Sergio Pininfarina, born Sergio Farina, was an Italian automobile designer and Senator for life. Pininfarina was born at Turin. After joining his father Battista Farina at Carrozzeria Pininfarina, he quickly became integral to the company,...

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who governed the Republic of Cuba as Prime Minister from 1959 to 1976 and then as President from 1976 to 2008. Politically a Marxist–Leninist and Cuban nationalist, he also...

Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and song writer. Chuck Berry is an immensely influential figure, and one of the pioneers of rock & roll music. Cub Koda wrote, "Of all the early breakthrough rock & rol...

This book simultaneously gave voice to and shaped some of the central ideas of 20th Century thought and culture. Few books can equal it in importance. It is very hard--don't imagine that you can pick it up and read it on your own--but it is...

Early in the morning on May 20, 1927 Charles A. Lindbergh took off in The Spirit of St. Louis from Roosevelt Field near New York City. Flying northeast along the coast, he was sighted later in the day flying over Nova Scotia and Newfoundlan...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization comprised of over 6,000 motion picture artists and craftsmen. Though most famous for its yearly awards, the Academy's general goal is the advancement of...

Benedict XVI, né Joseph Ratzinger (April 16, 1927) is Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1981, as Cardinal Ratzinger, he was appointed prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith by Pope John Paul II, made a Cardinal Bishop...

Sir Sidney Poitier, Bahamian-American actor, film director, author, and diplomat. He broke through as a star in acclaimed performances in American films and plays, which, by consciously defying racial stereotyping, gave a new dramatic credi...

Harry Belafonte is a Jamaican-American singer, songwriter, activist, and actor. One of the most successful Jamaican-American pop stars in history, he was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Trinidadian Caribbean musical style...

The Chinese Civil War was a civil war in China fought between the Kuomintang (KMT)-led government of the Republic of China (ROC) and forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) lasting intermittently between 1927 and 1949. The war is gen...

Theodore Harold "Ted" Maiman was an American engineer and physicist credited with the invention of the first working laser. Maiman’s laser led to the subsequent development of many other types of lasers. The laser was successfully fired on...

Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century...

James Dewey Watson is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist, best known as one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA in 1953 with Francis Crick. Watson, Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the 1962 Nobel Pri...

Robert Maynard Pirsig is the author of the cult classic, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. In the early Sixties, following a slow dance through hell with depression and mental illness that left him in and out of hospitals and trea...

Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes described as "the father of modern linguistics," Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy...