Nesti clashed with the Tamburitzans as president of Duquesne University?
... that Geoffrey Prime worked for eleven years at GCHQ, and was only discovered to be a Soviet spy after his arrest in 1982 for the indecent assault of young girls?

Did you know 17

Portal:Biography/Did you know/17

... that Madmen in the Yard, a drawing by the Croatian painter Ignjat Job (pictured), was influenced by his two-year stay in a mental hospital?
... that USMC Lieutenant General Henry Louis Larsen was Governor of American Samoa and Governor of Guam after his father-in-law and brother-in-law were each Governor of Colorado?
... that detailed drawings by French explorer Louis Delaporte guided the reconstruction of Pha That Luang, a major Buddhist temple in Laos?
... that although Norma Lyon studied animal science at Iowa State University, she ended up sculpting butter at state fairs?
... that Tom Paton, a member of the Montreal hockey club, was the first goaltender to win the Stanley Cup in 1893?
... that after the Ottoman general Turahanoğlu Ömer Bey wiped out one of Dracula's armies in 1462, he deposited 2,000 severed heads at the feet of Sultan Mehmed II?
... that the hasty marriage of Thomas Thynne of Longleat may have helped to inspire Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet?

Did you know 18

Portal:Biography/Did you know/18

... that after assassinating a former warlord, Shi Jianqiao (pictured) distributed pamphlets explaining her deed?
... that although Gabrielle Matthaei did the majority of the work in determining the role of temperature in photosynthesis, the biochemical reactions are named after Frederick Blackman?
... that Kyeong Kang was the first South Korean to be selected in the Major League Baseball Draft?
... that in 1865 Manuel Antonio Caro became the first Chilean student to attend the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris?
... that John Gatins, the Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of Flight, got into scriptwriting when a fellow Vassar graduate offered him $1,000 to pen a screenplay?
... that Sister Jackie Hudson served six months in prison for painting "Christ lives, Disarm" on the side of a bunker?
... that with the Romanian Revolution of 1989, Alexandru Bârlădeanu went from house arrest to Senate President within a few months?

Did you know 19

Portal:Biography/Did you know/19

... that prolific food writer and reality TV judge Mary Berry's first job was to visit consumers' homes to show them how to use their own electric cookers?
... that Indonesian director Wim Umboh, who won nine Citra Awards, began his career in the film industry as a janitor?
... that Eduardo Iturrizaga became Venezuela's first and only chess grandmaster, at the age of 19?
... that Tsholofelo Thipe, who represented South Africa in the 400 metres at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, failed drug tests in 2012 due to her contraceptive?
... that Dr. Fred Conklin received the Legion of Merit for setting up a mobile hospital in New Caledonia and later presented a medal to John F. Kennedy for heroism on the PT 109?
... that Sean Hughes MP got Scottish MPs to give him their free tickets to the 1986 English FA Cup Final so his constituents could watch the Everton–Liverpool Merseyside derby?
... that Pulney Andy was the first Indian to receive a British medical degree when he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of St. Andrews in 1860?

Did you know 20

Portal:Biography/Did you know/20

... that when Bulgarian politician Rayko Daskalov (pictured) was released from prison in 1918 with the task of stopping a soldiers' uprising, he went on to take charge of the rebellion instead?
... that Swiss-born U.S. soldier Rudolph Stauffer was one of 22 Medal of Honor winners from Lieutenant Colonel George Crook's 1872–73 "winter campaign" against renegade Apaches in the Arizona Territory?
... that Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer William M. Gallagher once commandeered a police helicopter to cover a story?
... that N. D. Cocea's republican activism in the Kingdom of Romania involved fabricating rumors about a peasant revolt, supporting Soviet Russia, and being tried for lèse majesté?
... that the state of Maryland labeled Dominican nun Carol Gilbert as a terrorist?
... that Niqmepa was installed as King of Ugarit, an ancient city-state in northwest Syria, by Hittite king Mursili II, who had forced his brother, Arhalba, to abdicate?
... that with over 40,000 citations in scientific literature, Polish-American polymer chemist Krzysztof Matyjaszewski is one of the most cited chemists in the world?

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