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        Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977)
     Novelist noted for his mastery of language and richness of imagination. "Lolita," a satirical novel about a middle-aged man’s infatuation with a 12-year-old girl, made him famous. Born in St. Petersburg, Russia. He left Russia with his family 1912. He lived in Berlin and Paris, writing under his Russian name V. Sirin. He came to the U.S. in 1940 and began writing all his works in English. A U.S. citizen in 1945.

Knute Nelson (1843-1923)
     Lawyer and political leader. As a U.S. Senator from Minnesota (1895-1923), he was largely responsible for creating the Department of Commerce and Labor. The department was divided into two departments in 1913. Born in Voss, Norway. Came to the U.S. I 1849. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1883-1889) and was governor of Minnesota (1893-95).

Hideyo Noguchi (1876-1928)
     Bacteriologist who conducted important studies of the causes of syphilis, trachoma, Oroya fever, and yellow fever. Born in Japan. Came to U.S. in 1899 to study and teach at the University of Pennsylvania. He became a member of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York City. While researching the cause and treatment of yellow fever in Africa, he caught the disease and died.

Charles Nordhoff (1830-1901)
     Author who wrote "Man-of-War Life," "The Merchant Vessel," and "Whaling and Fishing." Born in Germany, brought to the U.S. as a child. He served in the navy and then worked on merchant marine and fishing vessels. His grandson, Charles Nordhoff, collaborated on "Mutiny on the Bounty."

Vladimir Nabokov was born into a family of cosmopolitan Russian aristocrats. At a very early age he learned English and French, becoming in his words, "a perfectly normal trilingual child."