People who changed the world

People who changed the world – Famous people who changed the course of history including Socrates, Newton, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Queen Victoria, Catherine the Great, Einstein and Gandhi.

Women who changed the world – Famous women who changed the world. Features female Prime Ministers, scientists, cultural figures, authors and royalty. Includes; Cleopatra, Princess Diana, Marie Curie, Queen Victoria, and Joan of Arc.

Actors – Famous actors, including Alec Guinness,  Michael Caine, Katherine Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly.

Adventurers – Famous adventurers and explorers, including Christopher Colombus, Marco Polo, Roald Amundsen and Neil Armstrong.

Artists – A list of the great artists, including Leonardo da Vinci, Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Michelangelo and Rembrandt.

Business people – Famous businessmen and women. Including Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey, Henry Ford and Steve Jobs.

Comedians – Some of the great comedians including Charlie Chaplin, Groucho Marx, Peter Sellers, Johnny Carson and John Cleese.

Economists – Famous economists from Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes to Milton Friedman and Paul Krugman.

Entrepreneurs – Famous entrepreneurs who have set up and created successful businesses, including Henry Ford, Anita Roddick, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.

Female biographies – A list of 100 famous women from Sappho and Cleopatra to Marilyn Monroe and Angela Merkel.

Humanitarians – Famous people who have offered charitable service to others, including Mother Teresa, William Wilberforce, Florence Nightingale and Princess Diana.

Inventors – Famous inventors including Cai Lun, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, Sir Isaac Newton, James Watt and Samuel Morse.

Military figures – Famous military leaders and soldiers, including Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Ataturk, Erwin Rommel, Winston Churchill and Dwight Eisenhower.

Musicians – Famous musicians from classical music to popular music. Including Mozart, Beethoven, Bach and John Lennon.

Nobel Prize winners – Winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, such as Mikhail Gorbachev, Desmond Tutu and Mother Teresa.

Poets – The great poets. Including; William Blake, Emily Dickinson, John Keats, Homer, Milton, Virgil, Rumi, Rabindranath Tagore.

Politicians – Politicians from across the world. Including Abraham Lincoln, Charles de Gaulle and Indira Gandhi.

Revolutionaries – People who inspired or began revolutions. Including Spartacus, Joan of Arc, George Washington, Karl Marx.

People of the American Revolution – Leading figures in the American Revolution. Includes military leaders, philosophers, British protagonists and ordinary people. List includes; George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, George III and Benjamin Franklin.

Royalty – Famous Kings and Queens throughout history. Including Henry VIII, Tsar Nicholas II, Queen Victoria and Catherine the Great.

Scientists – Famous scientists from Aristotle and Archimedes to Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin. Including mathematicians, biologists, physicists and chemists.

Spiritual figures – Famous saints, mystics and religious figures. Including Jesus Christ, The Buddha, Lord Krishna, St Teresa of Avila.

Sports people – Famous sportsmen/women. Including football, athletics, tennis, rugby, cricket, boxing. A list of 100 sports stars, such as Muhammad Ali, Serena Williams, Pele and Usain Bolt.

Writers and authors – Famous authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien, William Shakespeare, J.K. Rowling, Jane Austen, Leo Tolstoy, John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway.

People by nationality

Famous Africans – A list of famous Africans. Includes Nelson Mandela, F.W. De Klerk, Haile Selassie, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Anwar Sadat, Kofi Annan and Wangari Maathai.

Famous Americans – Great Americans from the Founding Fathers to modern civil rights activists. Including presidents, authors, musicians, entrepreneurs and businessmen. Featuring Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Madonna, Oprah Winfrey.

Famous English people – Famous English men and women. From Anne Boleyn and Queen Elizabeth I to Henry VIII and Winston Churchill. Includes the great poets – William Shakespeare, William Blake and William Wordsworth.

Famous Australians – Great Australians including Sir Howard Florey, Kylie Minogue, Saint Mary MacKillop and Andrew Banjo Paterson.

Famous Austrians. Famous Austrians, including Marie Antoinette, Sigmund Freud and musicians, such as Mozart, Franz Liszt, Schubert. Also Austrian political figures.

