Sunita Williams Indian-American astronaut Sunita Lyn Williams (41) returned to earth from International Space Station after six months (a record 195-day) stay in space on June 23, 2007 at 0119 hrs 1st. She surpassed the 188-, day, 4 hours mark set by US astronaut Shannon Lucid in 1996 on a mission to the Russian Mir space station. The Atlantis-the 118th shuttle mission and 21st mission to visit the space station landed...

J.K. Rowling (1965) J.K. Rowling is a well – known British author of children’s books. Rowling was born in Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire, and educated a Whedean Comporehensive School and Exeter University. After she graduated from Exeter University , she found work as a secretary, and later spent time teaching English in Portugal before moving to Edinburgh, Scotland, with her daughter. She currently resides in Scotland with her husband and two...

F. Cooper (1789 – 1851) F. Cooper was born at Burlington, New jersey, September 15, 1789. His father was a person of ability, who served the public as judge and as member of Congress. Cooper made a few voyages to perfect himself in seamanship. Having obtained a commission as lieutenant, he married, and resigning his commission in 1811, entered upon a life of literary labour. He settled at Westchester, where, in...

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 – 1882) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was the most popular American poet of the 19th century, whose works are still cited – or parodied. Among his most remembered works are Evangeline (1847), The Song Of Hiawatha (1855) and The Courtship of Miles Standish (1858). Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born on February 27, 1807, in Portland, Maine. His father, Stephen Longfellow, was a Portland lawyer and congressman, and mother...

Henry Vaughan   (1622 – 1695) Henry Vaughan, was one of the English metaphysical poets. He was born into a middle-class Welsh family in Breconshire. In 1638, he went to Jesus College, Oxford, with his brother Thomas, who later achieved fame as an alchemist. Henry left Oxford in 1640 without taking a degree, and spent two years in London studying law He was recalled home when the Civil War broke out,...

Henry James (1843 1916) James was an American-born writer, gifted with talents in literature, psychology and philosophy. James wrote 20 novels, 112 stories, 12 plays and a number of works of literary criticism. He was born on April 15, 1843 in New York City into a wealthy family. In his youth James travelled back and forth between Europe and America. He studied with tutors in Geneva, London, Paris, Bologna and Bonn....

Helen Keller (1880 – 1968) The story of Helen Keller is the story or a normal child who, at the age of 18 months, was suddenly shut off from the world but, against overwhelming odds, waged a slow, hard but successful battle to re-enter that same world. The child grew into a highly intelligent and sensitive woman who wrote, spoke and laboured incessantly for the betterment of others. Helen was born...

Hector Hugh Munro (1870 – 1916) Hector Hugh Munro was born in Akyab, Burma ‘(now Myanmar), the son of Charles Augustus Munro, an inspector-general in the Burma police. Munro’s mother, the former Mary Frances Mercer, died in 1872. Munro was brought up in England with his brother and sister by aunts who frequently used the birch and whip. He was educated at Pencarwick School in Exmouth and Bedford Grammar School. From...