Category: Biography
Armstrong, Neil Armstrong, Neil (1930), US astronaut. He got his first pilot’s licence at 16 and became a naval aviator in the Korean War. In 1955 he joined NASA …
Armstrong, Louis Armstrong, Louis (1900-71), Black US jazz musician and singer nicknamed Satchmo. He first played the cornet at the age of 14 in the Waifs’ Home in New …
Arkwright, Sir Richard Arkwright, Sir Richard (1732-92), British pioneer of mechanical spinning. In 1768 Arkwright designed a spinning frame, a machine capable of producing a cot-ton thread strong enough …
Aristotle Aristotle (384-322 BC), Greek philosopher and scientist. After studying under Plato, he became tutor to Alexander the Great. When Alexander became king of Macedonia in 336, Aristotle founded …
Aristophanes Aristophanes (448-380 BC), Greek comic dramatist. His 11 surviving plays combine satirical comment on politics and literature with lyrical poetry and comic invention. His Clouds (423) satirized Socrates, …
Ariosto, Ludovico Ariosto, Ludovico (1474-1533), Italian poet. He spent most of his adult life as a courtier in the service of the Estes, the ruling family in Ferrara. Although …
Archimedes Archimedes (287-212 BC), Greek mathematician amongst his inventions was a spiral pump for raising water, known as Archimedes’ screw, which is still used today. Best remembered for his …
Arafat, Yasser Arafat, Yasser (1929), Palestinian leader, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization since 1968. An engineer by training, Arafat helped to found the militant Palestinian group Al Fatah …
