b
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Milton Babbitt
Educator, Songwriter / 1916 - 2011
Milton Babbitt is an avant-garde composer and was one of the first Americans to write electronically synthesized music.
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(1916-2011)
Educator, Songwriter
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John Bardeen
Educator, Inventor, Physicist / 1908 - 1991
Physicist John Bardeen was co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1956 for inventing the transistor, and in 1972 for the theory of superconductivity.
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(1908-1991)
Educator, Inventor, Physicist
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Gary Becker
Economist / 1930 -
Economist Gary Becker won a Nobel Prize, National Medal of Science and the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his exploration of sociology and economics.
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(1930-)
Economist
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Jeff Bezos
Entrepreneur / 1964 -
American entrepreneur Jeff Bezos is the founder and chief executive officer of Amazon.com. An e-commerce pioneer, Bezos was instrumental in creating a model for buying and selling products online.
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(1964-)
Entrepreneur
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Bill Bradley
Basketball Player, U.S. Representative / 1943 -
Bill Bradley is known for turning his basketball fame into a political career in the US Senate and as a candidate for the Presidency in 1999.
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(1943-)
Basketball Player, U.S. Representative
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Ethan Coen
Director, Screenwriter / 1957 -
Screenwriter Ethan Coen and his brother have written numerous award-winning films including Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Fargo, and No Country for Old Men.
See full bio
(1957-)
Director, Screenwriter
d
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Mitch Daniels
U.S. Governor / 1949 -
Republican politician Mitch Daniels is the governor of Indiana and worked in the administrations of presidents George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.
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(1949-)
U.S. Governor
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David Duchovny
Animal Rights Activist, Film Actor, Television Actor / 1960 -
Actor David Duchovny has played FBI agent Fox Mulder on the television series The X-Files and Hank Moody in HBO’s Californication. He married Téa Leoni in 1997.
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(1960-)
Animal Rights Activist, Film Actor, Television Actor
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John Foster Dulles
Political Leader / 1888 - 1959
U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles made major contributions to U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War.
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(1888-1959)
Political Leader
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José Ferrer
Film Actor, Theater Actor, Television Actor, Director / 1912 - 1992
American actor and director José Ferrer was perhaps best known for his Academy Award-winning performance in the title role of the film Cyrano de Bergerac.
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(1912-1992)
Film Actor, Theater Actor, Television Actor, Director
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Tim Ferriss
Blogger, Journalist / 1977 -
Tim Ferriss is an author, blogger and motivational speaker known for his books The 4-Hour Workweek and The 4-Hour Body.
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(1977-)
Blogger, Journalist
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Richard Feynman
Academic, Inventor, Physicist / 1918 - 1988
American physicist Richard Feynman is an American physicist best known for his work in quantum mechanics. He assisted in the development of the atomic bomb.
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(1918-1988)
Academic, Inventor, Physicist
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F. Scott Fitzgerald
Author / 1896 - 1940
American short-story writer and novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald is known for his turbulent personal life and his famous novel The Great Gatsby.
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(1896-1940)
Author
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Malcolm Forbes
Business Leader, Political Leader, Publisher / 1919 - 1990
Publisher Malcolm Forbes was the son of B.C. Forbes, who founded Forbes magazine. Malcolm Forbes eventually worked his way up to becoming company president.
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(1919-1990)
Business Leader, Political Leader, Publisher
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Steve Forbes
Business Leader / 1947 -
Steve Forbes is a publishing executive of the business magazine Forbes and a two-time candidate for the nomination of the Republican Party for U.S. president.
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(1947-)
Business Leader
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Robert Goddard
Educator, Engineer, Inventor, Physicist / 1882 - 1945
American physicist Robert H. Goddard built the world's first liquid-fueld rocket in 1926 and is best known as the founding father of modern rocketry.
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(1882-1945)
Educator, Engineer, Inventor, Physicist
i
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Carl C. Icahn
Entrepreneur / 1936 -
Entrepreneur Carl C. Icahn made his fortune on Wall Street as a corporate “raider” in the 1980s. He bought Transworld Airlines in 1985, but had to sell it in 1992.
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(1936-)
Entrepreneur
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Robert L. Johnson
Entrepreneur / 1946 -
Robert L. Johnson is an American entrepreneur best known as the founder of the BET channel and as the country’s first African-American billionaire.
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(1946-)
Entrepreneur
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Elena Kagan
Educator, Lawyer, Supreme Court Justice, Political Leader / 1960 -
First female politician,attorney to serve as solicitor general of the United States of America.
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(1960-)
Educator, Lawyer, Supreme Court Justice, Political Leader
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Thomas Kean
Academic, Governor / 1935 -
American Republican Party politician Thomas Kean is best known for serving as the Chairman of the 9/11 Commission after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
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(1935-)
Academic, Governor
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David E. Kelley
Television Producer, Screenwriter / 1956 -
David E. Kelley is a writer and producer of TV shows and has worked on such series as L.A. Law, Ally McBeal, and The Practice.
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(1956-)
Television Producer, Screenwriter
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George F. Kennan
Historian, Diplomat, Academic Author / 1904 - 2005
George F. Kennan served as a U.S. diplomat from 1926 to 1953. He wrote a famous Foreign Affairs article, "The Sources of Soviet Conduct," under the pen name Mr. X.
