Vincent van Gogh was a Dutch post-impressionist painter and is said to be one of the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. However, he was not commercially successful in his lifetime and died by suicide at 37 after years of mental health issues and poverty. He gained recognition and respect in the 20th century.
Cass Elliot was a popular American singer and actress. As part of the famous folk-rock vocal group The Mamas and the Papas, Cass Elliot played an important role in influencing the counterculture of the 1960s and its music scene. She had a great impact on the American entertainment industry of the 1960s.
René Gerónimo Favaloro was an Argentine educator and cardiac surgeon. He is best remembered for his work on coronary artery bypass surgery. Favaloro is credited with establishing the Favaloro Foundation in an attempt to emulate Cleveland Clinic. He is also credited with founding the Basic Investigation Laboratory, which was financed with his own money.
Raymond Massey was a Canadian actor best remembered for his stage-trained voice. Massey earned an Academy Award nomination under the Best Actor category for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in the 1940 biographical historical drama film Abe Lincoln in Illinois. Massey has two stars on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to the film and TV industries.
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was an Indian social reformer and educator. He is best remembered for his efforts to modernize and simplify Bengali prose for which he is widely regarded as the father of Bengali prose. As a social reformer, Vidyasagar played a crucial role in enacting the Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, which legalized the remarriage of Hindu widows in India.
Robert Moses was an American public official. Often referred to as the master builder, Moses is credited with influencing the creation of the modern suburbs of Long Island, which in turn influenced a generation of urban planners, architects, and engineers. Robert Moses is widely regarded as one of the most polarizing personalities in urban development history in the US.
The proponent of the Frankfurt School of critical theory, Herbert Marcuse largely influenced the leftist student revolts of the 1960s. Equipped with a PhD in German literature, he wrote Hegel’s Ontology and the Theory of Historicity, with Martin Heidegger. His Eros and Civilization spoke at length about capitalism.
Luis Buñuel was a Spanish-Mexican filmmaker with a brilliant career spanning almost half a century. He worked in France, Mexico, and Spain and directed films spanning various genres. His filmmaking technique was strongly influenced by mise-en-scène. He was hailed as a leader of avant-garde surrealism and is considered one of the top directors of the 20th century.
Dorothy Hodgkin received the 1964 Nobel Prize for mapping the structure of penicillin and Vitamin B12. She is also known for her work on insulin. Beginning her work on structure of an organic compound by using X-ray crystallography as an undergraduate student, she later developed it further and used it to determine the three-dimensional structure of complex organic molecules.
Initially part of the Yugoslavian weightlifting team, Nikolai Volkoff later moved to Canada and then to the US, where he began competing for the wrestling promotion WWWF, now known as WWE. He usually played the Russian villain in his matches and later teamed up with The Iron Sheik to form a tag team.
Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart was the youngest son of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Constanze. He followed in the footsteps of his father and went on to become a pianist, composer, conductor, and teacher. However, unlike his father, Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart was introverted and often underrated his talent. He also had a constant fear of being compared to his father.
Ronald Fisher was a British polymath, statistician, geneticist, mathematician, and academic. He is credited to have single-handedly created the foundations for modern statistical science. He made important contributions to the field of genetics and is known as one of the three principal founders of population genetics. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1929.
Four-time Nobel Prize-nominated German author Erich Kästne is best remembered for his children’s books such as Emil and the Detectives. Initially aspiring to be a teacher, he later had stints as a journalist and a freelance author. A leading satirist, he contributed to Die Weltbühne and also headed PEN.
Best remembered for his work on the periodic table and his law of octaves, British chemist John Newlands, was home-schooled as a kid. A significant figure in analytical chemistry, he later won the Davy Medal for his achievements. His studied were later collated in On the Discovery of the Periodic Law.
Mickey Cohen was a gangster who became involved with the Chicago Outfit before running multiple businesses like casinos, nightclubs, gas stations, and floral shops. His association with the underworld and his violent methods make him a popular choice for gangster character in crime films; he has been portrayed by popular actors in films like Bugsy, L.A. Confidential, and Gangster Squad.
Often referred to as the Father of the Television, Russian-American engineer Vladimir K. Zworykin is remembered for inventing the kinescope picture tube, also known as the cathode-ray tube, used in the television. He was associated with the Radio Corporation of America, and his other creations included the iconoscope camera.
Nigerian general Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi was named Johnny Ironside after facing an angry mob of Congolese people during the Congo Crisis and releasing hostages from Katangese rebels. He reigned as Nigeria’s 1st military head of state. He was eventually assassinated by a few Northern Nigerian officers.
An illegitimate child of architect Edward Godwin and actor Ellen Terry, Edward Gordon Craig later grew up to be one of the pillars of modernist English theater. While he began his career acting at the Lyceum Theatre, he later switched to set designing. The Art of the Theatre remains his best-known written work.
Andrzej Bogucki was a Polish actor, operetta singer, and songwriter. He is best remembered for his efforts to save the life of Polish Jewish pianist Władysław Szpilman during World War II when Poland was occupied by the Nazis. Andrzej Bogucki and his wife were honored with the Righteous Among the Nations award in 1978 for their actions during the war.
Roger Williamson was a British racing driver best remembered for winning the British Formula Three Championship title twice. Williamson died at the age of 25 while competing in his second F1 race during the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix in the Netherlands.
Madame Clicquot Ponsardin was a French businesswoman and Champagne producer. Clicquot is best remembered for taking over her husband's business and turning the company into a world-famous Champagne house. Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, the company which still bears her name, is credited with inventing a novel technique called riddling which is still used today to make better Champagne.
Pope Urban II, also known as Otho de Lagery, began as an archdeacon in Reims. He gradually rose through the ranks to become the bishop of Ostia. Later, as the pope, he dealt with conflicts within Christianity and also had a major role in promoting the Crusades against Muslims.
At 72, Bruno Kreisky ended his term as the oldest chancellor of Austria in the post-World War II era. The Social Democratic Party leader had been a doctor of law and had worked as a journalist, too. His 13-year stint as a chancellor was the longest-ever in republican Austria.
One of the three men who founded the iconic automobile company BMW, Franz Josef Popp was an Austrian engineer. He spearheaded innovative projects such as the production of air-cooled radial engines. Though he later joined the Nazi Party, he was warned for allowing a Jewish doctor treat his family.
Bruce Edwards Ivins was a microbiologist and vaccinologist. He served as the senior biodefense researcher at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). He was the suspected perpetrator of the 2001 anthrax attacks and died in an apparent suicide after realizing that he was likely to face criminal charges for his alleged role in the attacks.
Chris Marker was a French photographer, writer, multimedia artist, film director, and film essayist. He is considered an exponent of the Left Bank subgroup of the French New Wave that came into existence in the 1950s and 1960s. After starting his career by working with members of the Left Bank Film Movement, Marker went on to help popularize the genre.