One of the greatest athletes ever, Usain Bolt is popular by the nickname ‘Lightning Bolt’. He holds the world record for 100 metres, 200 metres and 4 × 100 metres relay and is the only sprinter to win Olympic 100 m and 200 m titles at three consecutive Olympics (2008, 2012 and 2016).
The 18th president of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant held office from 1869 to 1877. He led the Union Army as Commanding General of the United States Army during the American Civil War and was a war hero. As president, he stabilized the post-war national economy and created the Department of Justice. Historians generally recognize his presidential accomplishments.
Urban Meyer is an American football coach who is currently serving as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars which competes in the NFL. He has also coached college football teams like the Ohio State Buckeyes, helping the team win its maiden Big Ten Conference title. He has also worked as an analyst for popular TV networks like Fox Sports.
Usman Khawaja is an Australian professional cricket player who has represented the Australian men's cricket team in Test, One Day International, and Twenty20 cricket. In 2011, he became the first Pakistani-born player and the first Muslim to play for the Australian Test team. He went on to represent Australia at the 2019 Cricket World Cup.
Italian novelist Umberto Eco is best remembered for his novels The Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum. He also taught at the University of Bologna and had released quite a few children’s books and translations. He was also known for his work on semiotics and medieval studies.
The incumbent Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta is the leader of the Jubilee Party of Kenya. Son of Kenya’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta, he was dragged into a controversy after sweeping the 2017 re-elections by winning 98% of the total votes. However, a Supreme Court ruling dismissed all charges against him.
Burmese diplomat U Thant made history by becoming the first non-Scandinavian to be named the UN secretary-general. Later in life, he tried applying Buddhist principles such as detachment to solve major international conflicts. Following his death in New York, his burial in Burma became a source of riots.
Uriah Hall is a Jamaican-American professional mixed martial artist who emerged as The Ultimate Fighter 17 Knockout of the Season. He currently fights in the middleweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and has previously been associated with Bellator MMA and Ring of Combat. Besides mixed martial arts, he has made a few media appearances.
Ub Iwerks was an American cartoonist, animator, inventor, character designer, and special effects technician. He is credited with designing such popular characters as Mickey Mouse and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Apart from being honored with several Academy Awards for his work, Iwerks was also named a Disney Legend. The Ub Iwerks Award for Technical Achievement is named in his honor.
Ulugh Beg was the ruler of the Timurid Empire from 1447 to 1449. He is also remembered for his achievements as a mathematician and astronomer and is credited with building the legendary Ulugh Beg Observatory in Samarkand which was the largest in Central Asia. It was also regarded by scholars as one of the best observatories in the Islamic world.
Umaru Musa Yar'Adua became President of Nigeria after winning the highly-controversial 2007 presidential election as candidate of PDP. He earlier served as Governor of Katsina. He went to Saudi Arabia in November 2009 to receive treatment for pericarditis. He was never seen in public again and although he returned to Nigeria in February 2010, he died in May that year.
Urho Kekkonen was the eighth and longest-serving president of Finland. He was noted for continuing and further developing the Paasikivi-Kekkonen doctrine established by his predecessor President Juho Kusti Paasikivi aiming survival of Finland as an independent nation in immediate proximity of the Soviet Union. Kekkonen earlier held several ministerial and legislative posts including serving as as Prime Minister of Finland.
U Nu was a Burmese nationalist politician and statesman. He is best remembered for his service as the Prime Minister of Burma on three occasions between 1948 and 1962. U Nu is also remembered for his literary works; he wrote several plays and novels during his lifetime.
Ugo Monye is an English former rugby union player turned sports pundit. He was a star athlete as a youth and played for Hampshire RFC U17s and U20s. He then joined Harlequins and played 241 times for them. He won both the second division and then the Premiership title with Harlequins. He has also played for England.
Utkarsh Ambudkar is an American rapper, actor, and singer. Apart from releasing extended plays, such as The Gold Tusk and Members Only, Ambudkar has also played interesting roles on stage, in films, and in TV series. Owing to his Indian origin, Utkarsh Ambudkar has often played characters of Asian background.
Usman Ahmed is a British former professional boxer. He was active from 2006 to 2016. Over his career, he participated in 19 major fights, out of which he won eight. In 2009, he competed for the British and Commonwealth flyweight titles. He gained notoriety when he once danced to the ring, only to be knocked unconscious by his opponent.
Professionally known as Ulay, German artist Frank Uwe Laysiepen began his career in Amsterdam as a photographer for Polaroid, clicking photos across Europe and USA. Later he also took up performing arts, collaborating with his then-companion Marina Abramović, creating numerous pieces, including the Relation Series. After their breakup, he continued with his performing art while concurrently with experimenting with his camera.
Born to a Pakistani cricket administrator, Umar Akmal later joined the Pakistani national cricket team. He was once banned by the PCB for his links to a spot-fixing scandal. In 2020, he was trolled on social media for mentioning how cricketer Abdul Razzaq was his mother from another brother
French Catholic priest Urbain Grandier was a popular preacher in Loudun. However, he was later accused of practicing witchcraft and causing the demonic possession of a group of nuns from the Ursuline convent. It is believed the jealousy of the rival preachers was behind the accusation.
Swiss tenor Urs Bühler has made waves as part of the classical crossover male quartet Il Divo. While he began training in music at age 5 and mastered a number of instruments, he was more interested in rock and heavy metal as a teenager. Surprisingly, one of his hobbies is restoring motorbikes.
French astronomer Urbain Le Verrier revolutionized celestial mechanics by ascertaining the existence of Neptune by mathematical means. Apart from winning the Royal Society of London’s Copley Medal, he had also led the Observatory of Paris as its director. His name remains one of the 72 engraved on the Eiffel Tower.
Known to Bengali audiences as Mahanayak, legendary actor Uttam Kumar ruled the Bengali film industry in the 1950s and the 1960s with superhits such as Harano Sur and Saptapadi. Loved for his on-screen chemistry with Suchitra Sen, he later died of a heart attack while shooting for Ogo Bodhu Shundori.
The last pharaoh of the 5th dynasty, Unas was the first ruler to adorn the Saqqara pyramid interiors with what came to be known as Pyramid Texts. The texts on his tomb suggest various scenes, such as a famine, a campaign against the Bedouins, and trade with Palestine and Syria.
Ulrich Beck was a German sociologist whose work focused on questions of uncertainty, ignorance, and uncontrollability in the modern age. One of the most cited sociologists during his lifetime, Beck is credited with coining the terms second modernity and risk society. Over the course of his career, Ulrich Beck was honored with many prestigious awards like the Schader Prize.
Ur-Nammu reigned as the King of the Neo-Sumerian Empire from 2112 BC to 2094 BC. He is credited with founding the Third Dynasty of Ur, which is also referred to as the Neo-Sumerian Empire, in southern Mesopotamia. Ur-Nammu is best remembered for creating the Code of Ur-Nammu, the oldest known extant legal code in the world.
Professional football forward Umaro Embaló is a youth international for Portugal born in Guinea-Bissau. He played for Oeiras and Benfica during his youth club career. He won the Campeonato Nacional de Juniores league with the Benfica squad during 2017–18 and finished as runner-up at the 2019-20 UEFA Youth League. He made his senior club career debut with Benfica B.