Leo Szilard, Physicist and Contributor to the Manhattan Project

Leo Szilard, the Hungarian Jewish physicist, molecular biologist and inventor, worked on the Manhattan Project but expressed himself as a “scientist of conscience,” using...

Tenzin Gyatso, Tibet’s 14th Dalai Lama

Tenzin Gyatso was recognized as the 14th Dalai Lama at the age of 2. He has been serving as Tibet’s political leader since age...

Hans Christian Andersen, Poet and Author of Fairy Tales

Fairy tales may seem to have existed since the beginning of storytelling, but Hans Christian Andersen is the acknowledged father of the modern form....

Thurgood Marshall, Civil Rights Lawyer and Supreme Court Justice

Before Thurgood Marshall became the first African-American justice of the Supreme Court, he was also the most successful person to argue cases before the...

Lou Gehrig, the Yankees’ “Iron Horse”

Lou Gehrig anchored the Yankees’ “Bronx Bomber” teams of the 1920s, playing in a record-setting 2,130 consecutive games over 14 seasons. His career would...

Walt Disney, Creator of Mickey Mouse and Disneyland

Although Walt Disney’s first illustration company went broke, the ambitious animator took his sketchbook to Hollywood where he made it big with a mouse...

Robert Pinsky, Former US Poet Laureate

Founder of the Favorite Poem Project, former United States Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky has made waves throughout the literary world as a multifaceted artist:...

Oleg Cassini, Fashion Designer

The elegant designs worn by Jackie Kennedy and Grace Kelly came to embody American fashion during the 1950s and 1960s. The man responsible for...

John Philip Sousa, “The March King”

John Philip Sousa is the American composer behind such marching band classics as “The Stars and Stripes Forever” and “Semper Fidelis.” John Philip Sousa's Early...

Brigham Young, Mormon Prophet

He led a church through its infancy, guided thousands of pioneers on a historic cross-country migration, helped settle the state of Utah and was...