- Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 - July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. Nicknamed "Papa", he was part of the 1920s expatriate community in Paris known as "the Lost Generation", as described in his memoir "A Moveable Feast." He led a turbulent social life, was married four times, and allegedly had various romantic relationships during his lifetime. - Srinivasa Ramanujan
Srinivasa Ramanujan Iyengar (22 December 1887 - 26 April 1920) was an Indian mathematician who is widely regarded as one of the greatest mathematical minds in recent history. With almost no formal training in pure mathematics, he made substantial contributions in the areas of mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series and continued fractions. Ramanujan, born and raised in Erode, Tamil Nadu, India, first encountered formal mathematics at age ten. - Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American humorist, satirist, writer, and lecturer. Twain is most noted for his novels "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", which has since been called the Great American Novel, and "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". He is also known for his quotations. During his lifetime, Clemens became a friend to presidents, artists, leading industrialists, and European royalty. - Albert Einstein
This German born physicist is considered one of the world's greatest thinkers in history. Not only did he shape the way people think of time, space, matter, energy, and gravity but he also was a supporter of Zionism and peaceful living. Einstein was born on March 14, 1879 in Ulm Germany, and spent most of his youth living in Munich, where his family owned a small electric machinery shop. He attended schooling in Munich, which he found unimaginative and dull. - G. K. Chesterton
Gilbert Keith Chesterton was an influential English writer of the early 20th century. His prolific and diverse output included journalism, poetry, biography, Christian apologetics, fantasy, and detective fiction. Chesterton has been called the "prince of paradox." He wrote in an off-hand, whimsical prose studded with startling formulations. For example: "Thieves respect property. - Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 - December 4, 1993) was an American composer, guitarist, singer, film director, and satirist. In his more than 30-year long career, Frank Zappa established himself as one of the most prolific and distinctive musician-composer-band leaders of his era. Zappa worked in almost every musical genre and wrote music for rock bands, jazz ensembles, synthesisers and symphony orchestra, as well as radiophonic works constructed from pre-recorded, … - Kendall Hailey
Kendall Hailey is a famous autodidact. She dropped out of school at age 16 to pursue unschooling and wrote about her experiences in the book, "The Day I Became an Autodidact and the Advice, Adventures, and Acrimonies that Befell Me Thereafter" (Delacorte Press, ISBN 0-385-29636-3, and Bantam Dell Publishing Group, New York, 1988, ISBN 0-440-55013-0). The book details first her decision to leave formal education, … - William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, visionary, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake's work is today considered seminal and significant in the history of both poetry and the visual arts. He was voted 38th in a poll of the 100 Greatest Britons organized by the BBC in 2002. According to Northrop Frye, who undertook a study of Blake's entire poetic corpus, … - Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath: scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, musician, and writer. The illegitimate son of a notary, Messer Piero, and a peasant girl, Caterina, Leonardo had no surname in the modern sense, "da Vinci" simply meaning "of Vinci": his full birth name was "Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci", meaning "Leonardo, … - Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin (April 17 1790) was one of the most critical Founding Fathers of the United States. He was a leading author, political theorist, politician, printer, scientist, inventor, civic activist, environmentalist, and diplomat. As a scientist he was a major figure in the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As a political writer and activist he, more than anyone, invented the idea of an American nation, … - Abraham Lincoln
Reviews Lincoln's early years as a farmer and his significant impact on U.S. agriculture, including the establishment of the USDA and the beginnings of the National Agricultural Library. Also includes various full text documents and agricultural Acts from the 1860s. - Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (sometimes erroneously pronounced [ˈvɪnsənt væn ˈɡɒf] in British English and [ˈvɪnsənt væn ˈɡoʊ] in US English; the correct Dutch pronunciation is) (30 March 1853 - 29 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist artist. His paintings and drawings include some of the world's best known, most popular and most expensive pieces. Van Gogh spent his early life working for a firm of art dealers. - H. L. Mencken
