- Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German monk, theologian, and church reformer. Luther's theology challenged the authority of the papacy by emphasizing the Bible as the sole source of religious authority and the church as a priesthood of all believers. According to Luther, salvation was attainable only by faith in Jesus as the messiah, a faith unmediated by the church. These ideas helped to inspire the Protestant Reformation and changed the course of Western civilization. - 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. - Anna Nicole Smith
Vickie Lynn Marshall (November 28, 1967 - February 8, 2007), better known under the stage name of Anna Nicole Smith, was an American sex symbol, model, actress, celebrity, and spokeswoman. Her highly publicized marriage to oil business executive and billionaire J. Howard Marshall, 63 years her senior, resulted in speculation that she married the octogenarian for his money, which she denied. - 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. - Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (December 12, 1915 - May 14, 1998) was an American jazz oriented popular singer and Academy Award-winning actor. Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became a solo artist with great success in the early to mid 1940s, being the idol of the 'bobby soxers'. His professional career had stalled by the 1950s, but it was reborn in 1953 after he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. - Karl Heinrich Marx
There are few economists who have become both so reviled, and admired as Marx. Indeed some would even question whether Marx deserves to be called an economist; others would prefer terms like 'bungling and failed revolutionary'. However, there are certainly few economists who read so widely and wrote so much as Marx. Whether you love or loathe Marx, we cannot deny his writings had profound influence on the twentieth century. What Did Marx Believe? - Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain was the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of the Seattle-based rock band Nirvana. Cobain was born in Aberdeen, Washington and grew up with a troubled childhood, which he frequently addressed in his songs and interviews. Known for his abrasive and often disturbing songwriting as well as his distinctive vocal style, Cobain is often cited among the most influential musicians of his time. Cobain formed Nirvana in 1986 with Krist Novoselic. - Richard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III (December 1, 1940 - December 10, 2005) was an American comedian, actor, and writer. Pryor was a storyteller known for unflinching examinations of racism and customs in modern life, and was well-known for his frequent use of colorful language, vulgarities, as well as such racial epithets as "nigga", "honky," "cracker" and "motherfucker." He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations, … - Anne Frank
Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (June 12, 1929 – early March 1945) was a Jewish girl who wrote a diary while in hiding with her family and four friends in Amsterdam during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. Born in Frankfurt, Germany, Frank and her family moved to Amsterdam in 1933, after the Nazis gained power in Germany, and were trapped by the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. - Max Planck
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck was a German physicist. He is considered to be the founder of quantum theory, and therefore one of the most important physicists of the twentieth century. - Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman (July 31 1912 - November 16 2006) was an American Nobel Laureate economist and public intellectual. An advocate of laissez-faire capitalism, Friedman made major contributions to the fields of macroeconomics, microeconomics, economic history and statistics. In 1976, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for his achievements in the fields of consumption analysis, … - Yves Saint-Laurent
Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent (born August 1, 1936 in Oran, Algeria), is a French fashion designer. - Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley (born December 30, 1928) aka "The Originator" of Rock 'N' Roll, is an influential American rock and roll singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is often cited as the key figure in the transition of blues into rock and roll, by introducing more insistent, driving rhythms and a hard edged guitar sound. He is also remembered for his characteristic rectangular-shaped guitar. - Jerry Garcia
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia (August 1, 1942 - August 9, 1995) was an American musician, songwriter, and artist perhaps best known for being the lead guitarist and vocalist of the psychedelic rock band the Grateful Dead. Garcia was viewed by the media as the leader or "spokesman" of the group. Performing with the Grateful Dead for its entire three decade career (which spanned from 1965 to 1995), Garcia participated in a variety of side projects, … - Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley, (12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947; the surname is pronounced // i.e. with the first syllable sounding like "crow" in English) was a British occultist, writer and mystic. He is perhaps best known today for his occult writings, especially "The Book of the Law", the central sacred text of Thelema. Crowley was also an influential member in several occult organizations, including the Golden Dawn, … - 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. - Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman (born July 14, 1918) is a Swedish stage and film director who is one of the key film auteurs of the 20th century. - Sydney Pollack
Sydney Pollack (born July 1, 1934 in Lafayette, Indiana) is an Academy Award-winning American film director, producer and actor. He has directed over 21 films and 10 television shows, acted in over 30 films or shows, and produced over 44 films.<small> </small> Sydney Pollack is best known for directing films "Out of Africa" (Academy Awards, 1985), "Tootsie" (1982), "Three Days of the Condor" (1975), … - Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a German philosopher. His writing included critiques of religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy, and science, using a distinctive style and displaying a fondness for aphorism. Nietzsche's influence remains substantial within and beyond philosophy, notably in existentialism and postmodernism. Nietzsche began his career as a philologist before turning to philosophy. - Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner (22 May 1813 - 13 February 1883) was a German composer, conductor, music theorist, and essayist, primarily known for his operas (or "music dramas" as they were later called). Unlike most other great opera composers, Wagner always wrote the scenario and libretto for his works himself. Wagner's compositions, particularly those of his later period, are notable for their contrapuntal texture, rich chromaticism, harmonies and orchestration, … - Tom Lantos
