Biography

General Chuck Yeager Charles E. Yeager was born on February 13, 1923 in Myra, West Virginia and raised the nearby village of Hamlin for the first eighteen years of his life. His father drilled natural gas, and his mother was a housewife. At an early age, Chuck helped his father drill, and learned mechanics from … Read more

The United States of America was founded on the principles of equality and opportunity for all. In the 1800’s these principles were not strictly adhered to by all and a tremendous battle ensued. That battle was the United States Civil War in which northerners, wishing an end to slavery, found themselves at war with southerners, … Read more

Aeschylus was born in Eleusis, a Greek town near Athens, in 525 B. C. He was the first of the great Greek tragedians, preceding both Sophocles and Euripides, and is often credited with inventing tragic drama. Prior to Aeschylus, plays were primitive, consisting of a single actor and a chorus offering commentary. In his works, … Read more

Alexander Pope was born May 21, 1688, in London. His father was a cloth merchant living in London, both his parents were Catholic. It was a period of intense anti-Catholic sentiment in England, and at some point Alexander’s family was forced to relocate to be in compliance with a statute forbidding Catholics from living within … Read more

Neil Armstrong was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio in the year 1930. His services as a pilot were called upon during the Korean War. Shortly after graduating from Purdue University in 1955, Armstrong joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, then known as the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. At the time the functions of the … Read more

Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. He was the son of Robert Waring Darwin and his wife Susannah, and the grandson of the scientist Erasmus Darwin. His mother died when he was eight years old, and he was brought up by his sister. He was taught the classics at Shrewsbury, then sent to Edinburgh … Read more

The prolific trumpeter who became a world ambassador for jazz, Louis Armstrong learned to blow on a bugle in reform school when he was 13. His intuitive genius for improvisation changed the course of jazz, but after the 1940s mugging dominated his performances and he had his greatest success as a pop singer. Louis Daniel … Read more

Born James Marshall Hendrix, on November 27, 1942, in Seattle, Washington. Often called the greatest guitarist of all time, Hendrix pioneered the explosive popularity of the electric guitar. Hendrix’s unique style of combining fuzz, feedback and controlled distortion created a new musical form Hendrixs legacy grew far beyond the wide popularity he achieved during his … Read more

Born September 7, 1963, Eric “Eazy-E” Wright’s early reputation on the streets of Compton, California, was a hustler eager to apply his street knowledge to his legitimate game. He dropped out of high school in the tenth grade, but refused that to interrupt his success. In the late ’80’s he turned to rap music. Along … Read more

On March 30, 1852, Anna van Gogh and her husband, “The Handsome Pastor,” (Theodorus van Gogh) gave birth to their first child. Alas, the child was born dead. The dead child was named Vincent. One year later to the exact day, Anna gave birth to yet another child. Her second child was named after the … Read more

Pictori philosopho (Blunt, 3), Painter-philosopher was a name given to Nicolas Poussin by Serous d Agincourt in 1782. Agincourt later found out that the name Pictori philosopho had already been given to the German artist Anton Raphael Mengas. Nicolas Poussin was born in 1594 in the town of Les Andelys on the Seine. He came … Read more

We have witnessed and had the chance to hear many pieces from both classical and modern composers . Numerous composers have tried to match the style of one of the most prominent composers of the nineteenth century, but few have come close. We are speaking of the ever-famous Ludwig van Beethoven. Beethoven is one of … Read more

Alexander Graham Bell, a man who best known for inventing the telephone. Most people dont know he spent the majority of his life teaching and helping the deaf. Educating the hearing impaired is what he wished to be remembered for. Bell was born on March 3, 1847, in Edinburgh, Scotland. His mother was a painter … Read more

Reichsfuhrer-SS, head of the Gestapo and the Waffen-SS, Minister of the Interior from 1943 to 1945 and organizer of the mass murder of Jews in the Third Reich, Heinrich Himmler was born in Munich on 7 October 1900. The son of a pious, authoritarian Roman Catholic schoolmaster who had once been tutor to the Bavarian … Read more

Eleanor Roosevelt was an honest person who had responsibility and compassion towards her husband, family and her fellow man, whatever their social status. She used great citizenship and initiative actions in dealing with anyone who was fortunate enough to make her acquaintance. Eleanor Roosevelt was an outspoken advocate of social justice. During the years she … Read more

Salvador Dali, was born Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dali i Domenech at 8:45 a. m. , Monday, 11 May 1904, in the small town, in the foothills of the Pyrenees, of Figueres, Spain, approximately sixteen miles from the French border in the principality of Catalonia. His parents supported his talent and built him his first studio, … Read more

Alfred Nobel was born in Stockholm on October 21, 1833. By the age of 17 he was fluent in Swedish, Russian, French, English and German. Early in his life he had a huge interest in English literature and poetry as well as in chemistry and physics. Alfred’s father disliked his interest in poetry and found … Read more

