Mexican painter, Frida Kahlo, was known for her many portraits and self-portraits. Her work is said to have been inspired by the nature, artifacts and popular culture of Mexico. Her work was not much known until the late 1970s, when it was rediscovered by art historians and political activists. By early 1990s, she became a recognized figure in art history.
A talented young man whose life was snatched away too soon, Cory Monteith was a Canadian actor, singer, and musician who rose to fame after playing a role in the TV show ‘Glee.’ Despite being a great actor, he had a troubled life involving substance abuse and alcoholism that eventually caused his death at the age of 31.
Grant Masaru Imahara, a Japanese-American electrical engineer, roboticist, television host and actor, began his career at Lucasfilm, where he got involved with several big budget films including Star War franchise. Later, he joined MythBusters as a member of Build Tea and was well-known for his contribution in it. His other important works include White Rabbit Project, BattleBots, Star Trek Continues etc.
The son of popular actor Sylvester Stallone, Sage Stallone was an actor and filmmaker. He played Robert Balboa Jr., appearing alongside Sylvester Stallone, in the popular film Rocky V. His untimely death at the age of 36, caused by a heart attack, was mourned by movie lovers all over the world.
Liu Xiaobo was a Chinese activist, literary critic, and philosopher. He is best remembered for organizing campaigns that aimed at ending the one-party rule in China. He was honored with the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize for his struggle for human rights in China. Liu is the first Chinese citizen to be honored with a Nobel Prize while residing in China.
One of the co-founders of the English neoclassical school of economics, 19th-century economist Alfred Marshall is best remembered for his path-breaking book Principles of Economics. His studies on topics such as marginal utility, consumer’s surplus, and the elasticity of demand, enriched the field of economics for years to come.
French political theorist, scientist, and physician Jean-Paul Marat was a key figure of the French Revolution. He published his radical views in pamphlets and newspapers, such as L'Ami du people. He was held responsible for the September massacres. His assassination by a Girondin supporter made him a Jacobin martyr.
US Army officer Leslie Groves is best remembered for his association with the Manhattan Project, which was aimed at developing atom bombs during World War II. He was also in-charge of building a place to house the War Department’s staff in a structure that later became the Pentagon.
Born in England and educated in Scotland, Kate Sheppard later moved with her family to New Zealand. A fiery feminist, she led the WCTU women’s suffrage campaign, making New Zealand the first country that granted its women the right to vote. She also encouraged women to participate in physical activities.
Known as the king of Mexican rodeo, for performing in concerts on horseback, Mexican singer Joan Sebastian won the highest number of Grammy awards from his country. Over 20 of his songs made it to the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart. An actor, too, he was seen in the telenovela Tú y yo.
Alla Nazimova was a Russian-American actress who had an extensive career on Broadway. She acted in the classic plays of playwrights like Ibsen, Chekhov, and Turgenev. She eventually moved on to films and had an equally successful stint in cinema as well. She was openly bisexual and had sexual relationships with women while being married to a man.
Nadine Gordimer was a South African political activist and writer. Gordimer, who wrote extensively on racial and moral issues such as apartheid in South Africa, was honored with the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature. An important member of the anti-apartheid movement, Nadine Gordimer's advice to Nelson Mandela led to his famous 1964 defense speech, which eventually led to his conviction.
John C. Frémont is best remembered for his role in the expansion of US settlements in the West and also for the development of what is now known as California. A military officer, he became one of the first senators from California and had also been the 5th governor of Arizona.
Zindzi Mandela was a South African poet and diplomat best known as the daughter of the famous anti-apartheid activist, Nelson Mandela. From 1996 to 1998, she also served as a temporary First Lady of South Africa. Over the years, she has been portrayed in films and TV films, such as Mrs Mandela (2009), Invictus (2009), and Mandela (1987).
August Kekulé was a German organic chemist. Regarded as one of the most important chemists in Europe, Kekulé is credited with founding the theory of chemical structure, including the Kekulé structure of benzene. Kekulé is also credited with teaching future Nobel Prize winners, Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff Jr., Hermann Emil Louis Fischer, and Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer.
James Lind revolutionized medical science by recommending lemon juice and citrus fruits as remedies for scurvy in British Navy officials. Though born into a Scottish merchant family, he ended up becoming a successful naval surgeon. His research also included the prevention of typhus among seamen.
Gabriel Lippmann was a Franco-Luxembourgish inventor and physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1908. He is also remembered for inventing an astronomical tool called the coelostat. Lippmann was an influential physicist from Luxembourg; an Institute for scientific research in Luxembourg City was named after him. The Institute was later renamed Luxembourg Institute for Science and Technology (LIST).
Born in Russia, ballerina Alexandra Danilova later became an American citizen. Best known for her role in the film The Turning Point, she had also taught at the School of American Ballet. She was associated with both the Ballets Russes and the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.
Brion Gysin was a Canadian painter, sound poet, writer, and performance artist. Gysin was also known as an inventor of experimental devices; he is credited with inventing the Dreamachine, a stroboscopic flicker device. Brion Gysin's ideas went on to inspire the artists of the Beat Generation and other prominent personalities like Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Laurie Anderson, and Keith Haring.
Emily Davies was an English suffragist and feminist. One of the first campaigners for women's rights to university education, Davies is best remembered for co-founding Girton College, the first university in England to educate women. Emily Davies is also credited with playing an important role in the establishment of Newnham College in 1875.
Alexander Schmorell was a Russian-German revolutionary best remembered for co-founding the popular resistance group White Rose, which opposed the Nazi German regime. He was executed by the Nazis and was later glorified as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. Alexander Schmorell is also venerated throughout the world by Orthodox Christians.
Patrick Blackett was a British experimental physicist who became the first person to prove that radioactivity could cause the nuclear transmutation of one chemical element to another. He is recognized for his seminal work on cloud chambers, cosmic rays, and paleomagnetism, for which he received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1948. He was known to be a gentle person.
Anglican priest Titus Oates is infamous for making up the 1678 Popish Plot, suggesting that Roman Catholics were plotting to kill King Charles II and seize power. His fake plot created mayhem in London and strengthened the Whig Party. He was later arrested and imprisoned for sedition.
A. D. Hope was an Australian poet, essayist, and academic. He studied at the University of Oxford on a scholarship and returned to Australia, where he began working as a lecturer. As a writer, he earned both fame and notoriety for his scathing satire. He was a recipient of the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal, among other honors.
Tom Simpson was a British professional cyclist who specialized in pursuit racing. One of most successful and popular cyclists of Britain, Simpson is best remembered for winning a bronze medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. He then went on to win a gold medal at the 1965 UCI Road World Championships in San Sebastián, Spain.