Illustrator and graphic novelist P. Craig Russell has blended a love of classical opera with artwork noted for its lush line, attention to detail, and classical themes to create graphic-novel adaptations of musical works ranging from The M...

Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810-1891), America's greatest showman of the 19th century, instructed and amused a nation with his museum and later his circus. Speaking of his youth, P. T. Barnum said, "I was always ready to concoct fun, or lay pl...

Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) was perhaps the greatest Spanish poet of the 20th century. The poet known as Pablo Neruda was named Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto at his birth in 1904. He signed his work "Pablo Neruda" (although he did not...

An accomplished poet, a novelist of much promise, and an editor/publisher of energy and generosity, Ernesto Padilla is currently an assistant professor of English at California State University, Bakersfield. Born in Las Cruces, New Mexico,...

Chebyshev has given his name to results in probabilityand analysis, one of the first Russian mathematicians by birth to be so recognized. His work reflected a great deal of mathematical sophistication, making connections between different ...

Jeffrey Palmer has contributed to several research fronts in plant genetics, evolution and molecular systematics. His main, current interest is transfer of genes and introns between genetic compartments in cells and from organism to organi...

Francisco Villa (1878-1923) was a famous Mexican military commander and guerrilla of the warring phase of the Mexican Revolution. Pancho Villa was born Doroteo Arango on June 5, 1878, in San Juan del Rio, Durango. His life as an orphaned p...

The Italian prelate and statesman Paolo Sarpi (1552-1623) was one of the greatest historians of early modern Europe and a founder of the modern historical method. Paolo Sarpi was born in Venice, the son of a merchant. His early education w...

The Italian painter Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) was one of the greatest Venetian artists. His work is rich in invention and decorative splendor and excels in the depiction of festive and heroic scenes. Paolo Veronese, whose real name was Pa...

Pappus of Alexandria was a late Greek geometer whose theorems provided a foundation for modern projective geometry. Virtually nothing is known about his life. He wrote his major work, Synagoge, or the Mathematical Collection, as a guide to...

Poet, novelist, and critic, Suzanne Paradis has been publishing steadily since 1959. She has received several awards and honors for her literary work: the Prix Camille-Roy for Il ne faut pas sauver les hommes (1961); the Prix de la Provinc...

Australian business executive, Arvi Parbo (born 1926) was a postwar immigrant who progressed through the ranks of a mining company to become its chief executive. He was concurrently chairman of three of Australia's largest companies. Arvi ...

Maud Wood Park (1871-1955) was a social activist hoping to educate new voters and becoming the first president of the League of Women Voters. Maud Wood Park became first president of the League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan organization t...

Parke Godwin (25 February 1816-7 January 1904), social reformer, literary critic, and editor of the New York Evening Post, was born in Paterson, New Jersey, and died in New York City. He was a descendant of a notable New Jersey family that...

Paul Parkman isolated the rubella (German measles) virus and, with Harry Martin Meyer (1928-2001), co-discovered the first widely applicable test for rubella antibodies and the vaccine against rubella. Born in Auburn, New York, on May 29, ...

The Italian painter Parmigianino (1503-1540) was a pioneer of the mannerist style, within which his work shows an essentially decorative emphasis and accomplished smoothness. The real name of Parmigianino a nickname meaning "little man fro...

Moritz Pasch's mathematical work provided one of the foundations for modern mathematics, especially geometry. In fact, Pasch was the first mathematician since Euclid who presented geometric elements in relationships defined by abstract, fo...

Commentator, journalist, and presidential candidate Patrick Joseph Buchanan (born 1938) represented the hard-line conservative wing of the Republican Party. Patrick Buchanan was born in Washington, D.C., on November 2, 1938. His father, Wi...

Marion G. "Pat" Robertson (born 1930) was a television evangelist who founded and led the Christian Broadcasting Network. In 1988 he ran for president, doing well in several primaries and caucuses and succeeding at getting his religious ag...

Patrice Emery Lumumba (1925-1961) was the first prime minister of the Republic of the Congo. His fame rests on the manner of his death and on the symbolic character of his short public life. Patrice Lumumba was born on July 2, 1925, at Ona...

Patricia Ireland (born 1945), who started her career as an airline flight attendant, became a successful corporate lawyer in the mid-1970s but found her true calling as head of the powerful National Organization for Women (NOW), of which I...

Patricia Scott Schroeder (born 1940) served as the first U.S. congresswoman from Colorado beginning in 1973. She was outspoken about what she considered wasteful spending by the Defense Department and championed women's and children's issu...

Cardinal Patrick Joseph Hayes (1867-1938) was a leader of the Catholic hierarchy, best known for his work in expanding and organizing the outstanding program of Catholic charities in his diocese. Hayes was born in New York City on Nov. 20,...

Patrick Hamilton, playwright and novelist, was born in Sussex, the son of Bernard and Ellen Adela Hockley Hamilton. He passed his formative years on the south coast in Brighton and Hove. Hamilton was educated at Westminster School and, as ...

Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, Patrick Manson worked in China for 23 years. His interest in tropical parasites made him a pioneer in the founding of the specialty of tropical medicine. Manson earned his MD from Aberdeen Medical School in 1865...