Biographies
Extraordinary lives that shaped history · 176
Napoleon
French general and emperor (1769–1821)
Cleopatra
Pharaoh of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC
Alexander the Great
King of Macedon from 336 to 323 BC
Julius Caesar
Roman general and dictator (100–44 BC)
Adolf Hitler
Dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945
Winston Churchill
British statesman and writer (1874–1965)
Albert Einstein
German-born theoretical physicist (1879–1955)
Isaac Newton
English polymath (1642–1727)
Galileo Galilei
Italian physicist and astronomer (1564–1642)
Leonardo da Vinci
Italian polymath (1452–1519)
Charles Darwin
English naturalist and biologist (1809–1882)
Nikola Tesla
Serbian-American engineer and inventor (1856–1943)
Mahatma Gandhi
Indian independence activist (1869–1948)
Nelson Mandela
President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999
Martin Luther King Jr.
American minister and civil rights activist (1929–1968)
Abraham Lincoln
President of the United States from 1861 to 1865
George Washington
U.S. Founding Father, president from 1789 to 1797
Joan of Arc
French folk heroine and saint (1412–1431)
Marco Polo
Venetian merchant, explorer, and writer (1254–1324)
Ferdinand Magellan
Portuguese explorer (1480–1521)
Christopher Columbus
Italian navigator and explorer (1451–1506)
Ramesses II
Pharaoh of Egypt from 1279 to 1213 BC
Tutankhamun
Pharaoh of Egypt from 1333 to 1324 BC
Confucius
Chinese philosopher (c. 551 – c. 479 BCE)
Socrates
Greek philosopher (c. 470–399 BC)
Plato
Greek philosopher
Aristotle
Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath (384–322 BC)
Marie Antoinette
Queen of France from 1774 to 1792
Queen Victoria
Queen of the United Kingdom from 1837 to 1901
Joseph Stalin
Leader of the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1953
Charlemagne
Carolingian emperor from 800 to 814
Mao Zedong
Leader of China from 1949 to 1976
Che Guevara
Argentine revolutionary (1928–1967)
Marie Curie
Polish-French physicist and chemist (1867–1934)
Isak Hien
Swedish footballer (born 1999)
Micah Zandee-Hart
Canadian ice hockey player (born 1997)
Egan Bernal
Colombian cyclist
María de Villota
Spanish racing driver
Wolfgang Loitzl
Austrian ski jumper (born 1980)
Adriana Paz
Mexican actress and dancer
Nate Silver
American statistician and writer (born 1978)
Ruth Wilson
British actress
Orlando Bloom
English actor (born 1977)
Mi-Hyun Kim
South Korean golfer (born 1977)
James Posey
American basketball coach and player (born 1977)
Mario Yepes
Colombian footballer (born 1976)
Rune Eriksen
Norwegian guitarist
Andrew Yang
American businessman and politician (born 1975)
Juan Pablo Vojvoda
Argentine footballer and manager
Gigi Galli
Italian rally driver (born 1973)
Mark Bosnich
Australian soccer player and sports pundit
Caspar Phillipson
Danish actor (born 1971)
Shonda Rhimes
American television producer and screenwriter (born 1970)
Stefania Belmondo
Italian cross-country skier (born 1969)
Marco Pantani
Italian cyclist (1970–2004)
Stephen Hendry
Scottish snooker player (born 1969)
Pat Onstad
Canadian soccer player (born 1968)
Trace Adkins
American country singer and actor (born 1962)
Wayne Coyne
American musician (born 1961)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
American actress and comedian (born 1961)
Francisco Buyo
Spanish footballer (born 1958)
Lorrie Moore
American fiction writer (born 1957)
Bruno Coulais
French composer
Trevor Rabin
South African musician (born 1954)
Carles Rexach
Spanish footballer (born 1947)
Chris von Saltza
American swimmer (born 1944)
Pasqual Maragall
Catalan politician
Edmund White
American writer (1940–2025)
Daevid Allen
Australian musician (1938–2015)
Ron Tauranac
British-Australian engineer (1925–2020)
Rosemary Murphy
German-American actress (1925–2014)
Sydney Brenner
South African biologist and Nobel prize winner (1927–2019)
Gwen Verdon
American actress and dancer (1925–2000)
Joe Pass
American jazz guitarist (1929–1994)
Roland Petit
French ballet dancer and choreographer (1924–2011)
Necati Cumalı
Turkish writer of novels, short-stories, essays and poetry (1921-2001)
1970