Great Briton list – Top 100 famous Britons as voted by a BBC poll. Including Winston Churchill, William Shakespeare, Thomas Cromwell and Queen Elizabeth I.

Famous Germans A list of famous Germans. Includes; Beethoven, Bach, Konrad Adenauer, Martin Luther, Sophie Scholl and Angela Merkel.

Famous Dutch A list of famous people from the Netherlands. Includes; great Dutch painters, such as Rembrandt and Vincent Van Gogh; philosophers Spinoza and Erasmus. Also Dutch sports stars, such as Johan Cruyff.

Famous Europeans – A list of famous and influential European. In particular, a focus on the European who helped set up the EEC/ European Union, such as Jean Monnet, Charles de Gaulle and Willy Brandt.

Famous French – A list of famous French men and women. Includes politicians, generals, artists, sportsmen and cultural figures, such as Napoleon, Marie Antionette, De Gaulle, Claude Monet, and Coco Chanel.

Famous Hispanics – A list of famous people of Spanish-speaking origin. Includes Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Simon Bolivar, Selena and Jorge Ramos.

Famous Polish figures – including Marie Curie, Pope John Paul II, Lech Walesa, Frederick Chopin and Nicholas Copernicus.

Famous Indians – A list of Indian men and women throughout the ages. Categories include politicians, scientists, sports people, spiritual figures and cultural figures. Includes Mahatma Gandhi, Akbar, Swami Vivekananda and Indira Gandhi.

Famous Chinese – Famous Chinese philosophers, military leaders and writers. From ancient times to modern Chinese men and women. Includes Lao Tzu, Confucius, Empress Dowager Cixi and Chairman Mao.

Famous Irish people. Includes St Patrick, Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, Eamon de Valera, Mary Robinson and George Best

Famous Italians – Italian composers, artists, politicians and authors. Includes Julius Caesar, Marcus Aurelius, St Francis of Assisi, Michelangelo, Giuseppe Garibaldi and Catherine of Sienna.

Famous Russians – A list of famous Russians from Tsarist Emperors to composers and authors. Includes; Catherine the Great, Lenin, Stalin, Putin and Gorbachev.

Famous Scottish people – Influential men and women including Robert the Bruce, Alexander Fleming, John Logie Baird and William Wallace.

Swedish

Famous Welsh People – Welsh people including Owain Glyndwr – the first Prince of Wales, Nye Bevan, David Lloyd George and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Courageous people – People who have overcome difficult circumstances and difficult odds. Includes Joan of Arc, Galileo, Harriet Tubman, Socrates, Malala Yousafzai.

Inspirational people – People who made a difference in a positive way and left the world a better place. Includes Eleanor Roosevelt, Mother Teresa and Emil Zatopek.

People who fought for human/civil rights – People who campaigned for equality, civil rights and civil justice. Includes Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks.

Women’s Rights Activists – Women who championed the cause of women’s rights. Including Mary Wollstonecraft, Emily Pankhurst, Susan B.Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

People by Time Period

Major periods in world history. A list of the major periods in world history. Including the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. It also includes modern eras, which have lasted only a few decades, such as the Gilded Age, Progressive Age and the Information Age.

Famous historical figures (throughout history) A list of the most famous figures throughout history. Includes, Buddha, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Julius Ceasar, Albert Einstein and Constantine the Great.

Ancient Greeks (8th Century BCE to 1 CE) Famous people of the classical Greek period. Poets, statesmen and the fore-runners of democracy. Includes Plato, Aristotle, Socrates and Hippocrates.

People of the Renaissance (1350s to 1650s) The Renaissance covers the flowering of art and culture in Europe. Primarily in art, but also in science. Includes Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael.

People of the Protestant Reformation A list of some of the most influential people in the Protestant Reformation, which saw a break from the Catholic Church to create new Protestant Christian religions. Includes John Wycliffe, Martin Luther, Jan Hus and Desiderius Erasmus.

People of the Enlightenment (1650s to 1780s) The Enlightenment is a period which saw the growth in intellectual reason, individualism and a challenge to existing religious and political structures.