Henry Louis Mencken (September 12, 1880 - January 29, 1956), better known as H. L. Mencken, was a twentieth-century journalist, satirist, social critic, cynic, and freethinker, known as the "Sage of Baltimore." He is often regarded as one of the most influential American writers of the early 20th century. - Alan Watts
Alan Wilson Watts (January 6, 1915 - November 16, 1973) was a philosopher, writer, speaker, and expert in comparative religion. He was best known as an interpreter and popularizer of Asian philosophies for a Western audience. He wrote more than twenty-five books and numerous articles on subjects such as personal identity, the true nature of reality, consciousness, and the pursuit of happiness, … - Jane Austen
Jane Austen (16 December 1775 - 18 July 1817) was an English novelist whose works include "Sense and Sensibility", "Pride and Prejudice", "Mansfield Park", "Emma", "Northanger Abbey", and "Persuasion". Her social commentary and masterful use of both free indirect speech and irony eventually made Austen one of the most influential and honoured novelists in English literature. - Buckminster Fuller
Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller was an American visionary, designer, architect, poet, author, and inventor. Throughout his life, Fuller was concerned with the question "Does humanity have a chance to survive lastingly and successfully on planet Earth, and if so, how?" Considering himself an average individual without special monetary means or academic degree, he chose to devote his life to this question, … - Walt Whitman
Walter Whitman was an American poet, essayist, journalist, and humanist. Proclaimed the "greatest of all American poets" by many foreign observers a mere four years after his death, he is viewed as the first urban poet. He was a part of the transition between Transcendentalism and Realism, incorporating both views in his works. His works have been translated into more than twenty-five languages. - James Baldwin
James Arthur Baldwin was an American novelist, short story writer, playwright, poet, and essayist, best known for his novel "Go Tell It on the Mountain". Most of Baldwin's work deals with racial and sexual issues in the mid-20th century United States. - Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens FRSA (7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870), pen-name "Boz", was the foremost English novelist of the Victorian era, as well as a vigorous social campaigner. Considered one of the English language's greatest writers, he was acclaimed for his rich storytelling and memorable characters, and achieved massive worldwide popularity in his lifetime. Later critics, beginning with George Gissing and G. K. Chesterton, championed his mastery of prose, … - Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad was a Polish-born novelist who spent most of his adult life in Britain. Some of his works have been labelled romantic: Conrad's supposed "romanticism" is heavily imbued with irony and a fine sense of man's capacity for self-deception. Many critics regard Conrad as an important forerunner of Modernist literature. Conrad's narrative style and anti-heroic characters have influenced many writers, including Ernest Hemingway, D.H. Lawrence, Graham Greene, … - Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862; born David Henry Thoreau) was an American author, naturalist, transcendentalist, tax resister, development critic, and philosopher who is best known for "Walden", a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay, "Civil Disobedience", an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state. - Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an influential and acclaimed American film director and producer considered among the greatest of the 20th Century. He directed a number of highly acclaimed and sometimes controversial films, including "2001: A Space Odyssey", "Paths of Glory", "A Clockwork Orange", and "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb". - Philip K. Dick
Philip Kindred Dick was an American writer, mostly known for his works of science fiction. In addition to his published novels, Dick wrote "approximately 121 short stories, most of them for science fiction magazines." At least eight of his stories have been adapted for film. <br><br> - Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 - October 7, 1849) was an American poet, short story writer, playwright, editor, critic, essayist and one of the leaders of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of the macabre and mystery, Poe was one of the early American practitioners of the short story and a progenitor of detective fiction and crime fiction. He is also credited with contributing to the emergent science fiction genre. Poe died at the age of 40. - Herman Melville
Herman Melville (August 1 1819 - September 28 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. His earliest novels were bestsellers, but his popularity declined precipitously only a few years later. By the time of his death he had been almost completely forgotten, but his longest novel, "Moby-Dick" - largely considered a failure during his lifetime, … - Agatha Christie
Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan, DBE, and many have been adapted for television and radio and video games. - Joseph Campbell
