Franz Liszt was a prolific 19th-century Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, music teacher, arranger, organist, philanthropist, author, nationalist and a Franciscan tertiary. Liszt gained renown in Europe during the early nin...

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian opera composer. Verdi was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, and developed a musical education with the help of a local patron. Verdi came to dominate the Italian...

The policies of Rutherford B. Hayes, America's nineteenth President (1877-1881), began to heal the nation after the ravages of the Civil War. He was well suited to the task, having earned a steadfast reputation for integrity throughout his...

Chester Alan Arthur was an American politician who served as the twenty-first President of the United States (1881-1885). Arthur was a member of the Republican Party and worked as a lawyer before becoming the twentieth vice president under...

Frederick III was German Emperor and King of Prussia, ruling for 99 days until his death in 1888. He was the son and successor of William I. In 1858 he married Victoria, the princess royal of England, who exerted considerable influence over...

Alfred Bernhard Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and philanthropist. Known for inventing dynamite, Nobel also owned Bofors, which he had redirected from its previous role as primarily an iron and steel produc...

Georges Benjamin Clemenceau was a French statesman, physician and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1908, and again from 1916 to 1920. For nearly the final year of World War I he led France, and was one of t...

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a German philologist, philosopher, cultural critic, poet and composer. He wrote several critical texts on religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy and science, displaying a fondness for metaphor,...

Henry John Heinz was an American entrepreneur who, at the age of 25, co-founded a small horseradish concern in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania. This business failed, but his second business expanded into tomato ketchup and other condiments, and ul...

Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg, known universally as Paul von Hindenburg was a German Field Marshal and statesman. An important figure during World War I, he also served as President of Germany from 1925 to 1934...

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was a Russian physiologist known primarily for his work in classical conditioning. From his childhood days Pavlov demonstrated intellectual curiosity along with an unusual energy which he referred to as "the instinc...

Oscar Wilde, Irish poet and dramatist whose reputation rests on his comic masterpieces Lady Windermere's Fan (1892) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895). Among Wilde's other best-known works are his only novel The Picture of Dorian Gr...

Gandhi became the international symbol of a free India. He lived a spiritual and ascetic life of prayer, fasting, and meditation. The Mahatma's political and spiritual hold on India was so great that the British authorities dared not interf...

Jacobus Johannes "Jaap" Eden was a Dutch athlete. He is the only male athlete to have won world championships in both speed skating and cycling (women who have done so are Sheila Young and Christa Rothenburger)....

Karl Bernhard Zoeppritz was a German geophysicist who made important contributions to seismology, in particular the formulation of the Zoeppritz equations. These equations relate the amplitudes of P-waves and S-waves at each side of an i...