PEOPLE TO KNOW Flashcards
American writer and journalist of the 20th century, best known as the co-author of The Elements of Style and the author of Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web
EB White
- The pen name of Eric Blair, an English author of the 20th century known for his witty social commentary
George Orwell
- Jacob and Wilhelm, German siblings, scholars, and authors of the 18th and 19th centuries
Brothers Grimm
- American photographer of the 20th century
- His most celebrated work, the photography book The Americans, became associated with the Beat Generation because of the way it depicted American life in the 1950s
Robert Frank
- Irish author of the 19th and 20th centuries, best known as a playwright
- His most famous play, Pygmalion, was later adopted into a film
- He co-founded the London School of Economics
George Bernard Shaw
- American photographer of the 20th century
- Best known for his work documenting the effects of the Great Depression for the Farm Security Administration
- He famously said he wanted his pictures to be “literate, authoritative, transcendent”
Walker Evans
- American entrepreneur who was the co-founder, CEO, and chairman of Apple
- He also served as the CEO of Pixar and was the founder of NeXT
Steve Jobs
American businessman and investor who served as the chief executive officer of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014. He is the current owner of the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). As of October 2021, Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates his personal wealth at $102 billion,ranking him as the 9th richest person in the world.
Steve Ballmer
Yugoslav military leader and statesman of the 20th century who led the resistance movement in Yugoslavia during World War II and who later established communist rule in Yugoslavia
Marshal (Josep Broz) Tito
19th-century French physicist best known for inventing a pendulum that demonstrates the rotation of the Earth
Foucault
- Olympic athlete and American military leader of the 20th century who served as general in World War II
- An expert in motorized-vehicle attacks, he commanded troops in both North Africa and Europe
George Patton
- He is a character in Dumas’s The Three Musketeers, depicted as the antagonist
Cardinal Richelieu
- American baseball pitcher who played for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1950s and 60s
- Noted for retiring at the young age of 30, he nonetheless won 4 World Series championships, 3 Cy Young Awards, and 1 NL MVP
- In 1972 he became the youngest player ever elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
Sandy Koufax
- American college basketball coach who has served as the head coach of the men’s team at Duke since 1980
- He is the winningest coach in NCAA Division I men’s basketball history
- He has led Duke to four NCAA titles
Mike Krzyzewski
American education reformer and politician of the 19th century most famous for championing universal public education
Horace Mann
- American writer regarded as one of the most influential writers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries
- Among his best-known works are the short story collection Brief Interviews with Hideous Men and his novel Infinite Jest
- Also a well-respected nonfiction writer and professor at Pomona College, he committed suicide in 2008
David Foster Wallace
Nobel Prize Yiddish literature writer
Isaac Bashevis Singer
- American basketball point guard who played for the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s
- He is generally regarded as the greatest point guard ever, noted for his great size for the position
- He is remembered for his showmanship and passing ability, and for helping to popularize the NBA on an international level along with Larry Bird and Michael Jordan
- He won the NBA MVP award 3 times and won 5 NBA championships
Magic Johnson
15th and 16th-century Renaissance Polish astronomer who argued that the Earth moves about the Sun, displacing the Earth from the center of the universe
Copernicus
- American soccer player who played forward in the 1980s, 90s, and 2000s for the U.S. women’s national team
- She helped popularize soccer in America and scored a record 158 international goals during her career
Mia Hamm
American abolitionist and author of the 19th century, best known for her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which had a tremendous effect on anti-slavery sentiment in America
Harriet Beecher Stowe
- She rose to fame during the Crimean War, where she tended wounded soldiers day and night, earning her the nickname “Lady with the Lamp”
Florence Nightengale
- Argentine soccer attacker who plays for FC Barcelona
- Currently regarded as the world’s best player, and one of the greatest ever
- Broke the world record for goals scored in a calendar year in 2012
Lionel Messi
- American tennis player who played in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s
- Winner of 7 Grand Slam singles titles
- Famed for his short temper and furious outbursts on the court
John McEnroe
- Polish-born physicist of the 19th and 20th centuries who worked mainly in France and was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize
Marie Curie
- American abolitionist, author, philosopher, and transcendentalist of the 19th century, wrote essay “Civil Disobedience”
Henry David Thoreau
- Belgian-born American chemist of the 19th and 20th centuries best known for inventing Bakelite (in 1907), a nonflammable and inexpensive plastic
- Recognized in 1993 as having been the world’s first synthetic plastic, Bakelite helped bring about the beginning of the modern plastics industry
Leo Baekeland
- Successor to his stepmother, Hatshepsut, as pharaoh of Egypt in the 15th century B.C.
