Famous People Flashcards
Aaron, Hank (Henry)
b. Mobile, AL, 1934
Baseball Player (Outfielder).
“Hammerin’ Hank”
Hit 755 home runs in a 23-year (1954-76) career with the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves and the Milwaukee Brewers. Ranks second on the all-time list for career HR and first for RBI (2,297). Won three gold gloves, played in 24 All-Star games and named NL MVP in 1957.
Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem (Lew Alcindor)
b. New York, NY, 1947 Basketball Player (Center) Combined height, skill and athletic ability to become one of the top "big men" in basketball. Led UCLA to three straight NCAA titles, earning All-American honors three times and College Player of the Year twice. With the Milwaukee Bucks and L.A. Lakers, he scored the most points in league history (38,387) and was named MVP a record six times and winning six NBA Championships.
Abelard, Pierre
b. Le Pallet, France, 1079
d. 1142
Philosopher and Theologian
Born into wealth, gave up his aristocratic life to devote himself to philosophy. Distinguished with is work on the concept of universals. Later, fell in love with and married his student, Heloise. Incurring the anger of her Uncle, she entered a convent and he entered the monastic life where he developed the use of dialectical analysis in philosophical argument.
Acheson, Dean
b. Middletown, CT, 1893
d. 1971
American diplomat and lawyer.
Secretary of State (1949-1953) under Truman, he helped shape the postwar policy of containment of Soviet expansionism, including the Marshall Plan for rebuilding Europe and NATO to oppose the Soviets militarily. Critics faulted him for failures in Asia, including Communist victory in China in 1949 and the invasion of South Korea in 1950.
Adams, Ansel
b. San Francisco, CA, 1902
d. 1984
Photographer
Best known for his technical expertise and innovations and for documenting and preserving the landscape of the American West. He helped found the famous photography group f/64, was granted three Guggenheim Fellowships to photograph national parks and monuments and worked with the Sierra Club. He developed the zone system of metering and exposure.
Works:
Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico (1942); Mount Williamson (1945); and countless images of Yosemite.
Adams, Henry
b. Boston, MA 1838
d. 1918
Historian
Descendant of two presidents, he went into law, then journalism, and then history. His nine volume History of the United States of America (1889-91) was acclaimed as one of the finest pieces of historical writing. Best remembered for his Pulitzer Prize winning autobiography, The Education of Henry James (1918).
Works:
History of the United States of America (1889-91); The Education of Henry James (1918)
Adams, John Coolidge
b. Worcester, MA, 1947.
American Composer and Conductor.
He began composing as a teenager at Harvard and first to submit a musical composition as his senior thesis. Drawing on sources from jazz, pop and electronic music, his work is characterized by the minimalist techniques of repetition and simplicity. Won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 2003.
Works:
Nixon in China [Opera] (1987); The Death of Klinghoffer [Opera] (1991), On the Transmigration of Souls [PP] (2003); Doctor Atomic [Opera] (2005).
Adams, John Quincy
b. Braintree, MA ,1767
d. 1848
Sixth U.S. President, 1825-1829.
First president’s son to become president, he spent his teens in Europe with father on diplomatic missions. As Monroe’s Secretary of State, he purchased Florida from Spain, patched relations with Britain and conceived of the Monroe doctrine. Chosen for the presidency by the House, after losing both the popular vote and the electoral vote to Andrew Jackson. Returned to politics in 1830 as congressman from Massachusetts and collapsed and died on the House floor at age 80.
Adams, John
b. Braintree, MA, 1735
d. 1826
Second U.S. President, 1797-1801.
Gained attention defending the British soldiers after the Boston Massacre (1770). During the Revolution he persuaded the Continental Congress to commission Washington as Commander-in-Chief, declare independence. Wrote the MA state constitution (1779), negotiated peace with Britain (1782) and served as first Vice President. Passed the Alien and Sedition Acts (1798), which permitted the government to deport foreign-born residents and indict anyone who published “false, scandalous and malicious” writings.
