| Author Info | - Arthur Conan Doyle, in full Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, (born May 22, 1859, Edinburgh, Scotlanddied July 7, 1930, Crowborough, Sussex, England), Scottish writer best known for his creation of the detective Sherlock Holmesone of the most vivid and enduring characters in English fiction .Conan Doyle received Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery qualifications from Edinburgh in 1881 and an M.D. in 1885 upon completing his thesis, An Essay upon the Vasomotor Changes in Tabes Dorsalis.
This master of diagnostic deduction became the model for Conan Doyles literary creation, Sherlock Holmes, who first appeared in A Study in Scarlet, a novel-length story published in Beetons Christmas Annual of 1887. Other books of Conan Doyles are the Firm of Girdlestone (1890) and The Stark Munro Letters (1895), and in the collection of medical short stories Round the Red Lamp (1894). (See also Sherlock Holmes: Pioneer in Forensic Science.) Conan Doyles creation of the logical, cold, calculating Holmes, the worlds first and only consulting detective, sharply contrasted with the paranormal beliefs Conan Doyle addressed in a short novel of this period, The Mystery of Cloomber (1889). Conan Doyles early interest in both scientifically supportable evidence and certain paranormal phenomena exemplified the complex diametrically opposing beliefs he struggled with throughout his life.Conan Doyle continued writing Sherlock Holmes adventures through 1926. His short stories were collected in several volumes, and he also wrote novels (e.g., The Hound of the Baskervilles, serialized 190102) that feature Holmes and his assistant, Dr. Watson. Conan Doyle, however, claimed the success of Holmes overshadowed the merit he believed his other historical fiction deserved, most notably his tale of 14th-century chivalry, The White Company (1891), its companion piece, Sir Nigel (1906), and his adventures of the Napoleonic war hero Brigadier Gerard and the 19th-century skeptical scientist Professor George Edward Challenger.
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