- Under him the Egyptian Empire grew larger than it had ever been
Thutmose III
- Mexican author of the 20th and 21st centuries, celebrated throughout the Spanish-speaking world
- His major works include The Death of Artemio Cruz and The Old Gringo
Carlos Fuentes
18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131) was a Persian polymath, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and poet. Has had quatrains attributed to him in translation
Omar Khayyam
- American author of the 20th century best known for his novel Invisible Man, about an unnamed black man who considers himself invisible to society
- A recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969, he also wrote the essay collections Going to the Territory and Shadow and Act
Ralph Ellison
- American businessman and investor who co-founded Broadcast.com, which was acquired by Yahoo! in 1999
- He is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, as well as Landmark Theatres and Magnolia Pictures.
- An investor on “Shark Tank”
Mark Cuban
- Retired Canadian NHL head coach who coached five teams
- As a head coach he has won a record 9 Stanley Cups with three different franchises
- He holds the record for most wins in league history
Scotty Bowman
- Irish-born British painter of the 20th century
- He typically depicted figures trapped in geometrical cages set against flat backgrounds
- His major works include Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion and Study for a Self-Portrait - Triptych
Francis Bacon (artist)
- French painter of the 17th century
- A classicist who emphasized logic, order, and line over color, his work was one of the principal alternatives to the dominant Baroque style of the period
- His major works include Et in Arcadia ego and Death of Germanicus
Nicolas Poussin
Irish author and academic of the 20th century, best known for his works The Allegory of Love, The Screwtape Letters, The Space Trilogy
CS Lewis
- Among his most famous works are The Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment, and The Idiot
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Siddhartha Gautama, a prince born in the 6th Century B.C.E. in what is now Nepal
Buddha
- Greek historian and biographer of the first and second centuries
- He is known for his works Moralia and Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans
Plutarch
2 time East German Olympic figure skating women’s champion in 1980s
Katarina Witt
- Co-founder of Microsoft and the founder of Vulcan, Inc.
- He is also the owner of the Portland Trail Blazers and the Seattle Seahawks
Paul Allen
Last Inca emperor, captured and controlled by Pisarro
Atahualpa
India’s first prime minister from 1947 until his death in 1964; Indira Gandhi’s father
Jawaharlal Nehru
- Influential Irish author and playwright of the 20th century who wrote in both French and English
- He is associated with modernism, minimalism, and the Theatre of the Absurd
Samuel Beckett
Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynic philosophy. He begged for a living and often slept in a large ceramic jar, or pithos, in the marketplace.
Diogenes
The creators of the comic book superhero Superman
Jerry Siegel (writer) and Joe Shuster (artist)
1729[2] – 9 July 1797) was an Irish statesman, economist, and philosopher. Proponent of underpinning virtues with manners in society and religious institutions for the moral stability and good of the state.[3] These views were expressed in his A Vindication of Natural Society. In his Reflections on the Revolution in France, he asserted that the revolution was destroying the fabric of good society.
