Biographies.net is another of the search tols from the Stands4 Network, which provides access to databases such as Abbreviations, Lyrics, Quotes, Rhymes and Symbols. It currently holds more than 2 million biographies and is arranged alphabetically as you would expect. As an example they've got 227,587 biographies under the letter A (http://www.biographies.net/biographies/A), and 72,279 biographies under the letter W (http://www.biographies.net/biographies/W). The content is derived from public domain resources such as Freebase, Wikipedia and Princeton's University WordNet.
It's obviously very easy to search, either alphabetically or via the search box. I was a little concerned when I first tried it, because I got lists of names of the same person and it wasn't possible to tell which of the Thomas Jackson's for example I wanted to look at. This has now been addressed (very quickly!) and there's now a better listing, with a little more information. Another thing that I liked was a nice citation option available in three different styles.
There are several holes in the data, and so it will be a constant never-ending task to keep it updated and full. For this the Stands4 Network will be investing in gathering more resources and working on a more comprehensive editorial tools that will let people update existing biographies as well.
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