Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL (22 May 1859 - 7 July 1930) was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction. It is perhaps less known that he was a prolific writer in many genres, including plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction and historical novels. Prominently, Arthur Conan Doyle is the author of several classical science fiction novels that pioneered the genre and influenced many authors that came in his wake.