Edmund Burke
- German philosopher of the 18th and 19th centuries who influenced a great many writers and thinkers, notably Karl Marx
- He stressed the all-important nature of mind or spirit
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
- 19th-century Chilean independence leader of Spanish and Irish descent who is regarded as one of Chile’s founding fathers
- Along with José de San Martín, he helped free Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence
Bernardo O’Higgins
- Indian-born British writer of the 20th and 21st centuries
- He is known as the author of Midnight’s Children, Shame, and the highly controversial The Satanic Verses
Salman Rushdie
- British-Canadian journalist of the 20th and 21st centuries who works for The New Yorker
- His popular books, which often deal with social psychology and academic research, include The Tipping Point and Outliers
Malcolm Gladwell
- Canadian ice hockey center who played most notably for the Edmonton Oilers and New York Rangers in the 1970s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s
- He won 5 Stanley Cups with the Oilers and another with the Rangers in 1994
- He was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007
Mark Messier
American businessman, investor, political donor and philanthropist. He was the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corporation
Sheldon Adelson
American computer scientists and entrepreneurs who are the co-founders of Google
Larry Page and Sergey Brin
Serbian-American inventor and engineer of the 19th and 20th centuries noted for his contributions to the design of the modern AC electric power system
Nikola Tesla
- South African and British Commonwealth statesman and military leader who served twice as South Africa’s Prime Minister
- He is most known for playing an instrumental role in the establishment of the League of Nations, and later called for the creation of the UN
- He served in both World Wars, and was also the only person to sign the peace treaties ending both of the wars
Jan Smuts
Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. He engaged in conflict with Henry II, King of England, over the rights and privileges of the Church and was murdered by followers of the king in Canterbury Cathedral.
Thomas Becket
- French writer of the 19th century best known for playing a fundamental role in the development of the modern short story
- A protégé of Flaubert, his works include the novel Pierre et Jean and the stories “Boul de Suif”, “Le Horla”, and “Deux Amis”
Guy de Maupassant
- Serbian tennis player ranked no. 1 in the world as of mid-2014
- Winner of 7 Grand Slam singles trophies
- With Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, he formed part of the longest stretch of dominance by three men in tennis history, winning 29 of 30 Grand Slam titles available from 2004 to 2012
Novak Djokovic
- English writer of the 19th and 20th centuries who wrote extensively about British imperialism
- His works include the poems “The White Man’s Burden” and “Gunga Din”, the novella “The Man Who Would Be King”
Rudyard Kipling
- He was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death in 1970, and promoted socialist reform and modernization
- The Suez Crisis occurred during his administration, and its end, along with his strong emphasis of pan-Arab nationalism, made him a hero in the Arab world
Gamal Abdel Nasser
- His most important surviving treatises include Metaphysics, Politics, Poetics, and Physics
Aristotle
- He led the nation to victory in the Mexican-American War and oversaw the acquisition of large territories in the west, including Texas and California
- The Naval Academy also opened during his presidency
James K. Polk
- American media mogul who founded CNN and TBS
- He also created the cartoon Captain Planet and the Planeteers, formerly owned the Atlanta Braves, and notably helped create the United Nations Foundation
Ted Turner
20th-century American poet who was Poet Laureate of the United States and a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for her work, characterized by its highly detailed yet distant nature
Elizabeth Bishop
- Pharaoh of Egypt in the 14th century B.C., believed to be the father of King Tut
- He is most famous for abandoning traditional Egyptian religion and worshipping one god only, Aten, a solar deity or sun disc
- Traditional polytheism was restored, however, in the years following his death
Akhenaten
- Vietnamese revolutionary of the 20th century who helped found the communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945
- His forces helped drive out Japanese forces in the 40s and defeat the French in 1954
- Although he died during the Vietnam War, he served as an inspiration for the People’s Army of Vietnam and the Viet Cong fighting for a united, communist Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh
Castilian knight and warlord in medieval Spain. As the head of his loyal knights, he came to dominate the Levante of the Iberian Peninsula at the end of the 11th century. He reclaimed the Taifa of Valencia from Moorish control for a brief period during the Reconquista, ruling the principality as its Prince (Señorío de Valencia [es]) from 17 June 1094 until his death in 1099.
