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
Emmeline Pankhurst: Leading the battle for Women's right to vote
Emmeline Pankhurst (1858 - 1928): It was a little over 100 years ago that women were first allowed to vote in the United Kingdom of Britain. Till 1918, only men were allowed to vote in the British elections to Parliament. The battle for universal suffrage, or men and women voting as equals, was led by the British political activist Emmeline Pankhurst. She fought a long and hard battle during which she was arrested more than seven times, and had to leave her three daughters with cousins so that she could continue the fight....
Louis Pasteur: The man who discovered vaccination
Louis Pasteur (1822 - 1895): The next time you chomp on cheese or sip some wine, remember the French scientist Louis Pasteur who discovered that spoiled milk, fermented beer and wine, and many diseases are caused by bacteria. Millions of people are saved from bites from rabid dogs because of the rabies vaccine developed by Louis Pasteur. Bacteria are tiny, living organisms that are only visible under a microscope. More than 150 years ago, Pasteur discovered that heating milk between 60 to 100 degrees Celsius kills the bacteria....
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....
Subhas Chandra Bose: The first man to set up a government of free India
Subhas Chandra Bose (1867 to 1945): Can the enemy of your enemy be your friend? Would you ask your enemy’s enemy for help even if they had done things that were terrible? The famous Indian freedom fighter, Subhas Chandra Bose made this troubling choice in his fight to liberate India of British rule during World War II. He reached out to Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in order to fight against British rule. He did not live to see India gain independence....
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....
Confucius: The philosopher-teacher who taught kings how to govern
Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC): When the world thinks of traditional Chinese philosophy, they think of Confucius. He was the philosopher-teacher who taught kings and officials on how to govern. He was the man people turned to understand how to be good human beings. Some may think Confucius was a traditional old man. After all, he was the master of rituals and believed deeply in their value. But Confucius wasn’t so simple. According to him, ritual and music were a way to learn values....
Galileo Galilei: The Italian who figured that planets revolve around the sun
Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642): Nearly 400 years ago, an Italian mathematician told the world that the planets revolve around the sun. And he was severely punished for it. But he stood by his words and spent the last days of his life under house arrest. This was Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaulti de Galilei, or Galileo Galilei. Born on the 15th of February, 1564, Galileo was an Italian astronomer, physicist, and engineer. Galileo has been called the father of observational astronomy, the father of modern physics, the father of modern science, and the father of scientific method....
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....
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....