Adams, Samuel
b. Boston, MA, 1722.
d. 1803
Revolutionary Leader, Governor of Mass.
Second cousin of John Adams, he was an early voice in the fight for independence, helping to encourage the Stamp Act riots. Skillful propagandist, he helped organize the Boston Tea Party. Member of the First Continental Congress and signed the Declaration of Independence. Helped draft the Mass. Constitution of 1780.
Addams, Jane
b. Cedarville, IL, 1860.
d. 1935
Social Reformer.
In 1889, she founded Hull House, a pioneering facility that offered education, vocational training, child care, legal aid, and recreational facilities to anyone in need. Her success inspired the settlement house movement, which brought social services to poor urban areas throughout the US. She also spoke out on women’s suffrage and labor reform. Campaigned against US entry into WWI and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.
Adler, Alfred
b. Rudolfsheim, Austria, 1870.
d. 1937
Psychiatrist and founder of the school of individual psychology.
Acolyte of Freud, later disagreed with Freud’s emphasis on sex. Focussed instead on childhood feelings of inferiority. His humanistic approach assumes that an individual is capable of self-determination and the ability to cope with society. His therapy is encouraging and optimistic, and designed to help the individual reach a state of social maturity.
Works:
Understanding Human Nature (1927); What life Should Mean to You (1931).
Aeschylus
b. Eleusis, 524 BC
d. 456 BC
Playwright.
The oldest of the three great playwrights of ancient Greece. His Oresteia (458 BC) trilogy is considered his masterpiece, exemplifying his concerns with justice, cycles of violence, and civic law. Of his more than 90 plays, only seven survive intact. He is credited with introducing a second actor to the stage.
Works:
The Persians (472 BC); The Suppliants (463 BC); Prometheus Bound (undated).
Akbar (Abu al-Fath Jalal al-Din Muhammad Akbar)
b. Umarkot, India, 1542
d. 1605
Mogul Emperor.
He assumed power in 1556 and was the greatest of the Mogul Emperors. The Moguls were descended from the Mongolian tribesmen who had conquered much of Asia in the 13th century. By the 16th century, the Moguls had accepted Islam and were patrons of literature and the arts. At first, he ruled Punjab (around Delhi) but quickly expanded across the entire Indian subcontinent. Introduced reforms increasing centralization and treated subjects fairly with religious tolerance for all.
Akhenaton
b. Unknown d 1334 BC Formerly Amenhotep IV "He who serves the Aton" Egyptian Pharaoh 1351-1334 BC. An 18th-dynasty (New Kingdom) king, encouraged worship of Aton, a unitary god which had no human or animal form. Aton is often regarded as the first manifestation of a monotheistic god. He and his wife, Nefertiti moved from Thebes to Tell el-Amarna, and the empire declined during his rule, because of his preoccupation with his worship of Aton. Succeeded by his son-in-law, Tutankhamen.
Albee, Edward (Franklin)
b. Washington, DC, 1928
Playwright
Works:
The Zoo Story (1959); The American Dream (1961); Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1962); Tiny Alice (1964); A Delicate Balance [PP] (1966); Seascape [PP] (1975); Three Tall Women [PP] (1991).
Albertus Magnus
b. Lauingen an der Donau, Germany, 1200
d. 1280
Philosopher
Canonized 1931
The teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas, he was a Dominican bishop, was a philosopher and innovator. He brought Aristotelian knowledge to contemporary scientific thought, creating a precedent for the study of science within the Christian Church.
Aldrin, Buzz (Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr.)
b. Montclair, NJ, 1930
Astronaut
Air Force pilot who flew dozens of combat missions in Korea, he earned a PhD from MIT before joining the US space program. As part of the 1966 Gemini 12 flight, he took a historic 5 and 1/2 hour space-walk. In 1969 he was part oft he crew of Apollo 11.