El Cid
- Russian-born American writer of the 20th century who wrote at first in Russian and later in English
- He is known for such works as the novels Lolita, Pale Fire, and The Defense, and the memoir Speak, Memory
Vladimir Nabokov
- American football wide receiver who played most famously for the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders in the 1980s, 90s, and 2000s
- Considered the greatest wide receiver of all time, holding many receiving records, and among the greatest players in the history of the sport
- Winner of 3 Super Bowls with the 49ers
Jerry Rice
- 15th and 16th-century Dutch theologian and humanist
- Proponent of religious toleration who sought to reform the Catholic Church while maintaining his recognition of the pope
- Friend of Sir Thomas More
Erasmus
- Czech-born writer of the 20th century, now a French citizen
- The Czech Republic’s most famous living author, his works include The Book of Laughter and Forgetting and The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Milan Kundera
Co-founder and former CEO of AOL
Steve Case
- French painter of the 19th century
- Important figure in the genesis of modern art
- Major contributor to the transition from Realism to Impressionism
- His major works include The Luncheon on the Grass, Olympia, and Fifer
Edouard Manet
- American author of the 20th and 21st centuries, best known for her nonfiction works which explore American culture and family life
- Her works include the essay collection The White Album and The Year of Magical Thinking
Joan Didion
20th-century Ottoman military officer who fought in the Balkan Wars and World War I and was a leader of the Young Turk revolution
Enver Pasha
- The stage name of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, a French playwright and actor of the 17th century
- Regarded as a genius of comedy, he was adored by the court of Louis XIV and aristocrats of Paris
Moliere
- Italian poet and humanist of the 14th century
- A contemporary of Boccaccio, he is known for coining the term “the Dark Ages” and for contributing to the development of lyrical poetry
Petrarch
- American basketball shooting guard who played for the Los Angeles Lakers
- Winner of 5 NBA championships and the 2008 NBA MVP award
- Considered the greatest shooting guard since Michael Jordan, he is also renowned for his competitive spirit
Kobe Bryant
- French architect of the 19th century
- Best known for his restorations of medieval buildings, he is considered a Gothic Revival architect
- He also designed the interior of the Statue of Liberty
Eugene Viollet-le-Duc
Louisiana pirate who helped General Andrew Jackson defend New Orleans during the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812
Jean Lafitte
- American financier of the 19th and 20th centuries, enormously powerful and influential in his day
- He is noted for helping to arrange the merger that resulted in the creation of General Electric
- He is also responsible for merging several steel businesses, among them Carnegie Steel Company, to create U.S. Steel
JP Morgan
16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was a member of the Académie française, and won the 1921 Nobel Prize in Literature “in recognition of his brilliant literary achievements, characterized as they are by a nobility of style, a profound human sympathy, grace, and a true Gallic temperament”
Anatole France
British politician who won the Nobel Prize in literature
Winston Churchill
- English philosopher from the 17th century who argued that governments should depend on the consent of the governed and criticized the notion of monarchs’ divine right
- Also claimed that the human mind is a blank slate (tabula rasa) at birth and until experience eventually begins to write on it
- His writings greatly influenced the American Founding Fathers
John Locke
- American multi-sport athlete of the 20th century
- She won 2 gold medals and 1 silver medal in track and field at the 1932 Olympic Games
- After finding success in basketball for some years, she began to play golf in the mid-30s and went on to find enormous success in the sport, eventually being named AP Female Athlete of the Year six times
Babe Didrikson Zaharias
- 14th-century Italian poet, regarded as an important humanist of the Renaissance
- A friend of Petrarch, his works include The Decameron and his collection of biographies On Famous Women
Boccaccio
- Egyptian colonel and statesman who overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan in the Revolution of 1952
Nasser
- United States Senator of the 20th century who represented Arkansas from 1945 to 1974
- During his time in office he supported the creation of the United Nations and segregation, but opposed McCarthyism and American involvement in the Vietnam War
J. William Fulbright
- Italian painter of the 16th century
- He is considered the most important member of the Venetian school
- Renowned for his use of color and loose brushwork
- His major works include Assumption of the Virgin, Pesaro Madonna, and Venus of Urbino
Titian
- American baseball pitcher of the 1900s, 1910s, and 20s who played for the Washington Senators
- He is regarded as one of the greatest pitchers ever, and still holds the record for career shutouts
Walter Johnson
- Czech-American tennis player who competed in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s
- She is one of the most accomplished tennis players in history
- She won 18 Grand Slam singles titles and a record 31 Grand Slam doubles titles
