film director and screenwriterBorn: 8/6/1970Birthplace: Tamil-Nadu, India Shyamalan was a virtual unknown when The Sixth Sense arrived in movie theaters in 1999. The film, starring Bruce Willis and…
George W. Bush's secretary of Agriculture Veneman brings vast experience to Bush's cabinet, having served as President Bush's deputy secretary of agriculture for international affairs and…
director, screenwriter, actorBorn: 10/23/1959Birthplace: Royal Oak, Michigan This creative director has won a cult following for his campy horror films Evil Dead (1983), Evil Dead 2 (1987), Darkman…
Born: 1933Birthplace: Tarentum, Pa. Implantable defibrillator—Heilman, Langer, Mower, and Mirowski: This team of doctors developed the implantable defibrillator, an internal electronic device that…
Born: 1921Birthplace: Stoughton, Mass Medical respirators—Bird developed the first highly reliable, low-cost mass-produced respirator in the world. His “Babybird ” respirator reduced infant…
cartoonistBorn: 11/26/1922Birthplace: Minneapolis, Minnesota Cartoonist who created “Peanuts,” the most commercially successful syndicated comic strip of all time. Charlie Brown, piano-playing…
(Encyclopedia) Rhys, JeanRhys, Jeanrēs [key], pseud. of Ella Gwendoline Rees Williams, 1894–1979, English novelist, b. Dominica. Her novels written in the 1930s mercilessly exploit her own emotional…
(Encyclopedia) Ingelow, JeanIngelow, Jeanĭnˈjəlō [key], 1820–97, English author. Her poems are characterized by religious introspection and an intimate knowledge of nature. Among her best-known poems…
restaurant ownerDied: January 7, 2008 (Paris, France) Best Known as: owner and director of Taillevent restaurant in Paris Owner of the famous Taillevent…
(Jean-Claude Van Varenberg)actorBorn: 10/18/1960Birthplace: Berchem-Sainte Agathe, Belgium As a teenager, Van Damme won the European Professional Karate Association's middleweight championship. He…