Alexander the Great
b. Pelle, Macedonia, 356 BC
d. 323 BC
Macedonian King
He became king of Macedonia in 336 BC, was one of the greatest military leaders in history. He conquered greece in 335 BC, then invaded Persia. He defeated the Persians at the battle of Issus (in modern Turkey) in 333 BBC. He seized Egypt the following year. In 331 BC he defeated the Persians again and marched East, arriving in 326 BC on the banks of the Indus River. On his death at age 33, his empire collapsed.
Ali, Muhammad (Cassius Clay)
b. Louisville, KY, 1942
Boxer
After winning a gold medal at the 1960 Olympics, he won the heavyweight crown with a surprise knockout of Sonny Liston in 1964. A Black Muslim, he changed his name and was stripped of his title for refusing to fight in the Vietnam War (a decision that was eventually reversed in court). He won back the belt in 1974 (defeating George Foreman in Zaire in the heavily hyped “Rumble in the Jungle”) and again in 1978. Career highlights included three classic bouts with Joe Frazier, including the “Thrilla in Manila” in 1975. Parkinson’s disease eventually robbed him of the irrepressible wit and graceful motion that were his trademarks.
Allen, Woody (Allen Stewart Konigsberg)
b. Brooklyn, NY, 1935
Movie Director, Writer and Actor
After writing jokes for television and doing stand-up comedy, he directed film comedies of angst and sex. His messy breakup with Mia Farrow became tabloid fodder.
Works:
Annie Hall (1977); The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985); Hannah and Her Sisters (1986); Radio Days (1987).
Altman, Robert
b. Kansas City, MO, 1925
d. 2006
One of the most adventurous and influential American directors of the late 20th century. He is most famous form movies that reflected the disillusionment of the 1970s. Hallmarks of his movies included an improvisational style, multiple narratives and multilayered soundtracks. He received an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement in 2006.
Works:
MAS*H (1970); McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971); Images (1972); The Long Goodbye (1973); California Split (1974); Nashville (1975); Gosford Park (2001); A Prairie Home Companion (2006).
Ambrose (Saint)
b. Trier, Gaul, 339 or 340
d. 397
Bishop, Theologian, Father of Catholic Church
Raised and educated in Rome, he became a provincial governor and, though a layman, was persuaded to become bishop of Milan in 374. He then took holy orders and became a defender of the faith against the Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of Christ. He also established the authority of the church over emperors in issues of faith and morality. His sermons influenced Augustine’s conversion and were incorporated into the Hexaemeron. Helped establish the Christian musical tradition.
Amundsen, Roald
b. Borge, Norway, 1872
d. 1928
Polar Explorer
In 1897-99, he sailed with the Belgica expedition - the first to winter in Antarctica - to locate the southern magnetic pole. He was the first to transit the Northwest Passage (1903-06). In 1910, he sailed the Fram to the coast of Antarctica and with four companions was the first to reach the South Pole, on December 16, 1911. He later transited the Northeast Passage from Norway to Alaska (1918-20), and in 1925 he flew a dirigible over the North Pole. He died when another dirigible crashed in the Arctic.
Anderson, Marian
b. Philadelphia, PA, 1897
d. 1993
Singer
Considered the greatest contralto of her era. She was barred from many U.S. venues because she was black. In 1939, after successful European tours, she planned a concert in Washington’s Constitution Hall, owned by the D.A.R. When the D.A.R. refused to let her perform, Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the organization in protest. Instead, she performed at the Lincoln Memorial for 75,000 fans. In 1955, she became the first African American to perform with theNew York Metropolitan Opera. Won the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963.
Anderson, Sherwood
b. Camden, OH, 1876
d. 1941
Writer
Short-story writer whose work influenced writers such as Hemingway and Faulkner. His fiction, characterized by patterns of everyday speech and a deep connection to place, is exemplified by his most famous work, Winesburg, Ohio (1919), a series of interrelated short stories narrated by the newspaper reporter and all taking place in the fictionalized town of its title.