People of the Romantic Era (1790s to 1850s) Romantic poets (Blake, Keats, Coleridge, Wordsworth and Shelley) and Romantic artists, composers and writers.

Industrial Revolution (1750s to 1900) The great inventors, entrepreneurs and businessmen of the industrial revolution. Also includes the social activists of the era, such as Charles Dickens.

People of the Nineteenth Century (1801 to 1900) Nineteenth Century saw the economic boom of the industrial revolution and world-wide movements for political change.

Victorian age (1837 to 1901) The principal figures of the Victorian age and the second half of the industrial revolution. Including scientists, industrialists, artistic figures and political figures.

Famous people of the Gilded Age (1870 to 1900) The great industrialists, such as J.D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie who defined the Gilded Age.

People of the Progressive Era (1890-1920) A period of increased federal intervention to tackle abuse of monopoly power and inequality. The Progressive Era also saw women gain the vote, and increased efforts to tackle corruption.

Edwardian Age (1901 to 1914). A period of growth in science, technology and also rising tensions between the major powers. Also saw the ‘heroic age’ of exploration.

People of the First World War (1914 to 1918) The principal figures involved in the First World War from Germany, Britain, US and the rest of the world. Includes David Lloyd George, Woodrow Wilson, the Kaiser and George Clemenceau.

People of the Second World War (1939-45) Influential leaders, generals and civilians who caused, influenced and fought during the Second World War. Including; Hitler, Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt, Truman, Emperor Hirohito, Eisenhower, Rommel and De Gaulle.

Roaring Twenties – ‘Jazz Era’ (1920-1929) The Roaring Twenties was a period of economic expansion and social change. New styles of music, dance and dress.  Including Calvin Coolidge, Louis Armstrong, Al Capone and Coco Chanel.

Inter-war era (1918 to 1939) A period of peace in between the two world wars. Characterised by economic boom and bust, and the growth of polarising ideologies. Includes; Hitler, Churchill, Gandhi, Roosevelt and Mussolini.

People of the Twentieth Century (1901 to 2000) Famous people of the turbulent century. Includes Winston Churchill, F.D. Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler and Stalin.

People of the Cold War (1948 to 1990) Famous people who participated in the Cold War between the Soviet bloc and the US/NATO allies.

People of the Twenty-First Century (2001 -) Politicians, musicians, authors, scientists and sports figures of the New Millennium.

Famous leaders – A list of famous leaders who led their country. Includes Catherine the Great, Napoleon, Julius Ceasar, Winston Churchill and F.D. Roosevelt.

Famous socialists – From Karl Marx, the founder of Marxism, to leading Communists, such as Lenin and Leon Trotsky. Also democratic socialists of US and UK.

Great military leaders – Famous military figures and leaders. Includes Genghis Khan, Saladin, Alexander the Great, Napoleon and Erwin Rommel.

Different Religions

Buddhists – Famous Buddhists, including Lord Buddha, Milarepa, the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh.

Christians – Famous Christians from Jesus Christ and the early Apostles to Catholic Popes and saints. Includes St Francis of Assisi, St Catherine of Sienna and St Teresa.

Jewish – Famous Jewish people, including prophets, philosophers, musicians and writers. Includes Moses, Prophet Abraham, Baruch Spinoza, Karl Marx and Yehudi Menuhin.

Muslims – Famous Muslims. Including the Prophet Muhammad, Saladin, Rumi, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Muhammad Ali and Malala Yousafzai.

Hindus – Famous Hindus from the era of the Mahabharata to modern day India. Includes Sri Krishna, Arjuna, Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda and Sri Anandamayi Ma.

Famous saints – Famous saints from the main religious traditions of Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism. Includes St Francis of Assisi, Mirabai and Guru Nanak.

People in the anti-slavery movement – Men and women who campaigned for the end of slavery. This includes former slaves such as Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, and political campaigners, such as William Wilberforce and Abraham Lincoln.

Famous slaves – People who became well-known despite being kept in slavery. Including Moses, St Patrick, Spartacus and Nat Turner.

