Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), Scottish author. Conan Doyle is most famous for his Sherlock Holmes stories, though he also wrote science fiction, adventure novels (in particular the Professor Challenger books), and historical novels. He was knighted in 1902. In his later years, after the death of his son in World War I, he turned to the study of spiritualism and mediums. Photograph from the Bain News Service.