Calendar year
Wilhelm Wien
German physicist (1864–1928)
Kostis Palamas
Greek poet (1859–1943)
George Gurdjieff
Russian Empire mystic and writer (c. 1866–1877 – 1949)
Oskar Minkowski
German physician and physiologist (1858–1931)
Félix Tisserand
French astronomer (1845–1896)
Princess Marie of Orléans (1865–1909)
Princess Valdemar of Denmark (1865–1909)
Adolph Hausrath
German theologian
Elisa Bonaparte
Imperial French princess (1777–1820)
François Mansart
French architect (1598–1666)
Jan van Goyen
Dutch landscape painter (1596–1656)
John Davis (Massachusetts governor)
American politician (1787–1854)
Joachim II Hector
Elector of Brandenburg from 1535 to 1571
Colette of Corbie
Franciscan foundress, abbess and saint (1381–1447)
Scott Adams
American cartoonist and author (1957–2026)
Sylvain Sylvain
American guitarist (1951–2021)
Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon
British photographer and filmmaker (1930–2017)
1931
Calendar year
1969
Calendar year
Rauf Denktaş
Founder and first president of Northern Cyprus (served 1983–2005)
Patrick McGoohan
Irish-American actor, director, writer, and producer (1928–2009)
1926
Calendar year
Michael Brecker
American jazz saxophonist and composer (1949–2007)
Chiang Ching-kuo
President of the Republic of China from 1978 to 1988
Margaret Leighton
British actress (1922–1976)
Lyonel Feininger
German-American painter
Sylvanus Olympio
President of Togo from 1960 to 1963
Thami El Glaoui
Moroccan politician (1870–1956)
Etta McDaniel
American actress (1890–1946)
Sophie Taeuber-Arp
Swiss artist (1889–1943)
James Joyce
Irish novelist and poet (1882–1941)
Victor Baltard
French architect
Stephen Foster
American composer and songwriter (1826–1864)
Margaret Rolle, 15th Baroness Clinton
British heiress (1709–1781)
Ferdinand Ries
German composer (1784–1838)
1708
Calendar year
Agustín Giay
Argentine footballer
Toti Gomes
Footballer (born 1999)
Oleg Reabciuk
Moldovan footballer (born 1998)
Odsonne Édouard
French footballer (born 1998)
Pau Torres
Spanish footballer (born 1997)
Wang Liuyi
Chinese synchronized swimmer
Wang Qianyi
Chinese synchronized swimmer
Fátima Pinto
Portuguese footballer (born 1996)
Jennie (singer)
South Korean singer (born 1996)
Takumi Minamino
Japanese footballer (born 1995)
Gonzalo Bueno (footballer)
Uruguayan footballer (born 1993)
Magnus Cort
Danish road bicycle racer
Joana Ramos
Portuguese judoka (born 1982)
Tuncay Şanlı
Turkish football manager (born 1982)
Nick Valensi
American musician (born 1981)
Alyssa Edwards
American drag performer and choreographer (born 1980)
Albert Pujols
Dominican-American baseball player (born 1980)
Lin-Manuel Miranda
American songwriter, actor, filmmaker and librettist (born 1980)
Alan Turing
Alan Turing was born in London on June 23, 1912, and in just over four decades of life, he irreversibly transformed humanity’s understanding of thought, computation, and intelligen
Cartola
Few accessories in the history of men’s fashion carry as much symbolism as the top hat. With its tall, cylindrical crown, narrow brim, and glossy finish, this hat has spanned centu
Castro Alves
Antônio Frederico de Castro Alves was the kind of poet who emerges at a specific historical moment and becomes inseparable from it, as if the era itself had summoned him to give vo
Florence Nightingale
**TITLE:** Florence Nightingale
Emiliano Zapata
Emiliano Zapata Salazar was born on August 8, 1879, in the small village of San Miguel Anenecuilco, in the state of Morelos, Mexico. He grew up in a country dominated by the dictat
Euclides da Cunha
Euclides Rodrigues Pimenta da Cunha was a man who lived between contradictions—soldier and journalist, engineer and prose poet, defender of the Republic and denouncer of its crimes
Frederick Douglass
There are stories that transcend the time in which they were lived and become a permanent heritage of humanity. The trajectory of Frederick Douglass is one of them. Born around Feb
Gregor Mendel
Gregor Johann Mendel was born on July 20, 1822, in Heinzendorf bei Odrau, a small village that today is part of the Czech Republic but at the time belonged to the Austrian Empire.
