People

Russian novelist (1821–1881) whose works, including Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, transformed the novel's treatment of psychology, morality and faith.

Gabriel García Márquez was a Colombian novelist and journalist, a major exponent of magical realism, and the 1982 Nobel laureate in literature.

Italian astronomer, physicist, and mathematician whose observations and studies of motion helped shape the Scientific Revolution.

Chinese-born French novelist, playwright, painter, and filmmaker awarded the 2000 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Soviet-born chess grandmaster, world champion 1985–2000, and later Russian pro-democracy activist and writer on human rights and AI.

Gautama Buddha, a teacher from ancient India, founded Buddhism; his life is known mainly through later Buddhist texts and legend.

American politician and businessman who became California’s 40th governor in 2019 after serving as San Francisco mayor and California lieutenant governor.

Chinese-American novelist and screenwriter whose Chinese- and English-language works explore migration, historical upheaval, and intimate relationships.

Genghis Khan (c. 1162–1227) founded the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous land empire in history.

American novelist, short-story writer, editor, and screenwriter best known for A Song of Ice and Fire.

British king whose reign encompassed the Second World War and the emergence of the modern Commonwealth.

George Washington (1732–1799) was a Virginia planter and surveyor who led the Continental Army to independence and served as the first president of the United States.

Legendary king of Uruk, Mesopotamian deity, and hero of ancient poems exploring friendship, kingship, and mortality.

German mathematician and philosopher who independently developed calculus and contributed to logic, metaphysics, mechanics, and binary arithmetic.

German mathematician, logician, and philosopher whose work established modern predicate logic and transformed the philosophy of mathematics and language.

Gregor Mendel was an Augustinian friar whose pea-plant experiments established fundamental principles of inheritance and helped found modern genetics.

Sixth king of Babylon's First Dynasty (c. 1792–1750 BCE), best known for the Code of Hammurabi and the empire he built.

Taiwanese Kuomintang politician, Legislative Yuan president, former Kaohsiung mayor, and 2020 presidential candidate.

Hannah Fry is a British mathematician, author and broadcaster whose work combines research on human behaviour with public communication of mathematics and science.

Japanese novelist, short-story writer, essayist, and translator whose internationally circulated fiction combines everyday life with dreamlike events.

Japanese animator, filmmaker, and manga artist whose films and co-founding of Studio Ghibli helped bring Japanese animation to international audiences.

Helen is a figure of Greek mythology whose beauty, marriages, and disputed departure for Troy connect her with the Trojan War.

Henri Kagan is a French chemist whose research established influential methods and principles in asymmetric catalysis and the use of samarium reagents in organic synthesis.

Henry Cavendish was a British experimental scientist known for characterizing hydrogen, investigating water’s composition, and determining Earth’s mean density.

Tudor king whose marriages, break with Rome, and expansion of royal authority reshaped England.

American social scientist whose research connected organizational decision-making, bounded rationality, artificial intelligence, and cognitive science.

Hermann Hesse was a German-born Swiss novelist, poet, and painter whose explorations of selfhood and spirituality earned the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Homer is the traditional author of the Iliad and Odyssey, ancient Greek epics whose origins and authorship remain uncertain.

Hongwu Emperor (Zhu Yuanzhang, 1328–1398) was a peasant-born rebel who founded the Ming dynasty in 1368 and ruled China until 1398 through a highly centralised autocracy.

Howard Goldblatt is an American scholar and literary translator known for his English translations of modern and contemporary Chinese fiction.

Taiwanese politician and diplomat who became vice president in 2024 after serving as Taiwan’s representative to the United States.

Chinese political leader who served as Communist Party general secretary from 2002 to 2012 and state president from 2003 to 2013.

Chinese Communist Party leader associated with post-Mao reforms, whose death preceded the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

Chinese political leader who succeeded Mao Zedong and held the premiership and Communist Party chairmanship during the post-Mao transition.

English author, journalist and naval intelligence officer (1908–1964) best known as the creator of the James Bond spy novels.

Ibn al-Haytham was an eleventh-century scholar whose experimental and mathematical investigations transformed the study of light and vision.

Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher whose critical philosophy examined the conditions of knowledge, moral obligation, and aesthetic judgment.

English mathematician and natural philosopher whose work on motion, gravitation, calculus, and light shaped modern science.

British physicist who discovered the electron, developed an early atomic model, and helped establish mass spectrometry.

American theoretical physicist who led Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project and later advised on nuclear policy.

Scottish physicist and mathematician who developed electromagnetic field theory and pioneered statistical approaches to gases and quantitative studies of colour.

Irish modernist writer whose fiction transformed literary representations of consciousness, everyday life, and language.

English experimental physicist whose measurements established the quantitative relationship between mechanical work and heat and helped found thermodynamics.

James Talarico is an American politician, former teacher, and Texas state representative who became the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas in 2026.

James Watt was a Scottish engineer whose improvements to the steam engine helped extend steam power from mine pumping to industrial manufacturing.

English novelist (1775–1817) whose ironic fiction about courtship, class and moral judgement became central to the English novel.

Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer whose ideas shaped political theory, education, and Romantic literature.

French philosopher, novelist, and playwright whose existentialism connected freedom, responsibility, literature, and political engagement.

American entrepreneur who founded Amazon and Blue Origin, acquired The Washington Post, and established major philanthropic funds.

British novelist and former Conservative politician, known for bestselling fiction and a 2001 perjury conviction.

Taiwan-born American electrical engineer and business executive who co-founded NVIDIA and has led it since 1993.

First-century Jewish teacher from Galilee, central figure of Christianity and revered prophet in Islam.

Jesus of Nazareth was a 1st-century preacher in Roman-ruled Judea, regarded in Christianity as God's son and savior, and the historical figure on whom Christianity and the Christian calendar are founded.

Chinese actress and political leader, Mao Zedong’s wife, and a prominent figure in the Cultural Revolution and Gang of Four.

Jiang Zemin (1926–2022) was a Chinese engineer-turned-leader who served as Communist Party general secretary from 1989 to 2002 and as president from 1993 to 2003.

Jin Yong was a Chinese-language martial arts fiction writer, journalist, and publisher whose works reshaped modern popular culture.

French peasant who claimed divine guidance, led campaigns in the Hundred Years' War, was burned for heresy in 1431, and was later canonized as a saint.

American politician who served as the 46th U.S. president, vice president under Barack Obama, and senator from Delaware.

German Baroque composer, organist and Thomaskantor in Leipzig (1685–1750), whose works in counterpoint, fugue and sacred music are central to Western music.

German poet, playwright, novelist, and scientist (1749–1832), regarded as the greatest German literary figure of the modern era.