Biographies
Nikki Haley
The first woman to serve as governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley also served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (2017–18).
South Carolina Governor Nikki R. Haley
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Athletes with the Most Olympic Medals
When it comes to the Olympics, one athlete has made the biggest splash. But where do other historic standouts stand on this ranking?
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Editor's Picks
How Did Helen Keller Fly a Plane?
In 1946 deaf-blind writer and activist Helen Keller piloted a plane over the Mediterranean. How?
Aishwarya Bachchan Rai
Aishwarya Bachchan Rai Indian actress whose classic beauty made her one of Bollywood’s premier stars. Rai was raised in a traditional South Indian home and was pursuing an education in architecture when she was crowned Miss World in 1994. The title put her on the fast track of the modeling
Who Was the Woman Behind the Statue of Liberty?
Read about the woman who inspired the Statue of Liberty.
Haruki Murakami
Haruki Murakami Japanese novelist, short-story writer, and translator whose deeply imaginative and often ambiguous books became international bestsellers. Murakami’s first novel, Kaze no uta o kike (1979; Hear the Wind Sing; film 1980), won a prize for best fiction by a new writer. From the start
7 Notorious Women Criminals
Sugar, spice, and everything nice? Think again.
Lou Reed
Lou Reed, singer-songwriter whose place in the rock pantheon rests primarily on his role in guiding the Velvet Underground, a New York City-based quartet that produced four poor-selling but enormously influential studio albums under Reed’s direction from 1965 to 1970. Reed’s post-Velvets career,
10 Classical Music Composers to Know
Who are the most essential classical music composers to know?
Nikki Giovanni
Nikki Giovanni is an American poet whose writings range from calls for Black power to poems for children and intimate personal statements. Giovanni grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Knoxville, Tennessee, and in 1960 she entered Nashville’s Fisk University. By 1967, when she received a B.A., she had
Spotlight: Marie Curie
The Polish-born French physicist was famous for her work on radioactivity, becoming the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in 1903 (for Physics), and later becoming the only woman to win a Nobel in two different fields when, in 1911, she won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
Quizzes
I Am the Greatest (Athlete)
Think you know a lot about famous athletes? This quiz might get your GOAT.
Name that Painter!
Can you tell a Monet from a Manet?
Who's on that Stamp?
This quiz requires attention -- you can't just mail it in.
First Ladies of the United States Quiz
They have been hostesses, helpers, advisers, gatekeepers, guardians, confidantes, and sometimes formidable powers behind the scenes. How much do you know about the first ladies of the United States?
Videos
What made Sammy Davis, Jr., the world's greatest entertainer?
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Charles Darwin
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Actors
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn indomitable American stage and film actress, known as a spirited performer with a touch of eccentricity. She introduced into her roles a strength of character previously considered to be undesirable in Hollywood leading ladies. As an actress, she was noted for her brisk
Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier Bahamian American actor, director, and producer who broke the colour barrier in the U.S. motion-picture industry by becoming the first African American to win an Academy Award for best actor (for Lilies of the Field [1963]) and the first Black movie star. He also redefined roles for
Dorothy Dandridge
Dorothy Dandridge American singer and film actress who was the first black woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for best actress. Dandridge’s mother was an entertainer and comedic actress who, after settling in Los Angeles, had some success in radio and, later, television. The young Dorothy
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier a towering figure of the British stage and screen, acclaimed in his lifetime as the greatest English-speaking actor of the 20th century. He was the first member of his profession to be elevated to a life peerage. The son of an Anglican minister, Olivier attended All Saints Choir
Philosophers
Avicenna
Avicenna Muslim physician, the most famous and influential of the philosopher-scientists of the medieval Islamic world. He was particularly noted for his contributions in the fields of Aristotelian philosophy and medicine. He composed the Kitāb al-shifāʾ (Book of the Cure), a vast philosophical and
Plato
Plato ancient Greek philosopher, student of Socrates (c. 470–399 bce), teacher of Aristotle (384–322 bce), and founder of the Academy, best known as the author of philosophical works of unparalleled influence. He is one of the major figures of Classical antiquity. Building on the demonstration by
Cornel West
Cornel West American philosopher, scholar of African American studies, and political activist. His influential book Race Matters (1993) lamented what he saw as the spiritual impoverishment of the African American underclass and critically examined the “crisis” of Black leadership in the United
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell British philosopher, logician, and social reformer, founding figure in the analytic movement in Anglo-American philosophy, and recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. Russell’s contributions to logic, epistemology, and the philosophy of mathematics established him as
Aviation Legends
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart American aviator, one of the world’s most celebrated, who was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Her disappearance during a flight around the world in 1937 became an enduring mystery, fueling much speculation. Earhart’s father was a railroad lawyer, and her mother
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh American aviator, one of the best-known figures in aeronautical history, remembered for the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, from New York City to Paris, on May 20–21, 1927. Lindbergh’s early years were spent chiefly in Little Falls, Minnesota, and in
Harriet Quimby
Harriet Quimby American aviator, the first female pilot to fly across the English Channel. Quimby’s birth date and place are not well attested. (She sometimes claimed 1884 in Arroyo Grande, California.) By 1902, however, it is known that she and her family were living in California, and in that
Wright brothers
Wright brothers, American brothers, inventors, and aviation pioneers who achieved the first powered, sustained, and controlled airplane flight (1903). Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867, near Millville, Indiana, U.S.—May 30, 1912, Dayton, Ohio) and his brother Orville Wright (August 19, 1871,