Joy Adamson was a conservationist who pioneered the movement to preserve African wildlife. She won renown with her books about raising the lion cub Elsa.
1910-1980
Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner made a record-breaking, supersonic skydive from 24 miles above the earth in October 2012.
1969-
Ludwig van Beethoven was a deaf German composer and the predominant musical figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras.
1770-1827
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist who wrote symphonies, concerti, chamber music, piano works, and choral compositions.
1833-1897
Charles I was a monarch of the Hapsburg line who was the last emperor of Austria and king of Hungary. He lost his throne at the end of World War I.
1887-1922
Austrian physicist Christian Doppler first described the Doppler effect, in reference to the observed frequency of light and sound waves, in the paper "Concerning the Coloured Light of Double Stars."
1803-1853
1861-1948
Franz Ferdinand's assassination on June 28, 1914, at the hand of a Serbian terrorist group the "Black Hand," led to the beginning of World War I.
1863-1914
1882-1965
1286-1330
Psychiatrist Anna Freud, daughter of Sigmund Freud, pioneered the field of child psychoanalysis and further defined the function of the ego in psychology.
1895-1982
Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist best known for developing the theories and techniques of psychoanalysis.
1856-1939
1942-
Over the course of his 106 symphonies, Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn became the principal architect of the classical style of music.
1732-1809
Economist F.A. Hayek was noted for his criticisms of the Keynesian welfare state and of totalitarian socialism. In 1974 he shared the Nobel Prize for Economics.
1899-1992
Journalist Theodor Herzl responded to the anti-Semitism he witnessed while covering the Dreyfus Affair by starting the World Zionist Organization.
1860-1904
Adolf Hitler was the leader of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945. He initiated World War II and oversaw fascist policies that resulted in millions of deaths.
1889-1945
1946-
Holy Roman emperor Joseph II tried to strengthen the Habsburg empire with his enlightened reforms, but the changes he made were met with fierce opposition.
1741-1790
Thomas Klestil was an Austrian statesman and the 10th president of Austria.
1932-2004
1862-1918
1923-
Extraordinarily beautiful, Hedy Lamarr was a Austrian-American actress during MGM's "Golden Age."
1913-2000
Immunologist and pathologist Karl Landsteiner received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the major blood types.
1868-1943
1890-1976
Leopold I was Holy Roman emperor during whose lengthy reign Austria emerged from a series of struggles to become a great European power.
1640-1705
1747-1792
Marie-Louise is best known for her marriage to the emperor Napoleon after his divorce from Josephine.
1791-1847
Austrian composer and conductor Gustav Mahler became popular in the late 19th century for his emotionally charged and subtly orchestrated symphonies.
1860-1911
Maximilian was the Archduke of Austria and the Emperor of Mexico from 1863-1867. He was executed in 1867 by President Benito Juárez's victorious forces.
1832-1867
1527-1576
Gregor Mendel was an Austrian monk who discovered the basic principles of heredity through experiments in his garden. Mendel's observations became the foundation of modern genetics and the study of heredity, and he is widely considered a pioneer in the field of genetics.
1822-1884
A prolific artist, Austrian composer Wolfgang Mozart created a string of operas, concertos, symphonies and sonatas that profoundly shaped classical music.
1756-1791
American actor Paul Muni is best known for his film and stage portrayals of noted historical figures. He was nominated five times for the Academy Awards.
1895-1967
1815-1867
1900-1958
Ferdinand Porsche founded the Porsche car company in 1931. In the early 1920s, he oversaw the development of the Mercedes compressor car, and later developed the first designs of the Volkswagen car with his son, Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche.
1875-1951
Thanks to the model 356, created in 1948 by Ferdinand Anton Ernst "Ferry" Porsche, the Porsche car company became known worldwide as a producer of successful sports and racing cars. Several years earlier, in 1934, Porsche worked with father Ferdinand Porsche on the first designs of the Volkswagen car.
1909-1998
1906-1986
Wolfgang Puck is a chef who expanded his purview into running restaurants, writing cookbooks and hosting cooking shows.
1949-
Max Reinhardt was one of the first theatrical directors to achieve international recognition. He helped found the annual Salzburg Festival.
1873-1943
Austrian Expressionist painter Egon Schiele (1890–1918) was part of the Viennese Sezession movement with works like "The Self Seer" (1911) and "Embrace" (1917).
1890-1918
Austrian theoretical physicist Erwin Schrödinger contributed to the wave theory of matter and to other fundamentals of quantum mechanics.
1887-1961
Franz Schubert is considered the last of the classical composers and one of the first romantic ones. Schubert's music is notable for its melody and harmony.
1797-1828
Arnold Schwarzenegger first gained fame as a body builder, using that as a launching point to become a huge Hollywood star and, later, the governor of California.
1947-
Peter Singer is an Australian philosopher whose work in applied ethics has led to controversial views on abortion, animal liberation and infanticide.
1946-
1825-1899
Maria Theresa was an Austrian archduchess, and Holy Roman Empress of the Habsburg Dynasty from 1740 to 1780. She was also Marie Antoinette’s mother.
1717-1780
Jack Unterweger was an Austrian serial killer who murdered several women before committing suicide in 1994.
1950-1994
1918-2007
After working in Europe for decades, actor Christoph Waltz caught the attention of American audiences with his role in Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds.
1956-
Simon Wiesenthal was a survivor of the Holocaust who worked as an author and Nazi hunter, wishing to ensure that what befell his community would be remembered.
1908-2005
1907-1997
Stefan Zweig was an Austrian writer and novelist popular in the 1920s and 1930s.
1881-1942