S. E. Hinton's young adult novels are among the best-selling books of all time and continue to be popular with adolescent readers a generation after she wrote them. Her books, especially The Outsiders (1967), continue to be assigned readin...

S. J. Perelman (1904-1979) was probably the funniest American writer of the 20th century. He was a master of word-play and a cultural parodist without equal. S. J. Perelman was once described in these graphic terms: Under a forehead roughl...

The pH scale, invented by Soren Peter Lauritz Sorensen, "has become so much a part of scientific literature and its influence so important a factor in considering biological problems that one wonders how theories of acidity and alkalinity ...

Since his first novel was published in 1985, S. M. Stirling has established himself as an author adept at writing along the broad generic spectrum that includes science fiction and fantasy. With significant works in fantasy, military scien...

The Persian poet Sa'di (ca. 1200-ca. 1291) was the author of the classic literary works Bustan (translated as The Orchard) and Gulistan (translated as The Rose Garden). Moralistic books that contain teachings and stories on love, religion,...

The Jewish mystic and pseudo-Messiah Sabbatai Zevi (1626-1676), or Sebi, was the founder of the Sabbatean sect. Sabbatai Zevi was born in Smyrna (modern Izmir), Turkey, of Spanish-Jewish parentage. At an early age he adopted the mysticism ...

Of the many books by Sabine Baring-Gould, only six are collections of short fiction, not counting his volumes of fairy tales and other stories for children. He wrote far more novels (around thirty-five) and more than twenty guide books and...

In the early 1800s, Sacajawea (1784-1812) accompanied Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their historical expedition from St. Louis, Missouri, to the Pacific Ocean. Sacajawea is responsible in large part for the success of the expeditio...

The varied phases of Gottfried Wilhelm Sacer's life as a preceptor and later as a lawyer in the service of the duchy of Brunswick, Lüneburg, and Wolfenbüttel were accompanied by many-sided literary ambitions. His religious poetry...

The Pulitzer Prize, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, and a Tony--any play which sweeps the three most coveted awards for a given Broadway season secures for its creator a place in twentieth-century theatre history. Such a coup was ...

International civil servant Sadako Ogata (born 1927) was chosen to serve as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 1991. On December 21, 1990, Professor Sadako Ogata was called from her post as dean of the Faculty of Foreign ...

A Victorian woman writer whose voluminous fiction has escaped canonization, Mary Anne Sadlier was famous in her day for didactic, sentimental romances promoting the causes of Catholicism and Irish culture in North America. Henry J. Morgan ...

Nina Sadur began her career as a playwright. During the latter years of perestroika Sadur's plays were circulated and staged initially at small studio theaters before they were added to the repertoire of more-established theaters. Her play...

John Saffin was not only a prominent lawyer and statesman but also a noteworthy poet of New England. The amazing breadth of his interests and the impressive versatility of his style have prompted some critics to insist on his being placed ...

Jim Sagel writes about the Chicanos of northern New Mexico's Española Valley. He sees his writing as an attempt to portray their lives--particularly their language--with realistic accuracy. In an unpublished 1985 interview Sagel sai...

Ruth Sager devoted her career to the study and teaching of genetics. She conducted groundbreaking research in chromosomal theory, disproving nineteenth-century Austrian botanist Gregor Johann Mendel's once-prevalent law of inheritance --a ...

Hans Sahl--poet, novelist, critic, and translator--is one of the many writers who had to wrest their works from the devastating experience of persecution, exile, and isolation. Though his career did not flourish in America as it might have...

Seyyid Said (1790-1856) was the energetic and resourceful sultan of Oman who transferred his capital from Arabia to Zanzibar, where he initiated clove production and greatly expanded the East African slave trade. Seyyid Said became sultan ...

The man known as Saigy (also called En'i late in life) was born the son of the samurai Sat Yasukiyo in 1118, at a time when government was in the hands of Retired Emperor Shirakawa and the imperial court was still relatively strong and pro...

Anthony of Padua (1195-1231), a Franciscan friar, was a remarkable theologian and preacher. He became the first theology teacher in the Franciscan order and is referred to as "Doctor of the Church." Anthony was canonized less than a year a...

St. Cajetan (1480-1547), who was born Gaetano da Thiene, was one of the earliest Italian Catholic reformers of the 16th century. He was a cofounder of the Clerks Regular, a religious order popularly known as the Theatines. Cajetan was born...

Saint David (c. 520-c. 601) is the patron saint of doves, poets, and Wales. One source calls him "perhaps the most celebrated of British saints." Another gives him credit for evangelizing much of Wales. The body of information available ab...

At about the same time that Gerbert d'Aurillac, the future Pope Sylvester II, was working through Boethius's Consolatio with the young emperor Otto III, Notker III was laboring over the same text across the Alps in Saint Gall, providing hi...

The fame achieved by Roman Catholic saint, Nicholas of Myra (died 345 AD) has continued to grow since his imprisonment and subsequent death at the hands of the Roman Emperor, Diocletian. The much-loved figure that we associate with the Chr...

St. Peter (died ca. 65) is traditionally considered to be the head of Jesus' 12 Apostles and the first bishop of Rome. Peter's original name was Simon, Peter being a name given him by Jesus. At the time of Jesus' public life, Peter was a g...