Thomas Peter "Tom" Lantos, Ph.D (born February 1 1928, Budapest, Hungary as Lantos Tamás Péter) has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1981, representing California's 12th congressional district, located in the southwest part of San Francisco County and the northern part of San Mateo County. He is the chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs. - Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-born actress, singer, and entertainer. Throughout her long career, starting as a cabaret singer, chorus girl and film actress in 1920s Berlin, Hollywood movie star in the 1930s, World War II frontline entertainer during the 1940s, and finally as an international stage show performer from the 1950s to the 1970s, Dietrich constantly re-invented herself and eventually became one of the entertainment icons of the 20th century. - Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton Lang was an Austrian-German-American film director, screenwriter and occasional film producer, one of the best known "émigrés" from Germany's school of expressionism. His most famous films are the groundbreaking "Metropolis" (the world's most expensive silent film at the time of its release) and "M", made before he moved to the United States. - Thomas Mann
Paul Thomas Mann (June 6, 1875 - August 12, 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and often ironic epic novels and mid-length stories, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and intellectual. His analysis and critique of the European and German soul use modernized German and Biblical stories, as well as the ideas of Goethe, Nietzsche, … - Brandon Lee
Brandon Bruce Lee (李國豪 Cantonese: "Léi Gwokhòu" Pinyin: "Lǐ Guóháo"; February 1, 1965 - March 31, 1993) was an American actor of Chinese, German, English and Swedish descent. He was the son of the late legendary martial arts film star Bruce Lee - Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (July 29, 1883 - April 28, 1945) was the prime minister and dictator of Italy from 1922 until 1943, when he was overthrown. He established a fascist regime that valued socialism, nationalism, militarism and anti-communism combined with strict censorship and state propaganda. Mussolini became a close ally of German dictator Adolf Hitler, whom he influenced. Mussolini entered World War II in June 1940 on the side of Nazi Germany. - Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a prolific German composer and organist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity. - William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and dramatist, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival, and together with Lady Gregory and Edward Martyn founded Abbey Theatre and served as its chief playwright during its early years. Yeats was a pillar of the Irish literary establishment and was as an Irish Senator for two terms. - Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre, born Ladislav (László) Löwenstein, was a charismatic Austrian stage and screen actor and director, who later became a naturalized US citizen. He was especially known for playing roles with sinister overtones in Hollywood crime films and mysteries alongside iconic leading actors of the day including Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable. He played Le Chiffre, the first James Bond villain, … - Pete Wilson
Pete Wilson is a veteran broadcaster, and has been on the air in the San Francisco Bay Area for the last 30 years. He is not related to the Former California Governor of the same name. He is a talk radio host, broadcasting on KGO (AM) weekdays 2-4 p.m. He is the winner of an Emmy Award and a Peabody Award. Wilson also currently co-anchors the 6 p.m weekday editions of KGO-TV's "ABC 7 News". - Eddie Griffin
Eddie Griffin (born May 30, 1982 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American professional basketball player who is currently a free agent. He most recently played for the Minnesota Timberwolves, who waived him March 13, 2007. Selected out of Seton Hall University with the seventh pick of the 2001 NBA Draft by the New Jersey Nets, Griffin's draft rights were immediately traded to the Houston Rockets for Jason Collins, Brandon Armstrong, and the rights to Richard Jefferson. - Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Milton Ernest Rauschenberg (b. October 22 1925 in Port Arthur, Texas) is an American artist who came to prominence in the 1950s transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. Rauschenberg is perhaps most famous for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations. While the Combines are both painting and sculpture, Rauschenberg has also worked with photography, printmaking, papermaking, … - Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels (29 October 1897–1 May 1945) was a German politician and Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda during the National Socialist regime from 1933 to 1945. He was one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers. Goebbels was known for his zealous, energetic oratory and virulent anti-Semitism. Goebbels earned a Ph.D. from Heidelberg University in 1921, … - Edward Arnold
Edward Arnold (February 18, 1890 - April 26, 1956) was an American actor. He was born on the Lower East Side of New York City as Gunther Edward Arnold Schneider, the son of German immigrants Carl Schneider and Elizabeth Ohse. Interested in acting since his youth (he made his first stage appearance at the age of 12 as Lorenzo in "The Merchant of Venice)", in 1907, … - Leo Strauss
Leo Strauss (September 20, 1899 - October 18, 1973), was a German-born Jewish-American political philosopher who specialized in the study of classical political philosophy. He spent most of his career as a Political Science Professor at the University of Chicago, where he taught several generations of devoted students and published fifteen books. - Ike Turner
Izear Luster Turner (born November 5, 1931) is an African American musician (piano, guitar), bandleader, talent scout and record producer, best known for his work with his former wife Tina Turner. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2001 was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame. - Gary Gygax
Ernest Gary Gygax (July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008) was an American writer and game designer, best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) with Dave Arneson, and co-founding the company Tactical Studies Rules (TSR, Inc.) with Don Kaye in 1974. Gygax is generally acknowledged as the father of the role-playing game. - Paul Verhoeven
Paul Verhoeven was a German film director, actor, and writer. His son, Michael Verhoeven, is also a film director. - Peter Ustinov
Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov, CBE (April 16, 1921 – March 28, 2004), born Peter Alexander Baron von Ustinov, was an Academy Award-winning British-born actor, writer, dramatist and raconteur of French, Italian, German, Russian, Armenian, and Ethiopian ancestry. - Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms (May 7, 1833 - April 3, 1897) was a German composer of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, he eventually settled in Vienna, Austria.
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