Biographies of people who made a difference and shaped our world. Short profiles for children on men and women who changed our world with path breaking ideas and actions. Personalities include statesmen, leaders, political thinkers, inventors, scientists, artists, writers, actors, sports persons and achievers.
63 items in this section. Displaying page 2 of 7
Maria Curie: The only scientist to win a Nobel prize twice
Maria Skłodowska Curie (1867 - 1934): Marie Curie (born Maria Skłodowska Curie) was the first woman to win a Nobel prize and the only scientist to win a Nobel prize twice. She was also the first scientist to win a Nobel Prize in two different fields of science. She found a treatment for cancer, coined the word “radioactive”, and discovered the elements Radium and Polonium. Maria Skłodowska Curie was born in Warsaw, Poland on the 7th of November, 1867....
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart was one of the world’s most celebrated aviators. She broke records and charted new skies in the course of her short life. She disappeared while she was on a flight around the world. Earhart was born on July 24, 1897, in Atchison, Kansas. She was the elder of Edwin Stanton and Amy Otis Earhart’s two daughters. Childhood was not happy for the two bright sisters. Their father was an alcoholic and lost jobs often....
Ada Lovelace, The Mother of Computing
Ada Lovelace (1815-1852): When you use your device, remember that Ada Lovelace was the first person to write a computer program. She is widely regarded as the first person to recognize the full potential of computers. She wrote the first algorithm ever. Ada Lovelace was born on the 10th of December, 1815 to the famous poet Lord Byron and his wife Lady Byron. Her parents named her Augusta Ada Byron. Her parents separated soon after she was born....
Elvis Presley: The King of Rock and Roll
Elvis Presley (1935-1977): “Truth is like the sun, you can shut it out but it ain’t goin’ away,” said Elvis Presley. Little did he know how apt those words would be to his musical career. Everyone told the King of Rock that he would not become a successful singer but he kept trying till he did. From a humble beginning to ruling radio, television and the silver screen. Elvis Presley was an icon and the best selling solo artist of all time....
Michael Farday: The Self-Educated Inventor
Michael Faraday (1791 - 1867) Is it possible to become one of the most influential scientists in history without a formal education? In the case of Michael Faraday, the answer would be an absolute yes. Our world is full of big and small electric motors. And we owe Faraday for discovering the principles of electromagnetism that led to the first electric motor. Faraday’s main contributions were within the study of electromagnetism and the relationship between electricity and chemical change....
J.K. Rowling: Casts a reading spell on children in the era of digital media
Joanne Kathleen Rowling (1965 - ): J.K. Rowling is the author of the most widely sold book series in all of history. Her fantasy novels are about the story of a boy, Harry Potter. He is an English orphan who is given admission to a school of magic, exclusively for wizards and witches. Rowling’s Harry Potter series takes us into the world of magic as Harry and his friends fight the source of evil in their world, Lord Voldemort....
Marie Stopes: A Guiding Light For The Women of England
Marie Stopes (1880 – 1958): Nearly 100 years ago, one woman took it upon herself to help women take control of their own bodies. To decide whether they wanted children, and when they wanted children. At a time when it was looked down upon, Marie Stopes helped a generation of English women safely discuss sex, pregnancy, and birth control. Birth control refers to methods of preventing a pregnancy. Abortion is a medical procedure that ends a pregnancy....
Rosa Parks: The First Lady of Civil Rights
Rosa Parks (1913-2005): It might seem alien to you today, but in 1950’s America, discrimination was protected and enforced by the state. One of the key ways this was done was by segregation. African Americans were told where they could eat, where they could go to school, where they could live, and where they could be buried. The effort and sacrifice of one young woman to fight against this injustice made her an international icon and earned her the title, “the first lady of civil rights”....
Jacques-Yves Cousteau
If there is one person who single-handedly fascinated millions of landlocked viewers to venture underwater into the unknown, through television, it is the Frenchman Jacques Cousteau. Jacques-Yves Cousteau was born on June 11, 1910, in the town of St.-Andre-de-Cubzac near Bordeaux, in France, to Daniel and Elizabeth Cousteau. As a child, Jacques was quite sickly but he nonetheless learned to swim at the age of four. His initial dip led to his everlasting love for the sea....
Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, the youngest of three children of an Albanian builder, on August 26, 1910 in Skopje, Macedonia. She felt that August 27, 1910, the day of her baptism, was her true birthday. At the age of 18 she joined the Order of the Sisters of Our Lady of Loreto in Ireland. She trained in Dublin, where the motherhouse of the Loreto Sisters was located. She chose the name of Sister Teresa, in memory of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux....