Christopher J. McCandless was an American wanderer who died near Denali National Park after hiking alone into the Alaskan wilderness with little food or equipment. Author Jon Krakauer wrote a book about his life, "Into the Wild", in 1996.

Maximilian Kolbe, also known as Maksymilian or Massimiliano Maria Kolbe and "Apostle of Consecration to Mary," born as Rajmund Kolbe, was a Polish Conventual Franciscan friar who volunteered to die in place of a stranger in the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz in Poland. He was canonized by the Catholic Church as Saint Maximilian Kolbe on October 10, 1982 by Pope John Paul II, and declared a martyr of charity.

Ugolino della Gherardesca (c. 1220 - March 1289), count of Donoratico, was an Italian noble and naval commander, head of the powerful family of della Gherardesca, the chief Ghibelline house of Pisa. He is best known from Dante's fictional depiction of him in "Inferno". Alleged to have betrayed his native city of Pisa to its enemies in Genoa, he was betrayed by his co-conspirator Ruggieri degli Ubaldini, Archbishop of Pisa and imprisoned, …

Eratosthenes (Greek ; 276 BC - 194 BC) was a Greek mathematician, geographer and astronomer. His contemporaries nicknamed him "beta" (Greek for "number two") because he supposedly proved himself to be the second in the ancient Mediterranean region in many fields. He is noted for devising a system of latitude and longitude, and for being the first known to have calculated the circumference of the Earth. He also made what he thought was a map of the Earth.

(Claudia) Livia Julia (Classical Latin: <small>LIVIA•IVLIA</small>), most commonly known by her family nickname of Livilla (the "little Livia") ("ca." 13 BC-AD 31) was the only daughter of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia. Her chief role in the history of the Julio-Claudian dynasty was as a bride — and alleged murderer — of the heir apparent to the Principate during the reigns of Augustus and her uncle Tiberius.

(Julia Vipsania) Agrippina (14 BC – 18 October 33), most commonly known as Agrippina Major or Agrippina "the Elder", was one of the most prominent women in the Roman Empire in the early 1st century AD. She was the daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa by his third wife Julia the Elder, was a granddaughter of Augustus and wife of Germanicus.

Julia Livilla (Classical Latin: <small>IVLIA•LIVILLA</small>, or <small>IVLIA•GERMANICI•FILIA</small&gt;) (Lesbos, early 18 - Pandateria (?), late 41 or early 42) was the youngest child of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder and one of Caligula's sisters.

Drusus Julius Caesar, also referred to as Drusus III (7 - 33), was a member of a noble family of Ancient Rome. He was a son of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder. Drusus married Aemilia Lepida, daughter of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, his second cousin. Tacitus reports that during their marriage "she had pursued her husband with ceaseless accusations". In 36, she was charged with adultery with a slave and committed suicide, …

John Trehenban (pronounced TREM-on). (1650 - 1671) of St Columb Major in Cornwall. Murderer, sentenced to imprisonment in a cage on Castle An Dinas downs and starved to death. The murder of the two young girls is recorded in the Parish Register. 23 June 1671 "Anne daughter of John Pollard of this Parish and Loveday Rosevear (aged 17), …

Captain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO, RN, (6 June 1868 - 29 March 1912) was a Royal Naval officer and Antarctic explorer. In the so-called "Race to the South Pole" Scott came second, behind the Norwegian Roald Amundsen; he and his four companions died whilst trying to return to their base. Scott has become the most famous, and tragic, hero of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

John XIV (died August 20, 984) was Pope from 983 to 984, successor to Pope Benedict VII (974-983) He was born at Pavia, and before his elevation to the papal chair was imperial chancellor of Emperor Otto II (973-983), and was the latter's second choice. His original name was Peter, but he changed it to John XIV avoid being linked to St. Peter himself. Otto II died shortly after his election; his heir, Otto III (983-1002), being only 3 years old.

