Boleslaw Prus (1847-1912), who took the pen surname Prus from the appellation of his family's coat of arms, at age 15 joined the 1863 Polish Uprising against Imperial Russia, where he suffered severe battle injuries. He was spared resettlement on Russian imperial lands and was able to complete secondary school. He studied mathematics and physics at Warsaw University, until his studies there were cut short by penury. At age 25 in 1872, Prus embarked on a forty-year career as a newspaper columnist, urging Poles to study science and technology and to develop industry and commerce. After achieving great acclaim with his short stories, between 1886 and 1893 he wrote three novels on the ?great questions of our age?: The Outpost, The Doll, and The New Woman. In 1894-95, he completed his only historical novel, Pharaoh.