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(1904-2005)
Historian, Diplomat, Academic Author
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Jeffrey MacDonald
Murderer, Doctor / 1943 -
New York physician Jeffrey MacDonald was convicted in 1979 for murdering his pregnant wife and two daughters, but questions remain about his guilt.
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(1943-)
Murderer, Doctor
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W. S. Merwin
Linguist, Editor, Poet / 1927 -
W.S. Merwin is a Pulitzer-winning poet and translator known for works such as The Carrier of Ladders.
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(1927-)
Linguist, Editor, Poet
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Robert Mueller
Lawyer, Political Leader / 1944 -
Robert Mueller is the 6th Director of the United States Federal Bureau of investigation (FBI) and is best known for pushing to expand wiretap laws in the U.S.
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(1944-)
Lawyer, Political Leader
n
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Ralph Nader
Environmental Activist, Anti-War Activist / 1934 -
Attorney Ralph Nader is an auto-safety reformer and consumer advocate. He’s run for president several times, having been both a Democrat and Green Party member.
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(1934-)
Environmental Activist, Anti-War Activist
o
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Eugene O'Neill
Playwright / 1888 - 1953
Eugene O'Neill was the first American dramatist to regard the stage as a literary medium and the only U.S. playwright to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature.
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(1888-1953)
Playwright
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Michelle Obama
Lawyer, U.S. First Lady / 1964 -
Michelle Obama is a lawyer, Chicago city administrator and community outreach worker, as well as the wife of U.S. President Barack Obama and the 44th first lady.
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(1964-)
Lawyer, U.S. First Lady
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Lisa Perez Jackson
Civil Servant, Engineer, Chemist / 1962 -
Lisa Perez Jackson is a chemical engineer who in 2008 became the first African American to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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(1962-)
Civil Servant, Engineer, Chemist
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David Petraeus
General / 1952 -
U.S. Army General David Petraeus became director of the CIA in 2011. He resigned from the post in 2012, after his extramarital affair with Paula Broadwell was publicized.
See full bio
(1952-)
General
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Queen Noor of Jordan
Queen / 1951 -
Queen Noor of Jordan, who was the consort of King Hussein, was trained as an urban planner and works as a philanthropist/world activist.
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(1951-)
Queen
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Syngman Rhee
World Leader / 1875 - 1965
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.
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(1875-1965)
World Leader
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Laurance Rockefeller
Environmental Activist, Business Leader, Philanthropist / 1910 - 2004
Venture capitalist and environmentalist Laurance Rockefeller founded the American Conservation Association and put conservationism on the American agenda.
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(1910-2004)
Environmental Activist, Business Leader, Philanthropist
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Donald Rumsfeld
Military Leader, Government Official / 1932 -
Donald Rumsfeld is a political figure known for being the secretary of defense under both President Gerald Ford and President George W. Bush.
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(1932-)
Military Leader, Government Official
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Edward Said
Academic, Activist, Academic Author / 1935 - 2003
Although Edward Said was a literature professor at Columbia University, he also wrote about the way we discuss the Middle East in Orientalism.
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(1935-2003)
Academic, Activist, Academic Author
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Brooke Shields
Film Actress, Television Actress, Model / 1965 -
Brooke Shields is an actress known for her early movie roles and TV series such as Suddenly Susan.
See full bio
(1965-)
Film Actress, Television Actress, Model
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Richard E Smalley
Chemist / 1943 - 2005
Richard E. Smalley was an American chemist best known for discovering a new form of carbon, for which he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
See full bio
(1943-2005)
Chemist
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Sonia Sotomayor
Lawyer, Supreme Court Justice / 1954 -
Nominated by President Barack Obama on May 26, 2009, Sonia Sotomayor became the first Latina Supreme Court Justice in US history.
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(1954-)
Lawyer, Supreme Court Justice
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Eliot Spitzer
U.S. Governor / 1959 -
Former governor Eliot Spitzer had a promising career until his frequent use of prostitutes was discovered, forcing him to resign.
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(1959-)
U.S. Governor
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Jimmy Stewart
Film Actor, Theater Actor / 1908 - 1997
Jimmy Stewart was a major motion-picture star known for his portrayals of diffident but morally resolute characters in films such as It’s a Wonderful Life.
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(1908-1997)
Film Actor, Theater Actor
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Alan Turing
Educator, Mathematician / 1912 - 1954
Famed mathematician Alan Turing proved in his 1936 paper, "On Computable Numbers," that a universal algorithmic method of determining truth in math cannot exist.
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(1912-1954)
Educator, Mathematician
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Steven Weinberg
Academic, Physicist / 1933 -
Steven Weinberg is a U.S. physicist and Nobel laureate who contributed to work on the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles.
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(1933-)
Academic, Physicist
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Cornel West
Educator, Philosopher, Scholar, Civil Rights Activist, Academic Author / 1953 -
Cornel West is a scholar of African American studies, and political activist. He published Race Matters in 1993 and appeared in the Matrix sequels.
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(1953-)
Educator, Philosopher, Scholar, Civil Rights Activist, Academic Author