Other groups of people

Animal rights activists – Brigitte Bardot, Linda McCartney, Peter Singer and Jeremy Bentham.

Famous Environmentalists – A list of famous environmentalists including conservationists, writers, political activists and those who have taken a lead in promoting a more caring approach to the environment.

Vegetarians – Famous people who have adopted a vegetarian diet. Including Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Rosa Parks.

People who changed their minds – Famous people who dramatically changed their minds during their lives. Including the Buddha, Ashoka, Leo Tolstoy and Martin Niemoller.

Books that changed the world – Important books which influenced and changed society and the world. Including The Republic, The Iliad, The Communist Manifesto and The King James Bible.

Quotes that changed the world – Inspiring quotes that changed the world from some of the world’s leading minds – including Einstein, Buddha, Darwin, and Galileo.

Ideas that changed the world – Scientific, political, religious and technological ideas that transformed the world. Including democracy, feminism, human rights and relativity.

Inventions that changed the world – Famous inventions that made a great difference to the progress of the world, including aluminium, the telephone and the printing press.

People who shaped democracy – Ancient Greeks such as Cleisthenes and Colon, and modern promoters of democracy – John Locke, William Penn and Rousseau.

Famous Composers – A list of famous and influential composers throughout history, including the greatest composers, such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Mendelssohn.

Famous pacifists – People who refused to fight and people who supported different forms of pacifism. Includes Leo Tolstoy, Albert Einstein and Mahatma Gandhi.

People who promoted world peace – People who have made a great contribution to creating a more peaceful world. Including Mahatma Gandhi, Leo Tolstoy, Malala Yousafzai Pope John Paul II and Mikhail Gorbachev.

Famous Religious leaders and founders – Key people who helped to found different religions and spiritual movements. Including Moses, Sri Krishna, Buddha, Jesus Christ, Muhammad and Guru Nanak.

100 most influential people – A list of 100 most influential people as chosen by Michael H. Hart, from his book 100 most influential people in the world. Includes; Muhammad, Jesus Christ, Lord Buddha, Confucius, St Paul and Johann Gutenberg.

Famous mathematicians – A list of famous mathematicians, including Thales, Euclid, Newton, Turing and Nash.

Famous trailblazers and pioneers – People who were at the forefront of science, arts, business and political movements.

Great Thinkers – Influential and insightful thinkers, who have made significant contributions in fields of science, philosophy, literature and the humanities.

Misunderstood people. Famous people who were either misunderstood during their lifetime or people who have been misunderstood since their death.

Famous Philosophers – Some of the world’s greatest philosophers, including Socrates, Plato, Descartes, Kant, Spinoza and David Hume.

100 Famous sporting personalities – 100 Famous sporting personalities, including Muhammad Ali, Nadia Comaneci, Pele and Jesse Owens.

Famous Film Directors – Influential film directors, including Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplin, Frank Capra, Walt Disney and Orson Wells.

Famous people with Rags to Riches stories – Rags to riches stories – People who started off poor, but became rich through good fortune or hard work. The list includes; George Soros, Andrew Carnegie, Samuel Walton, Pele and J.K. Rowling.

Famous Black People. A list of inspirational black men and women. Including Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama, Desmond Tutu, Mohammad Ali, Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks.

People who made a difference. Men and women who made a positive contribution to the world – in the fields of politics, literature, music, activism and spirituality.

Self-Made Men A list of men who have succeeded in the world starting from humble beginnings to become successful in different fields such as business, science, the arts and sport.

People who were born ahead of their time. A list of people whose ideas, actions and speech were not fully appreciated during their lifetime.

People who made a stand People who defied unjust laws and supported a particular principle, human right or justice.

Famous and iconic faces – A list of people with iconic and famous faces. Faces that represent beauty, ideals, suffering or illumination.

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan. “Famous and Iconic Faces”, Oxford,  UK. www.biographyonline.net Published 27 October 2018.

Related

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10 Greatest works of art of all time. Including The Pieta and The statue of David by Michelangelo; Ecstasy of St Therese by Bernini, and Sunflowers by Vincent Van Gogh.

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