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Huey P. Newton was an African-American civil and political rights activist. He is credited with co-founding The Black Panther Party (BPP), which went on to become one of black movement's most influential organizations of the late-1960s. The party, under Newton's leadership, founded more than 60 community support programs, including Free Breakfast for Children, which provided food to thousands of children.
Toots Thielemans was a Belgian jazz musician best remembered for his chromatic harmonica playing. A multi-talented personality, Thielemans was also renowned for his whistling skills, composing, and guitaring. Toots Thielemans is credited with popularizing harmonica in the jazz scene which made him the preeminent jazz harmonica player.
Diana Vreeland was a French-American editor and columnist who worked for popular fashion magazines like Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. From 1963 to 1971, she served as the editor-in-chief of Vogue. In 1964, she was inducted into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame. Diana Vreeland’s life and career inspired the 2011 documentary Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel.
Anders Zorn was a Swedish artist who achieved international success as an etcher, sculptor, and painter. One of Sweden's most important artists, Zorn's paintings currently adorn the National Museum of Fine Arts which is located in Stockholm. Apart from creating brilliant works of art, Zorn is also credited with establishing the Bellman Prize, which is a literature prize awarded yearly.
Best known for developing the radio-wave detector named coherer, Oliver Lodge had also served as the first principal of Birmingham University. He was made a Knights Bachelor and had also been a Royal Institution lecturer. His inventions revolutionized early wireless telegraph technology, though they were replaced by modern instruments later.
Gregory Goodwin Pincus revolutionized medical science by co-inventing the first oral contraceptive or birth control pill. The Cornell and Harvard alumnus was born to Russian Jewish immigrants and had an IQ of 210. Though he initially studied agriculture, he later focused on the study of hormones, steroids, and fertility.
German neuroanatomist and physiologist Franz Joseph Gall was the founding father of cranioscopy, or the determination of intelligence and personality traits from the shape of a person’s skull, now known as phrenology. He was also the first to separate the gray matter of the brain from the white matter.
Born to a craftsman in Austria, Rudolph Schindler grew up to a master architect. He also introduced his signature form of modern architecture, known as space architecture, and his own adaptation of the wood frame, the Schindler Frame. He built most of his masterpieces in Southern California, primarily in Los Angeles.
Jan Kochanowski was a Polish Renaissance poet whose poetic patterns became a key component of the Polish literary language. Kochanowski is considered the greatest Polish poet before the arrival of Adam Bernard Mickiewicz. Jan Kochanowski is best remembered for his magnum opus Treny, a series of 19 elegies on the demise of his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Urszula.
Michel Fokine was a Russian dancer and choreographer whose pieces are performed internationally to this day. Fokine is credited with choreographing the works of popular dancers like Anna Pavlova. Renowned for his groundbreaking works, such as Le Pavillon d'Armide, Michel Fokine has been portrayed in a couple of films, namely Nijinsky and A Woman for All Time.
Former president of Brazil, Juscelino Kubitschek, popularly known as JK, is remembered as the primary force behind the construction of Brazil’s new capital, Brasilia. A physician, he worked in military hospitals, before he stepped into politics with the Social Democratic Party. He died in a car crash in Rio de Janeiro.
Nicknamed the Factory King, Richard Oastler was a prominent English social reformer who is known for his relentless campaign for shortening work hours, eventually leading to the 1847 Ten Hours Act. While in prison for opposing the Poor Law Amendment Act, he penned Fleet Papers, a collection of his social theories.
Though born to an actor, Aleksandr Demyanenko initially studied music and also failed in his entrance exams to the Moscow Art Theatre. He later dropped out of law school to eventually focus on acting. He went on to immortalize the character Shurik, which he played in multiple movies, such as Kidnapping, Caucasian Style.
Ștefan Procopiu was a Romanian physicist best remembered for discovering a circular effect of magnetic discontinuity, which was later named Procopiu Effect. Procopiu Effect had prominent applications in the evolution of the memory of computers. Ștefan Procopiu also served as a professor at several institutions throughout his life.
Abulfaz Elchibey was an Azerbaijani political figure who served as the President of Azerbaijan from 17 June 1992 to 24 June 1993. He was stripped of his presidency in a coup d'état in 1993. After the end of his presidency, Abulfaz Elchibey served as the leader of the opposition.
Ellen Church was an American nurse and flight attendant. She wanted to establish herself as a commercial pilot. Since airlines were not hiring women pilots at that time, Church convinced Boeing Air Transport that having nurses as flight-stewardesses would help bring in more passengers. Subsequently, in 1930, Ellen Church became the first female flight attendant.
Born into a Quaker household, Benjamin Lundy had developed anti-slavery sentiments quite early in life. He grew up to become one of the leading abolitionists of the 19th century. He also launched papers such as The National Enquirer and the anti-slavery association Union Humane Society.
Thomas Brock was an English sculptor and medallist. He created several large public sculptures and monuments in both Britain and other parts of the world. He is best known for the Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace, London. He was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1883 and made a full member a few years later.
Anglican priest and mathematician William Whiston is remembered for his efforts in popularizing the works of his mentor Isaac Newton. His A New Theory of the Earth aimed at explaining the historical and scientific validity of biblical events. He was also a supporter of Arianism and Primitive Christianity.
Pope Gregory IX served as the Bishop of Rome and chief of the Roman Catholic Church and therefore the ruler of the Papal States from 1227 until his death in 1241. Pope Gregory IX is best remembered for instituting the Papal Inquisition and issuing the Decretales.
