1919-1943
American actress Patricia Arquette has had a long career in film and television, continually showing her great range as a performer across genres.
1968-
1886-1973
Cellular and molecular biologist Günter Blobel won the Nobel Prize in 1999 for his discoveries about proteins and their placement in the cell.
1936-
Catherine II was empress of Russia, and led her country into the political and cultural life of Europe, carrying on the work begun by Peter the Great.
1729-1796
Considered Poland's greatest composer, Frédéric Chopin focused his efforts on piano composition and was highly influential.
1810-1849
English novelist and short-story writer Joseph Conrad’s works include the novels Lord Jim, Nostromo and The Secret Agent and the story “Heart of Darkness”.
1857-1924
Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus identified the concept of a heliocentric solar system, in which the sun, rather than the earth, is the center of the solar system.
1473-1543
Marie Curie was a Polish-born French physicist famous for her work on radioactivity and twice a winner of the Nobel Prize.
1867-1934
After earning a fortune in the cigar industry, Oscar Hammerstein I, grandfather of lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, built numerous theaters and opera houses.
1847-1919
Lech Kaczynski was a politician who served as president of Poland until his sudden death in a plane crash in 2010.
1949-2010
Actor Klaus Kinski made his mark in such films as Aguirre (1972), Nosferatu (1979) and Fitzcarraldo (1982).
1926-1991
1902-1983
1884-1942
1924-2010
1917-2004
Ignacy Paderewski was a world famous concert pianist who also became Poland’s first prime minister in 1919.
1860-1941
Pope John Paul II made history in 1978 by becoming the first non-Italian pope in more than four hundred years.
1920-2005
I.L. Peretz was a Jewish author who gained fame after writing folktales, ballads and plays about the ideals of Judaism.
1852-1915
World-ranked tennis pro Agnieszka Radwanska became the first Polish player in history to receive a WTA tour singles title—at the Nordea Nordic Light Open in Sweden.
1989-
1908-2005
Art Rubinstein was a famous Polish pianist who is regarded by many as the greatest Chopin interpreter of the 20th century.
1887-1982
Helena Rubinstein was a Polish entrepreneur best known for her global cosmetics empire.
1870-1965
Isaac Bashevis Singer was a Jewish-American writer who won the 1978 Nobel Prize in Literature.
1904-1991
Labor activist and later Polish president Lech Walesa helped form and lead communist Poland's first independent trade union, Solidarity and won a Nobel Prize.
1943-
Weegee was a photographer noted for his gritty yet compassionate images of the aftermath of New York street crimes and disasters.
1899-1968
Paul Wolfowitz is a U.S. government official who is best known as the leading architect of the Iraq War under President George Bush's administration.
1943-
1915-1981