Heitor Villa-Lobos
Heitor Villa-Lobos was born in Rio de Janeiro on March 5, 1887, and lived long enough to see his work recognized worldwide as one of the most original productions in 20th-century m
Patrice Lumumba
Few names in 20th-century African history carry the symbolic weight of Patrice Lumumba. Born Isaïe Tasumbu Tawosa on July 2, 1925, in the village of Onalua in the Belgian Congo, he
Pancho Villa
The name Pancho Villa still resonates today as one of the most emblematic in Latin American history. A feared revolutionary, bold strategist, and symbol of popular resistance, this
Oscar Niemeyer
Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho was born on December 15, 1907, in the Laranjeiras neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, and lived to be 104, leaving the world a legacy tha
Pixinguinha
Among the names that shaped Brazil’s musical identity, few carry as much weight as Pixinguinha. Born Alfredo da Rocha Vianna Filho in Rio de Janeiro on May 4, 1897, he grew up in a
Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar Ponte y Palacios Blanco was born on July 24, 1783, in Caracas, capital of the Captaincy General of Venezuela. He was the younges
Srinivāsa Rāmānujan
**TITLE:** Srinivasa Ramanujan
Tarsila do Amaral
Tarsila do Amaral was born on September 1, 1886, in the town of Capivari, in the countryside of the state of São Paulo, into a family of large landowners and coffee producers. This
Thomas Sankara
Thomas Sankara went down in history as one of the most singular and controversial figures of 20th-century Africa. Born on December 21, 1949, in the city of Yako, in what was then U
Átila
Few names in history evoke as much dread as that of Attila. Born around the year 400 in the region of Pannonia—a territory roughly corresponding to present-day Hungary—he would bec
Anita Garibaldi
Ana Maria de Jesus Ribeiro was born on August 30, 1821, in the coastal town of Laguna, then part of the captaincy of Santa Catarina in the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and t
Cândido Rondon
There are figures who seem shaped by the very territory they explored. Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon is one of them. Born on May 5, 1865, in what is now the district of Mimoso, i
Ching Shih
Ching Shih was born in 1775 in the city of Canton, China, and lived until 1844. Her original name is poorly documented, and she became known to history by two titles: "Cheng I Sao,
Chiquinha Gonzaga
Francisca Edwiges Neves Gonzaga was born in Rio de Janeiro on October 17, 1847, and died in the same city on February 28, 1935, at the age of 87. Known worldwide as Chiquinha Gonza
Emmeline Pankhurst
There are moments in history when one person becomes synonymous with an entire cause. Emmeline Pankhurst was that kind of figure for the British suffragette movement. Born on July
Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo was born on July 6, 1907, in the house that would forever be associated with her name: La Casa Azul, in Coyoacán, then a small town on the outskirts of Mexico City. Fri
Garrincha
Manoel Francisco dos Santos was born on October 28, 1933, in the Pau Grande neighborhood of Magé, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The son of Fulni-ô Indigenous parents from Alagoas
Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman was born as Araminta "Minty" Ross around March 1822 in Dorchester County, Maryland, in the United States. Her parents, Harriet and Ben Ross, were enslaved, as was sh
Hatshepsut
In a world ruled by men and upheld by millennia-old traditions that excluded women from formal power, Hatshepsut not only ascended to the throne of Ancient Egypt but did so with su
Hipátia
At the threshold between Antiquity and the Middle Ages, in an Alexandria that was still the intellectual nerve center of the Greco-Roman world, there lived and taught a woman whose
Mansa Muça
There are names that history preserves not just for the power they wielded, but for the almost incomprehensible scale of everything surrounding them. Mansa Musa—whose full name in
Saladino
Few names in medieval history carry as much weight as that of Saladin. A warrior, statesman, and symbol of an era marked by clashes between Islam and the Christian West, he achieve
Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley was born on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama, in the southern United States. The daughter of James and Leona McCauley, she grew up on a farm and from an
Santos Dumont
Alberto Santos Dumont was born on July 20, 1873, in the small locality of Cabangu, in the countryside of Minas Gerais, and died on July 23, 1932, in Guarujá, on the São Paulo coast
Sun Tzu
Few names in the history of strategic thought carry the weight and influence of Sun Tzu. A general, philosopher, and military strategist, he is regarded as the foremost reference i
José de San Martín
José Francisco de San Martín y Matorras was born on February 25, 1778—though some documents from the period suggest 1777—in the village of Yapeyú, in what is now northern Argentina
Olympe de Gouges
Among the bravest and most visionary figures produced by the French Revolution, Olympe de Gouges holds a singular place. Born Marie Gouze in Montauban, in southwestern France, on M
Machado de Assis
Few trajectories in the history of world literature combine the humility of origins with the grandeur of a final destiny in such an impressive way. Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis w
Toussaint Louverture
**TITLE:** Toussaint Louverture
Ada Lovelace
Ada Lovelace was born on December 10, 1815, in London, the daughter of the celebrated poet George Gordon Byron and Anne Isabella Milbanke. Her life was marked by absences and overc
Aleijadinho
Some figures in the history of art seem to belong more to legend than to reality, and Antônio Francisco Lisboa—Aleijadinho—is one of them. A sculptor, woodcarver, and architect bor
Carmen Miranda
Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha was born on February 9, 1909, in a small village called Obra Nova, in the parish of Aliviada, in the municipality of Marco de Canaveses, Portugal. S
Catarina II da Rússia
**TITLE:** Catherine II of Russia
Grigori Rasputin
Few figures in modern history have sparked as much speculation, legend, and controversy as Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin. Born on January 22, 1869, according to official records, in
Mary Anning
Mary Anning was born on May 21, 1799, in the coastal town of Lyme Regis, in the county of Dorset, in southwestern England. The daughter of carpenter Richard Anning and his wife Mol
Nefertiti
Nefertiti rules across the centuries with a gaze that time has not erased. Queen of the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt and chief wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten, she is one of the most in
Nellie Bly
Elizabeth Cochran Seaman was born on May 5, 1864, in Cochran's Mills, a locality that now forms part of the Pittsburgh area in the United States. The daughter of Michael Cochran, a
Oswaldo Cruz
Few names in Brazilian history carry as singular a weight as that of Oswaldo Cruz. A physician, bacteriologist, epidemiologist, and public health expert, he was born on August 5, 1