Maya Angelou, Author, Actor and Activist
Poet, author, playwright, educator, civil rights activist, singer, actress: these were the many faces of Maya Angelou. A living testament to the strength of...
Omar Khayyam: Persian Mathematician, Astronomer and Poet
Omar Khayyam was a brilliant mathematician, astronomer, philosopher and physician of the 11th century. He contributed to the basic principles of algebra and developed...
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, First Elected Female President in Africa
In honor of her October 29 birthday, we look at the life and career of longtime politician and economist-in-exile Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who became the...
Stephen Jay Gould, Paleontologist and Science Writer
Renowned for both his revolutionary contributions to evolutionary biology and his ability to make science accessible to the public, Stephen Jay Gould drew upon...
Robert A. Heinlein, Author of “Stranger in a Strange Land”
Science fiction Grand Master Robert A. Heinlein inspired many readers with his predictions of technologies to come, his vivid descriptions of outer space, and...
Jean Renoir, French Filmmaker
Lauded after his death as one of cinema’s greatest directors, Jean Renoir earned comparatively few words of praise during his lifetime. From a childhood...
Walt Whitman, “America’s Poet”
Walt Whitman helped transform the literary scene in the United States during the 19th century, becoming one of the most influential poets of his...
H.L. Mencken, Reporter Who Covered Scopes “Monkey Trial”
H.L. Mencken, the “Sage of Baltimore,” was an outspoken journalist whose caustic tongue and scathing criticism of many segments of American society inspired anger...
Anna Freud, Pioneer in Child Psychoanalysis
Tirelessly devoted to both her renowned father and his revolutionary but controversial psychoanalytic theory, Anna Freud was Sigmund Freud’s youngest daughter, and sole heir...
Pearl Buck, 1938 Winner of Nobel Prize in Literature
Pearl Buck is best known for her novel “The Good Earth,” which received the Pulitzer Prize in 1935 and helped earn her the Nobel...