Martina Navratilova
- English poet of the 19th century who was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom and highly popular during his time
- His works include “The Charge of the Light Brigade” and “Crossing the Bar”
- He wrote the famous lines “‘Tis better to have loved and lost/Than never to have loved at all”
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
- American businessman of the 20th century who was instrumental in establishing the McDonald’s Corporation as a fast food giant
- He also owned the San Diego Padres
Ray Kroc
- Italian philosopher and priest of the 13th century and a saint of the Roman Catholic Church
- A proponent of natural theology, he reconciled reason and faith by arguing that philosophy could be compatible with Christianity
Thomas Aquinas
- Irish satirist and author of the 17th and 18th centuries
- He is best known for writing the novel Gulliver’s Travels and the satirical essay “A Modest Proposal”
Jonathan Swift
- German and Swiss painter of the 19th and 20th centuries
- He had a highly individual style that was influenced by expressionism, cubism, and surrealism
- His major works include Twittering Machine, Fish Magic, and Viaducts Break Ranks
Paul Klee
- American basketball small forward who played for the Boston Celtics in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s
- Known for his all-around skills and shooting ability, he helped popularize basketball as a global game along with Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson
- He was a 3-time NBA MVP and a 3-time NBA champion
- He later became a coach and executive, and is the only person in NBA history to be named MVP, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year
Larry Bird
- American author of the 20th century primarily associated with the Harlem Renaissance
- In his writing he often depicted the black experience in the United States
- His poems include “The Weary Blues” and “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”
Langston Hughes
- American basketball center who played for the Boston Celtics in the 1950s and 60s
- Known as a great rebounder and defender, he keyed a Celtics dynasty that saw him win 11 NBA titles in 13 seasons
- A prominent figure in the Civil Rights Movement, he had a rivalry with Wilt Chamberlain
Bill Russell
- French philosopher of the 17th century who was fundamental to modern philosophy and the Scientific Revolution
- He is best known for the statement “I think, therefore I am”
Rene Descartes
- German philosopher from the 18th century whose major work is Critique of Pure Reason
- He aimed to unite reason and experience, as in his mind metaphysics had not arrived at answers on important topics such as free will, God, and the soul
Immanuel Kant
- American baseball shortstop and third baseman who played for the Baltimore Orioles in the 1980s, 90s, and 2000s
- He is best known for holding the record for consecutive games played
- He won the AL MVP twice and also won a World Series title
Cal Ripken, Jr.
- 10th and 11th-century Japanese writer and lady-in-waiting at the Japanese Imperial court
- She is best known as the author of the classic Japanese work The Tale of Genji, often regarded as the world’s first novel
Murasaki Shikibu
Key general/president in 19th century Mexico, fought lots of wars, controversial because probably ended up losing lots of territory
Santa Anna
- 20th-century political figure who was the Shah of Persia and the last King of Iran
- The Shah was a secular Muslim who promoted modernization and recognized Israel, and he was overthrown in 1979 in the Iranian Revolution
- He died in 1980 while in exile in Egypt, having been granted asylum by President Anwar Sadat
Mohammed Reza Palavi
Aztec emperor and ruler of Tenochtitlan who was overthrown by the Spanish under Hernando Cortés
Montezuma II
- Chilean statesman and poet, revered in Latin America during his lifetime
- He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971
Pablo Neruda
born 10 July 1931) is a Canadian short story writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013.
Alice Munro
American track and field sprinter and long jumper who famously starred in the 1936 Summer Olympics, winning 4 gold medals
Jesse Owens
- Algerian-born French author and philosopher of the 20th century
- His works include L’Étranger, La Peste, and La Chute
Albert Camus
- Chief consort and wife to the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten in the 14th century B.C.
- Her bust is one of the most famous surviving artifacts of Ancient Egypt
Nefertiti
- Canadian ice hockey center who currently plays for the Pittsburgh Penguins
- Selected first overall in the 2005 draft, he won the Hart Memorial Trophy in 2007 and 2014
- He led the Penguins to the Stanley Cup title in 2009 and Canada to the gold medal at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics
Sidney Crosby
- German-Australian photographer of the 20th and 21st centuries
- Best known as a fashion photographer who produced provocative black-and-white photos for Vogue among other publications
Helmut Newton
King of the West Saxons from 871 to c. 886 and king of the Anglo-Saxons from c. 886 to 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf. He had a reputation as a learned and merciful man of a gracious and level-headed nature who encouraged education, proposing that primary education be conducted in Old English rather than Latin and improving the legal system and military structure and his people’s quality of life.