Joseph John Campbell was an American mythology professor, writer, and orator best known for his work in the fields of comparative mythology and comparative religion. - Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, actor, and screenwriter. He rose to fame in the early 1990s as an auteur indie filmmaker whose films used postmodern nonlinear storylines, and stylized violence interwoven with often-obscure cinematic references. His films include "Reservoir Dogs" (1992), " Pulp Fiction" (1994), "Jackie Brown" (1997), "Kill Bill" (Vol. 1 2003, Vol. - Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury (born August 22 1920) is an American literary, fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer best known for "The Martian Chronicles", a 1950 book which has been described both as a short story collection and a novel, and his 1953 dystopian novel "Fahrenheit 451". - Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday, FRS (September 22, 1791 – August 25, 1867) was an English chemist and physicist (or "natural philosopher", in the terminology of that time) who contributed significantly to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. Faraday studied the magnetic field around a conductor carrying a DC electric current, and established the basis for the magnetic field concept in physics. He discovered electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism and electrolysis. - George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856-2 November 1950) was an Irish dramatist, literary critic, and socialist. During his career Shaw wrote more than sixty plays. He was uniquely honoured by being awarded both a Nobel Prize (1925) for his contribution to literature and an Oscar (1938) for "Pygmalion". He was a strong advocate for socialism and women's rights, a vegetarian and teetotaller, and a harsh critic of formal education. - H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 - March 15, 1937) was an American author of fantasy, horror and science fiction. He is notable for blending elements of science fiction and horror; and for popularizing "cosmic horror": the notion that some concepts, entities, or experiences are barely comprehensible to human minds, and those who delve into such risk their sanity. Lovecraft has become a cult figure in the horror genre and is noted as creator of the Cthulhu Mythos, … - Robert Frost
Robert Lee Frost (March 26, 1874 - January 29, 1963) was an American poet. His work frequently drew inspiration from rural life in New England, using the setting to explore complex social and philosophical themes. A popular and often-quoted poet, Frost was highly honored during his lifetime, receiving four Pulitzer Prizes. - John Milton
John Milton (December 9, 1608 - November 8, 1674) was an English poet, prose polemicist, and civil servant for the English Commonwealth. Most famed for his epic poem "Paradise Lost", Milton is celebrated as well for his eloquent treatise condemning censorship, "Areopagitica". - Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11 1847 - October 18 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who developed many devices which greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph and a long lasting light bulb. Dubbed "The Wizard of Menlo Park" by a newspaper reporter, he was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production to the process of invention, … - Carl Friedrich Gauss
Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss or Gauß (30 April 1777 - 23 February 1855) was a German mathematician and scientist of profound genius who contributed significantly to many fields, including number theory, analysis, differential geometry, geodesy, electrostatics, astronomy, and optics. Sometimes known as "the prince of mathematicians" and "greatest mathematician since antiquity", … - Jack London
Jack London, was an American author who wrote "The Call of the Wild" and other books. A pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction, he was one of the first Americans to make a huge financial success from writing. - Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton (January 24 1862 - August 11 1937) was an American novelist, short story writer, and designer. - Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher and prominent classic-liberal political theorist. Spencer developed an all-embracing conception of evolution as the progressive development of the physical world, biological organisms, the human mind, and human culture and societies. The lifelong bachelor contributed to a wide range of subjects, including ethics, metaphysics, religion, politics, rhetoric, biology, sociology, and psychology. - Henry Miller
Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 - June 7, 1980) was an American writer and painter. He is known for breaking with existing literary forms and developing a new sort of "novel" that is a mixture of novel, autobiography, social criticism, philosophical reflection, surrealist free association, and mysticism, one that is distinctly always about and expressive of the real-life Henry Miller and yet is also fictional.
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