Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) was a Scottish writer and physician, educated at the University of Edinburgh. He introduced Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson in A Study in Scarlet (1887), beginning one of the most influential detective series in literature.

Doyle wrote far beyond the Holmes stories, producing historical novels such as The White Company, adventure fiction featuring Professor Challenger, plays, essays, and accounts of military history. He also worked as a doctor in South Africa during the Boer War and was knighted in 1902.

Although Sherlock Holmes made him famous, Doyle regarded himself as a wide-ranging man of letters. In his later years, he became deeply interested in spiritualism and wrote extensively on the subject.