Works:
Winesburg, Ohio
Ando, Tadao
b. Osaka, Japan, 1941
Architect
He is self-taught and has no degree in architecture but has read deeply-especially the works of Le Corbusier-and traveled widely, filling sketchbooks with what he has seen. His early buildings were houses and later buildings embody concrete cast in stark geometrical forms. He won the Pritzker Prize in 1995.
Works:
Azuma House (1977)
Chikatsu-Asuka Historical Museum (1990-94)
Church of the Light (1989)
Angelico, Fra
b. near Vicchio, Italy, c. 1395-1400
d. 1455
Painter and Dominican Friar
One of Florence’s most sought-after artists of the early Renaissance. His style, though somewhat conservative, was influenced by Masaccio, and he is admired for strong three-dimensional spatial compositions. He is best known for fresco cycles at the Vatican and St. Peter’s in Rome, as well as his fresco of The Annunciation (c. 1440-50) at the monastery of St. Marco in Florence.
Angelou, Maya (Marguerite Johnson)
b. St. Louis, MO, 1928
Poet and Author
Honored throughout her long and prolific career for her poetry, autobiographical work, and contributions to the chronicling of the African-American experience. In her early life, also worked as an actor and dancer, traveling throughout Europe and living for a time in Egypt and Ghana, where she worked on African Review. Her memoir details the racial oppression and violence of her childhood in rural Arkansas.
Works:
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1970)
The Heart of a Woman (1981)
All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986)
Anthony, Susan B.
b. Adams, MA, 1820
d. 1906
Feminist Social Reformer
Working with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, she campaigned successfully to expand New York’s Married Women’s Property Law (1848), which granted women the right to own property. During the Civil War, they formed the first national women’s organization, which also lobbied for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing freedom to African Americans. In 1869, they founded the National Women Suffrage Association. She cast a ballot in the 1872 presidential election, an act of defiance that landed her in jail. Her crusade for female suffrage succeeded 14 years after her death.
Antony, Mark
b. ca. 82 B.C.
d. 30 B.C.
Roman General and Statesman
General under Julius Caesar and a member of the Second Triumvirate along with Octavian and Lepidus after Caesar’s assassination. Antony formed an alliance with Cleopatra in Egypt (41 B.C.), but returned to Rome and married Octavian’s sister. In 32 B.C. the triumvirate defeated Brutus and Cassius and divided the empire among themselves. When the triumvirate disintegrated, he fled to Egypt. He and Cleopatra were defeated by Octavian’s forces in the battle of Actium in 31 B.C. and he committed suicide the next year.
Aquinas, Thomas (Saint)
b. Rocca Secca (by Naples), c. 1225
d. 1274
Theologian and Philosopher
The greatest figure of scholasticism, a saint of the church, and the founder of what Pope Leo XIII (1879) declared to be the official philosophy of Roman Catholicism. His system, as expressed in the Summa Theologica (1267-73) and other writings, is based on the works of Aristotle. The universe is seen as an ordered construct of things, ascending to God, the only necessary and self-sufficient being. The truths of faith and reason are complementary; there are no conflicts between theology and science or philosophy.
Arafat, Yasir (Muhammad ‘Abd ar-Ra’uf al-Qudwah
b. Cairo, 1929
d. 2004
Palestinian political leader
The founder of Fatah, one of the main military components of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. He became PLO chairman in 1969, and leader of its political arm in 1973. His efforts at diplomacy in the Middle East won him a share of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994, with Israel’s Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. He became president of the Palestinian Authority in 1996.
Archimedes
b. ca. 287 B.C.
d. ca. 212 B.C.
Greek Mathematician, Physicist and Inventor
He spent most of his life in Syracuse (on Sicily). He developed the mathematical theory of simple machines, such as the lever and pulley, as well as the basic law of hydrostatics and applied these laws to build practical devices. He showed how to write numbers as great as one could desire and how to find the areas bounded by parabolic curves. He considered his greatest achievement to be the discovery of how to calculate the volume of a sphere by comparing it with a similar-sized cylinder.
