Frédéric Mistral (1830-1914) came from an old and well-to-do family of landowners that had settled in Provence in the sixteenth century. He was deeply influenced by his early years in the leisurely and patriarchal manor of his father. Mistral read law, but after taking his degree devoted himself entirely to writing poetry in Provençal, the…

José de Echegaray (1833-1916), son of a professor of Greek, was born in Madrid. He went to an engineering school, studied economics, and had a distinguished career in the Spanish Government. He was successively Minister of Public Works and Finance Minister. At the height of his career he turned to the stage, a passion that…

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John William Strutt, third Baron Rayleigh, was born on November 12, 1842 at Langford Grove, Maldon, Essex, as the son of John James Strutt, second Baron, and his wife Clara Elizabeth La Touche, eldest daughter of Captain Richard Vicars, R. E. He was one of the very few members of higher nobility who won fame…

Presentation Speech by Professor J.E. Cederblom, President of , on December 10, 1904 Your Majesty, Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen. The Royal Academy of Sciences has decided that the Nobel Prize for Physics for the present year is to be awarded to Lord Rayleigh, Professor at the Royal Institution, London, for his investigations on…