Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) was a Scottish physician and prolific writer of fiction and nonfiction. He is most well known for his four novels and fifty-six short stories featuring the legendary and eccentric detective Sherlock Holmes. Holmes was modeled after Doyle's colleague, physician and surgeon Dr. Joseph Bell, who had been known for his acute powers of deductive observation. In his real life, Doyle worked in the name of justice too. He personally investigated two cases of innocent men who had been wrongfully imprisoned and helped to get them exonerated for their "crimes."