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William Randolph Hearst was an American newspaper publisher, businessman, and politician. He is credited with developing America's largest newspaper chain, Hearst Communications. Today, Hearst Communications has grown into a multinational business information and mass media conglomerate. William Randolph Hearst’s life and work inspired the creation of Charles Foster Kane, the main character in the 1941 drama film, Citizen Kane.
German playwright, poet, and theater director, Bertolt Brecht, is best known for co-writing the play, The Threepenny Opera, with Kurt Weill. Growing up in war-torn Germany in the early 20th century, he had a difficult life. A hardcore Marxist, he lived in exile during the Nazi period. He returned to Germany after the war and established a theater company.
Dorothy Stratten was a Canadian model, actress, and Playboy Playmate. Renowned for her beauty, Stratten was adjudged the Playboy Playmate of the Year in 1980 before she was killed by her estranged husband Paul Snider at the age of 20. Her relationship with Snider and her death inspired films, such as Death of a Centerfold and Star 80.
Gena Rowlands had an expansive screen and stage career spanning over six-decades. Her remarkable performances won her several accolades including four Emmy and two Golden Globe awards and an Honorary Academy Award. Two of her memorable performances includes in films A Woman Under the Influence and Gloria, both written-directed by her late-husband John Cassavetes and earned her Academy Award nominations.
Rakesh Jhunjhunwala was an Indian investor and businessman. One of the richest businessmen in India, Jhunjhunwala was referred to as the King of Bull Market and the Warren Buffett of India. He served as the chairman of Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd and Aptech Limited. He was a promoter of India's newest airline, Akasa Air.
Frédéric Joliot-Curie was a French physicist whose discovery of artificial radioactivity earned him the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which was jointly awarded to Frédéric and his wife Irène Joliot-Curie. Along with his wife, Frédéric is credited with founding the Orsay Faculty of Sciences, a physics and mathematics school within Paris-Saclay University. He had also won the Stalin Peace Prize.
Nobel Prize-winning Polish-American poet Czesław Miłosz, known for the iconic Poem of Frozen Time, had made a lucky escape during the German invasion of Poland but had gone back using fake documents to be with his wife, Janina. He later became a Polish diplomat and also taught in the US.
William Buckland was an English theologian, palaeontologist, and geologist. He is best remembered for his service as the Dean of Westminster. He is credited with writing the first full account of a dinosaur fossil, which he named Megalosaurus. William Buckland pioneered the usage of fossilized faeces to reconstruct ecosystems. Buckland was the recipient of the prestigious Copley Medal.
Bulgarian-born author and Nobel laureate Elias Canetti interestingly became one of the greatest authors in German, his third language. Though equipped with a doctoral degree in chemistry, he gained fame for his iconic works such as The Tower of Babel and Crowds and Power, which focused on crowd psychology.
Alexander Luria was a Soviet neuropsychologist who served as the leader of the Vygotsky Circle, an informal network of psychologists, physiologists, neuroscientists, and medical specialists. Often referred to as the father of neuropsychological assessment, Luria came up with influential books that serve as psychological textbooks for students. His book The Mind of a Mnemonist inspired films like Away with Words.
Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Conventual Franciscan friar and a Catholic priest. Venerated as Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Maximilian is best remembered for volunteering to die at the death camp of Auschwitz in place of a stranger during World War II. In 1982, Pope John Paul II declared Maximilian Kolbe a martyr of charity.
Alison Smithson was one half of the renowned British architect duo Alison and Peter Smithson, the other half of which was her husband. They contributed immensely to the New Brutalism, or British Brutalism, style of architecture and also popularized themes such as streets in the sky.
Camilla Horn was a German actress and dancer who performed in films of both the silent and sound era. She achieved popularity in the USA during the late 1920s when she appeared in many popular Hollywood films. Camilla Horn remained a screen favorite in Italian, British, and German films throughout her acting career.
Better known as the resident poet of the space rock band Hawkwind, Robert Calvert was born in South Africa and later moved to England with his family. Initially a building surveyor, he later joined the counterculture movement of the late ‘60s. He is best remembered for songs such as Urban Guerrilla.
Sister Mary Irene FitzGibbon, popularly known as Sister Irene, is best remembered as the founder of the New York Foundling Hospital, a first-of-its-kind hospital that catered to abandoned infants, especially those born of unwed mothers. She also introduced pioneering programs for adoption and for arrangement of foster homes.