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, grew up in Richmond, Virginia, and lived in six Eastern cities. His father was David Poe, a Baltimore actor. His actress mother, Elizabeth came to the United States as a kid. The parents were not that talented; they played small roles in rather third-rate theatrical companies. Because they … Read more

David Herbert Lawrence was born on September 11, 1885, the fourth child and third son of a miner in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire. Despite having grown up in a lower class home and without many friends, he has become the most frequently studied novelist of the twentieth century . Lawrence started school extremely early at the age … Read more

Leonard Bernstein was born on August 25, 1918 in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Hes family emigrated to the United States. They were Russian Jews. As a young child, Leonard learned to play the piano and he attended Harvard University. He attended courses and lectures held by Edward Burlingham Hill, Water Piston, and Arthur Tillmann Merritt. He received … Read more

The relatively obscure release of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s first book, Nature, in 1836, gave few clues to the celebrity and influence which would later be enjoyed by its author. The piece was originally published anonymously but did mark the beginning of Emerson’s future role of mentor, lecturer, and teacher. His scope was wide, attracting a … Read more

Jack Welch was born on November 19, 1935 in Salem, Massachusetts. After graduating high school, he studied at the University of Massuchusetts and received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 1957. He immediately moved to Illiois, where he receive his Master’s degree and Ph.D. in chemical engineering. In 1960, Jack started working at General … Read more

Countess of Longford, Elizabeth Pakenham, was born in London England in 1906. She attended Lady Margaret Hall and Oxford University where she studied classical history and philosophy. She later married Oxford professor and politician, the seventh Earl of Longford in 1931, with whom she had eight children. She worked as a tutor from 1930-36 in … Read more

I’m Steven Spielberg and I was born in Cincinnati on December 18, 1947, but I was mainly raised in New Jersey and Arizona. When I was 12 years old I used my dads 8mm camcorder and made a movie. I continued to make films with the camcorder for five more years until I went on … Read more

Emily Jane Bront remains a mystery. Very little is known about her. There is little information, and much of what we have is contradictory. She is the author of only one novel and a few bits of poetry. This gives people little to build on. The majority of what we know about her comes from … Read more

Does an artist create a masterpiece without a source of inspiration? Does an architect construct a building without first looking at a blueprint? As with all great minds, writers also need a source of inspiration or a “Blueprint” for their literature. In the short story, “The Truth About George”, author P.G. Wodehouse uses his own … Read more

Tycho Brahe was born on December 14th, 1546 in a town called Knudstrup in Scania, Denmark. His early years were filled with pain, as he was kidnapped by his uncle and raised in his castle in Tostrup, Scania. His education was backed by his uncle, and he went to the University of Copenhagen to study … Read more

Benito Mussolini had a large impact on World War II. He wasnt always a powerful dictator though. At first he was a school teacher and a socialist journalist. He later married Rachele Guide and had 5 children. He was the editor of the Avanti, which was a socialist party newspaper in Milan. Benito Mussolini founded … Read more

One cannot fully appreciate the work of Werner Heisenberg unless one examines his contributions in the context of the time in which he lived. Werner Karl Heisenberg was born in Wuerzburg, Germany, on December 5, 1901, and grew up in academic surroundings, in a household devoted to the humanities. His father was a professor at … Read more

James Watson is a biochemist and Nobel laureate. He attended school at the University of Indiana, after graduating from the university he joined of the faculty at Harvard University. Before joining the faculty at Harvard he did postgraduate work with Francis Crick in the Cavendish lab, at the University of Cambridge. Watson and Crick worked … Read more

On April 15, 1983 Henry James Jr. was born into the prominent and eccentric James Family. His father, Henry James Senior was a noted philosopher and his considered one of the most brilliant thinkers of the age. His brother William was to become one of the most important figures in the field of psychology. The … Read more

Alfred Edward Housman, a classical scholar and poet, was born in Fockbury in the county of Worcestershire, England on March 26, 1859. His poems are variations on the themes of mortality and the miseries of human condition (Magill 1411). Most of Housmans poems were written in the 1890s when he was under great psychological stress, … Read more

This biography had a lot of information on St. Francis of Assisi. He was a very generous man who founded the Friars. Along the way he accomplished many good deeds. He gave all that he had to the poor so that they could live a better life. The only things he needed were food, shelter, … Read more

One of the most inspiring and instructive stories in black history is the story of how Carter G. Woodson, the father of black history, saved himself. The skeletal facts of his personal struggle for light and of his rise from the coalmines of West Virginia to the summit of academic achievement are great in and … Read more

Through poverty and fame, An artist or nothing (Miller p6), was the motto of a man named Eugene ONeill, who wrote from his soul in an attempt to find salvation. In the year 1888, the Barrett House hotel in Time Square, New York saw the birth of a man who would be called the greatest … Read more