Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) was an author and physician. He is best known for his four novels and fifty-six short stories about the fictional consulting detective Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Dr Watson. A prolific writer, he also wrote the science fiction novel The Lost World (1912), and produced well over 200 stories and articles, four volumes of poetry, and a number of works for the stage.
Born in Edinburgh, Scotland Doyle published his earliest stories whilst studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh Medical School. His first Sherlock Holmes work, the novel A Study in Scarlet was published in 1887, and the short story A Scandal in Bohemia (1891) was the first of twenty-four monthly Holmes stories published in The Strand Magazine for which Doyle became one of the most famous and well-paid authors of his time.
Despite his success, Doyle became resentful of the detective he had created and felt that the stories distracted from his 'serious' historical fiction. In 1893 he killed Holmes off in The Final Problem, but massive public outrage and financial incentives forced him to resurrect the character in 1901 for The Hound of the Baskervilles.
After graduating with Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery degrees in 1881, he was ship's surgeon on the SS Mayumba during a voyage to the West African coast. He completed his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree with a dissertation on tabes dorsalis in 1885.
Doyle was a true polymath and sportsman. He played as a goalkeeper for Portsmouth Footbal Club, was an accomplished cricketer, ran twice for Parliament, and campaigned against systemic judicial injustices, successfully exonerating two men of crimes of which they were accused.
Doyle passed away on 7 July 1930 at the age of 71 at his home in Sussex, England. None of his five children went on to have children of their own so he has no living decendants. He is buried along with his wife in Minstead churchyard, Hampshire,England.
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