Lee de Forest's father was a minister and hoped that his son would follow in his footsteps. In order to be trained for this calling, de Forest left Alabama for prep school in Massachusetts. His life ...

Ernest Rutherford's family emigrated from England to New Zealand before he was born. They ran a successful farm near Nelson, where Ernest was born. One of 12 children, he liked the hard work and open ...

Rachel Carson grew up on a small Pennsylvania farm, where she spent hours exploring the outdoors. She always loved books, and when she was young thought she would be a writer. Her first publication ...

When Louis Leakey and Mary Nicol first met, he asked her to help with illustrations for his upcoming (1934) book Adam's Ancestors: An Up-to-Date Outline of What is Known about the Origin of Man.

Note: You'll need the free RealOne Player (www.real.com) to see the video clips below. Learning their ABCs... You know, it seems almost too trite to say, but one of the very important things that you ...

The delights of observing the night sky long have inspired artists, composers, and poets. Occasionally, people even share a career between astronomy and the humanities: The musician and composer ...

Steven Weinberg grew up in New York City, where his father worked as a court stenographer. His early interest in science was encouraged by his family and by his teachers at the Bronx High School of ...

In 1915, he conducted experiments on inmates at a Mississippi prison, who volunteered for the study in exchange for a pardon. Because it was a farm prison, its inmates had a fairly balanced diet.

Neil Ieremia began dancing after years of rheumatic fever left him weak and homebound. Studying dance while growing up in a time when second-generation Samoans were raised with “a rugby ball in one ...

Many of you have inquired about reporter Sam Kiley and his background. For further information about Kiley, please visit our online interview with him. And for those of you concerned with the impact ...

Do You Speak American? has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, promoting excellence in the humanities. Additional funding is provided by the William and Flora ...

WE’RE ON A JOURNEY THAT TAKES US ACROSS THE USA AND THROUGH THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE. NOW WE’RE GOING TO FIND OUT HOW TODAY’S SOUTHERNERS ANSWER THE QUESTION “DO YOU SPEAK AMERICAN?” THE GREATEST ...