Aristophanes
b. ca. 448 B.C.
d. ca. 388 B.C.
Greek Playwright
Considered the greatest comic poet of his time, he wrote the only complete existing examples of Greek Old Comedy. Little is known about his life, but Athens became his home and its politics, society, and prominent figures were the subjects of his satire. He parodied everything from Socrates and the sophists in The Clouds (423 B.C.) to the Peloponnesian War in Lysistrata (B.C. 411 B.C.), in which the women of Athens boycott their husbands until a peace is reached. The other nine of his 11 surviving plays (out of 50 attributed to him) are:
The Acharnians (425 B.C.)
The Knights (424 B.C.)
The Wasps (422 B.C.)
The Peace (421 B.C.)
The Birds (414 B.C.)
The Thesmophoriazusae (the Women at Demeter’s Festival 411 B.C.)
The Frogs (405 B.C.)
The Ecclesiazusae (the Women in Politics B.C. 392)
The Plutus (388 B.C.)
Aristotle
b. Stagira, Chalcidice, Greece, 384 B.C.
d. 322 B.C.
One of the greatest figures in western intellectual history, he was a pupil and colleague of Plato for 20 years, and served as tutor to the future Alexander the Great when Alexander was a boy of 13. He is considered the founder of formal logic and in six works known as the Organon, set out a system that survived for centuries. He pioneered the study of zoology and established the Lyceum in Athens, the world’s first institution with a research library. Unlike Plato’s Academy, the Lyceum offered lectures free of charge to the general public. His wide-ranging writings on ethics (The Nicomachean Ethics), politics (Politics), rhetoric, poetry (Ars Poetica), and science (Physics) made such a significant contribution to human knowledge that Dante dubbed him “the master of those who know.”
Armstrong, Louis Daniel
b. New Orleans, LA., 1901
d. 1971
Jazz trumpeter and Vocalist
“Pops”
“Satchmo”
The first important soloist and arguably the most influential musician in the history of jazz. His virtuoso trumpet playing, beginning with his Hot Five and Hot Seven ensembles, featured dynamic, brassy, highly imaginative improvisation. He was also the first singer to scat sing a record (Heebie Jeebies, 1926), when he purportedly dropped his lyric sheet while recording and was forced to improvise nonsense lyrics. Other important works include:
Muskrat Ramble (1926)
West End Blues (1928)
Chinatown, My Chinatown (1932)
When the Saints Go Marching In (1939)
Armstrong, Neil Alden
b. Wapakoneta, Ohio 1930
Astronaut
A Navy pilot during the Korean War, He became a test pilot for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which developed into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He piloted the first manual docking in space as commander of Gemini 8 in 1966. Three years later, on July 20th, he became the first man to set foot on the Moon, declaring the accomplishment “…one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Arnold, Benedict
b. Norwich, CT, 1741
d. 1801
American Military Leader in the Revolutionary War
He distinguished himself in engagements against the English but became embittered over slow promotions and fell into debt. He offered his services to the English in 1779 in exchange for a high command and a substantial fee. His treason was discovered, and he went over to the English, commanding engagements in VA and CT. After the war he was shunned by London society and his name became synonymous with treason.
Arnold, Matthew
b. Laleham, England, 1822
d. 1888
Poet, Critic, Essayist
He composed one of the most beloved English poems, “Dover Beach” (ca. 1851), emblematic of the Victorian’s loss of spiritual certainty, as well as “The Forsaken Merman” (1849), “The Scholar Gypsy” (1853) and “Thyrsis” (1866). As a poet, he expressed alienation, but as a critic - in Essays in Criticism (1865, 1888) and The Study of Poetry (1880) - he praised uplifting literature that gives value to human life. He wrote extensively about society and culture (Culture and Anarchy, 1869). “Culture” for him encompassed an openness of mind and appreciation of the arts necessary to combat middle-class “Philistinism.”