Alfred the Great
- Greek statesman and general of Athens from the 5th century B.C.
- Promoted Athenian democracy and championed the arts, overseeing the creation of many great structures like the Parthenon and much of the Acropolis
- His rule is sometimes known as the Golden Age
Pericles
PM of Pakistan and former International Cricketer
Imran Khan
First and only female PM of Australia
Julia Gillard
- He helped open relations with the People’s Republic of China and negotiated the Paris Peace Accords, putting an end to American involvement in the Vietnam War
Henry Kissinger
(June 8, 1921 – June 20, 2012) was an American artist known for his brilliantly colored, expressionist paintings and screenprints of athletes, musicians, and sporting events.
LeRoy Neiman
- American essayist and lecturer of the 19th century and a major leader of Trascendentalism
- He is best known for championing individualism and for his essay Self-Reliance
Ralph Waldo Emerson
- King Louis XIII’s chief minister
- He helped to establish absolute monarchy in France, founded the Académie Française, and contributed to the retention of Quebec as a French colony
Cardinal Richelieu
- English artist of the 20th and 21st centuries known for his paintings, prints, photography, and stage design
- Best known as a major figure in the Pop Art movement
- He is also known for creating photography collages known as “joiners”
- His major works include A Bigger Splash and We Two Boys Together Clinging
David Hockney
- English philosopher of the 17th century best known for his 1651 book Leviathan
- He is regarded as a founder of modern political philosophy
Thomas Hobbes
- American Olympic diver who competed in the 1970s and 80s
- Arguably the greatest diver of all time, he is the only male diver to sweep the diving events (on springboard and platform) in consecutive Olympic Games
Greg Louganis
- American author and screenwriter of the 20th and 21st centuries
- His works include the memoir Adventures in the Screen Trade, the novel (and screenplay for) The Princess Bride, and the screenplays for Misery, All the President’s Men, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
William Goldman
Washington Post journalists who did much of the original reporting on the Watergate scandal, which resulted in government investigations and the resignation of President Nixon
Woodward and Bernstein
- French civic designer of the 19th century
- Best known for his renovation of Paris, introducing the wide boulevards and uniform building facades for which the city is so famous today
Georges-Eugene Haussman
- American physicist of the 20th century who, along with Enrico Fermi, is known as the “father of the atomic bomb”
- Played a major role in the Manhattan Project, which developed the first nuclear weapons
J. Robert Oppenheimer
- Belgian comic book writer and artist of the 20th century
- Best known as the creator of the popular The Adventures of Tintin series
Hergé
A number of phrases from his work have become commonplace in the English language, including “Nature, red in tooth and claw” (“In Memoriam A.H.H.”), “‘Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all”, “Theirs not to reason why, / Theirs but to do and die”, “My strength is as the strength of ten, / Because my heart is pure”, “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield”, “Knowledge comes, but Wisdom lingers”, and “The old order changeth, yielding place to new”.
Tennyson
- He authored Rights of Man, in support of the French Revolution, and The Age of Reason, which supported deism and promoted reason
Thomas Paine
American inventor of the 19th century who perfected the design of the modern sewing machine, which incorporated a lockstitch design
Elias Howe
- 19th-century Argentine general who played a major role in the successful South American struggle for independence from Spain
- He was directly involved in the liberation of both Chile and Peru, and is seen along with Simón Bolívar as one of the liberators of Spanish South America
Jose de San Martin
- 18th and 19th-century Ottoman military leader who became the head of Sudan and Egypt
- Considered the founder of modern Egypt, he made many economic and military reforms and established a dynasty that would last until the Egyptian Revolution of 1952
Muhammad Ali of Egypt
Egyptian pharaoh of the 26th century B.C., most famous for having allegedly built the Great Pyramid of Giza
Khufu
- English soccer midfielder who played for Manchester United, Real Madrid, and the Los Angeles Galaxy from the 1990s to the 2010s
- A global icon with his wife Victoria, formerly Posh Spice of the Spice Girls
- Became the first marquee soccer player to join the MLS in 2007
David Beckham
- American basketball forward who played in the 1980s, most notably for the University of Southern California
- Considered by many to be the greatest female basketball player ever, she was named College Player of the Year 3 times and won an Olympic gold medal with the U.S. national team in 1984
- She is the sister of former NBA star Reggie Miller
Cheryl Miller
English playwright and author of the 20th century, most famous for his books about Winnie-the-Pooh
AA Milne
- American college basketball coach who served as the head coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team from 1974-2012
- She is the winningest basketball coach in NCAA history – men’s or women’s – in any division
- She never had a losing season as head coach, and won 8 NCAA titles
Pat Summitt
- American football running back who played in the 1970s and 80s for the Chicago Bears
- Nicknamed Sweetness, he won 2 NFL MVP awards and 1 Super Bowl title
- He formerly held many notable rushing records, and remains one of the most revered players in NFL history
Walter Payton
- The pen name of Marie-Henri Beyle, a 19th-century French writer, known for his psychologically realistic works
- He is best known for his novels The Red and the Black and The Charterhouse of Parma
Stendhal
American steel magnate of the 19th and 20th centuries who headed Bethlehem Steel Corporation, America’s second-largest steel producer
Charles M. Schwab (not the investor, Charles R.)