Kurt Gödel (April 28, 1906 Brünn, Austria-Hungary (now Brno, Czech Republic) - January 14, 1978 Princeton, New Jersey) was an Austrian American mathematician and philosopher. One of the most significant logicians of all time, Gödel's work has had immense impact upon scientific and philosophical thinking in the 20th century, a time when many, such as Bertrand Russell, A. N. Whitehead and David Hilbert, …

Scott Nearing was an American conservationist, peace activist, educator and writer. Nearing is the father of John Scott. Born in Morris Run, Pennsylvania, Nearing is still viewed as a radical 20 years after his death. In 1954 he co-authored "Living the Good Life: How to Live Simply and Sanely in a Troubled World" with his wife Helen (see the entry for Helen and Scott Nearing). The book, in which war, famine, and poverty were discussed, …

George Washington DeLong (August 22, 1844 - October 31, 1881) was a United States Navy officer and ill-fated explorer. Born in New York City, he was educated at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. In 1879, backed by James Gordon Bennett, Jr., owner of the "New York Herald" newspaper, and under the auspices of the US Navy, Lieutenant Commander DeLong sailed from San Francisco, …

William John Wills (1834-1861) was an English surveyor who also trained for a while as a surgeon. He achieved fame as the second-in-command of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition, which was the first expedition to cross Australia from south to north, finding a route across the continent from the settled areas of Victoria to the Gulf of Carpentaria. See Burke and Wills expedition.

Pausanias was a Spartan general of the 5th century BC. He was the nephew of Leonidas I and served as regent after his uncle's death, as Leonidas' son, Pleistarchus was still under-age. He was responsible for the Greek victory over Mardonius and the Persians at the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC, and was the leader of the Hellenic League created to resist Persian aggression during the Greco-Persian Wars. After the Greek victories at Plataea and the Battle of Mycale, …

Anaxagoras was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. He was a member of what is now often called the Ionian School of philosophy.

Robert O'Hara Burke (1821-June 1861) was an Irish soldier and police officer, who achieved fame as an Australian explorer. He was the leader of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition, which was the first expedition to cross Australia from south to north, finding a route across the continent from the settled areas of Victoria to the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Vasily Vasilievich Rozanov was one of the most controversial Russian writers and philosophers of the pre-revolutionary epoch. His views have been termed the "religion of procreation", as he tried to reconcile Christian teachings with ideas of healthy sex and family life and not, as his adversary Nikolai Berdyaev put it, "to set up sex in opposition to the Word". Rozanov's mature works are deeply personal diaries, which contain his intimate thoughts, impromptu lines, …

Richard II (6 January 1367 - 14 February 1400) was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan "The Fair Maid of Kent". He was born in Bordeaux and became his father's successor when his elder brother died in infancy. He was deposed in 1399 and died the next year.

Alexey Alexeyevich Troitsky, or Alexei, or Troitzky (March 14, 1866-August 1942) is considered to have been one of the greatest composers of chess endgame studies. He is widely regarded as the founder of the modern art of composing chess studies.. He died of starvation during World War II at the siege of Leningrad, where his notes were destroyed. One of his most famous works involves analyzing the endgame with two knights versus a pawn, …

Carl Schlechter (March 2, 1874 - December 27, 1918) was a leading Austrian chess master at the turn of the 20th century. He is best known for drawing a World Chess Championship match with Emanuel Lasker.

Blessed Thomas Johnson (died September 20, 1537) was a Carthusian monk who was left to starve in Newgate gaol because he would not sign the Oath of Supremacy. Margaret Clement brought him and the other Carthusians some food by entering in disguise, but on discovery this was ended. Thomas Johnson took the longest to die of starvation possibly because food had been allowed for him in hopes he would ultimately be executed instead of starved to death.

Pavel Nikolayevich Filonov (January 8, 1883-December 3, 1941) was a Russian painter, art theorist, and a poet.