Arthur, Chester A.
b. Fairfield, VT, 1829
d. 1886
Twenty-First U.S. President, 1881-1885
A true machine politician, he worked for Republican candidates in New York and enjoyed several patronage jobs during the Civil War. President Grant appointed him collector of the port of New York in 1871, and he prospered there until 1879. In 1880 “Half-Breed” Republicans nominated him for vice president; he acceded to the presidency on Sept. 19, 1881, after James A. Garfield was assassinated. He rooted out post office graft and signed the Pendleton Civil Service Act (1883) that established the tradition of permanent federal employment based on merit rather than party affiliation, but Democrats in Congress thwarted the rest of his initiatives.
Astaire, Fred (Frederick E. Austerlitz Jr.)
b. Omaha, NE, 1899
d. 1987
Dancer, Actor, and Singer
He began his career as a child star working with his sister, Adele. In 1917-31, they were regulars on Broadway, starring in a number of classic shows, including Oh, Lady Be Good (1924) and Funny face (1927). He went to Hollywood in 1933, where he was partneres with Ginger Rogers, and the two became icons in a series of dance musicals, notably Top Hat (1935), which established his debonair image. His success continued with a number of partners after WW II, on film, record and television.
Ataturk, Kemal (Mustafa Kemal)
b. 1881 Salonika (now Thessaloniki)
d. 1938
Turkish Leader
He whose last name means “Father of Turks,” founded the Republic of Turkey and was its first president (1922-38). As a soldier, he patched together the Turkish forces of the vanquished Ottoman Empire at the end of WW I and repelled invasions by Greece, Britain, France and Italy. As president, he encouraged national and ethnic pride while simultaneously implementing reforms that laid the groundwork for democracy, modernization of the legal and educational systems, and adoption of the Latin alphabet and European-style names.
Attila
b. Hunnic Empire, ca. 406
d. 453.
King og the Huns, 434-53
“Scourge of God”
Ruled the vast territory extending at one time from Germany well into Asia. He ruled from 434 to 445 with his brother, whom he murdered, and then alone until his death in 453. Best known for his savagery and ongoing conflicts with the Roman Empire, particularly his invasions of Gaul (451) and northern Italy (452). Although defeated in Gaul, he moved on the sack many cities in northern Italy; he nearly invaded Rome but for a shortage of provisions and the mediation of Pope Leo I. After his death his empire disintegrated.
Auden, W(ystan) H(ugh)
b. York, England, 1907
d. 1973
English-American Poet
In his early career, he was one of a group of English poets dedicated to new techniques and leftist politics. he attacked his country’s social and economic system before settling in New York, where he wrote his famous ruminative poem on the outbreak of WW II, “September 1st, 1939.” He was a poet of versatile style, simple yet haunting diction, and a range of themes from love to art to politics; his sensibility combined modern psycological insight and homosexual orientation with Catholic faith. Other noted poems are:
Spain 1937;
Lay Your Sleeping Head, My Love;
Musee des Beaux Arts;
In Memory of W.B. Yeats
Augustine (of Hippo)
b. 354. Tagaste, Numidia, North Africa
d. 430
Roman Catholic Theologian, Saint, Father and Doctor
In his youth, he took a mistress and joined the Manichaean sect - a period lamented in his Confessions (401). In Italy after 376, he was influenced by Plato and, inspired by St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, he embraced Christianity in 387. He became a priest and was bishop of Hippo, in Africa, about 395. A strenuous apologist in a sectarian age, he produced profuse writings that are fundamental to Christian teaching, emphasizing the Fall of Man and his dependence on God’s saving grace. City of God (413-26) is his great apologetic work and treatise on God and history. On the Trinity (400-416) is his greatest dogmatic work.