- American basketball center who played for the Philadelphia (later San Francisco) Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Lakers in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s
- A rival to Celtics great Bill Russell, he set multiple NBA records (including the single-game scoring record, 100 points) and is remembered as an imposing athletic specimen
- He won 4 NBA MVP awards and 2 NBA titles
Wilt Chamberlain
Jamaican-born political leader and black nationalist who was a proponent of the Back-to-Africa movement and founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association
Marcus Garvey
- German philosopher of the 19th century who substantially influenced existentialism
- He challenged Christianity and morality and believed strongly in the idea of “life-affirmation”
Friedrich Nietzsche
American general of the 20th century who commanded Allied forces in the Pacific in World War II and later commanded troops of the United Nations in the Korean War
Douglas MacArthur
- American liguist and academic of the 20th and 21st centuries who is a professor at MIT
- Considered the father of modern linguistics, he has written over 100 books on linguistics, politics, philosophy, media, and war
Noam Chomsky
American businessman who founded BET and in 2001 became the first African-American billionaire
Robert L. Johnson
British politician who served as Prime Minister following Thatcher after serving in her government. Despite a dwindling majority, he passed further reforms to education and criminal justice, privatised British Rail and the coal industry, and signed the Downing Street Declaration, reinvigorating the Northern Ireland peace process, which would eventually help lead to the Good Friday Agreement.
John Major
- 19th and 20th-century American author known for his novels The American and The Portrait of a Lady
Henry James
- French writer of the 16th century credited with establishing the essay as a literary genre
- His best-known work is Essais, translated as “Attempts”
Michel de Montaigne
- He oversaw the Berlin Airlift, the creation of NATO, and the start of the Cold War
- He also instituted the Marshall Plan to help Europe in its post-war recovery and gained approval for the Korean War.
Harry Truman
American sculptor best known for his work on Mount Rushmore. He is also associated with various other public works of art across the U.S., including Stone Mountain in Georgia, the statue of Union General Philip Sheridan in Washington, D.C., as well as a bust of Abraham Lincoln which was exhibited in the White House by Theodore Roosevelt[6] and which is now held in the United States Capitol crypt in Washington, D.C.
Gutzon Borglum
- French author of the 19th century known for his perfectionist writing style and his novels Madame Bovary and Sentimental Education
- He served as a guardian and mentor to Guy de Maupassant
Gustave Flaubert
- American basketball center who played for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s
- A 3-time NCAA champion with John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins and famous for his Sky Hook, he went on to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- Former American football player who coached the Oakland Raiders to victory in Super Bowl XI in 1976
- He later became a successful broadcaster and gained enormous popularity for an NFL video game series he has endorsed since the 80s
John Madden
- German tennis player who competed in the 1980s and 90s
- She won 22 Grand Slam singles titles in her career, the most of any male or female player in the Open Era
- She married American tennis star Andre Agassi in 2001
Stefi Graf
20th-century Israeli leader who was important to the formation of Israel and was named the country’s first prime minister
David Ben-Gurion
