1864-1944
I.M. Pei is a Chinese-born American architect, perhaps best known for his controversial glass pyramid in the courtyard at the Louvre Museum in Paris.
1917-
A pioneer in early hormonal and reproductive research, Gregory Pincus and his team of scientists are credited with formulating the first oral contraceptive for birth control.
1903-1967
1891-1964
Actress Natalie Portman won the 2010 Academy Award for her role as a dancer in Black Swan.
1981-
1949-
William Rehnquist was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Richard Nixon in 1971. He was elevated to the post of chief justice by President Ronald Reagan in 1986. He remained chief justice until his death in 2005.
1924-2005
Syngman Rhee became South Korea’s first president in 1948. He was re-elected twice after the Korean War, but was overthrown by a 1960 student uprising.
1875-1965
1944-
David Rockefeller is an American banker and philanthropist, the youngest of the five sons of John D. Rockefeller Jr.
1915-
Poet and professor Theodore Roethke was best known for winning the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for his poetry volume The Wakening. His other works include "Open House" and "The Far Field."
1908-1963
Franklin D. Roosevelt was the only U.S. president to be elected four times. He led the United States through the Great Depression and World War II.
1882-1945
1935-2003
American economist Paul Samuelson is best known as a founder of neo-Keynesian economics and for being the first American to win the Nobel Prize in Economics.
1915-2009
1921-
1917-2007
American folk singer Pete Seeger is an iconic figure in the mid-20th century, and is best known for his contributions to the American folk music revival.
1919-
1951-
American psychologist B.F. Skinner is best known for developing the theory of behaviorism, and for his utopian novel Walden Two (1948).
1904-1990
Susan Sontag was a critical essayist, cultural analyst, novelist and filmmaker. She wrote On Photography, Illness as Metaphor, The Volcano Lover and In America.
1933-2004
Mira Sorvino is an Academy Award-winning actress who starred in Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite.
1968-
1954-
1920-1987
American radio astronomer and physicist Joseph H. Taylor Jr. was the co-recipient of the 1993 Nobel Prize for Physics for discovering the first binary pulsar.
1941-
1896-1989
William Monroe Trotter was a Harvard-educated journalist and activist who championed equal rights for African Americans.
1872-1934
Writer John Updike's works are known for their subtle depiction of American middle-class life. His popular Rabbit series earned him two Pulitzer prizes.
1932-2009
Noted economist Robert Weaver, was the first African American to serve in the U.S. cabinet as the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
1907-1997
1953-
Adam Wheeler, also known as the "Ivy League Imposter," made national news when it was discovered that he had boasted an academic career—including admission to Harvard University—based on lies.
1915-1986
1929-
Thomas Wolfe was an American author known for writing the autobiographical piece Look Homeward, Angel before his untimely death at the age of 37.
1900-1938
Carter G. Woodson was an African-American writer and historian known as the "Father of Black History Month." He penned the influential book The Mis-Education of the Negro.
1875-1950
1953-
Mark Zuckerberg is co-founder and CEO of the social-networking website Facebook, as well as one of the world's youngest billionaires.
1984-