American sociologist and critical thinker who challenged academia to engage with power and society, influencing the New Left

American physicist who shared the 1927 Nobel Prize for discovering the Compton effect, demonstrating the particle nature of electromagnetic radiation

Prolific Hungarian-American film director who shaped Hollywood's Golden Age with classics like Casablanca and The Charge of the Light Brigade

Scottish painter and original bass guitarist of the English rock band The Beatles, known for co-inventing the band's name and being an early member

German-Austrian SS officer and major organizer of the Holocaust who coordinated mass deportations to Nazi extermination camps

German chancellor and statesman who stabilized the Mark as Minister of Finance and served as Ambassador to the United States

British polymath, statistician, evolutionary biologist, and geneticist who established modern statistical science and integrated Mendelian genetics with natural selection, contributing significantly to the modern synthesis of evolution

English writer and poet known for his prolific 50-year career, early association with the Imagist movement, and winning the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his biography of Wellington

French intellectual and literary figure known for his philosophical and literary explorations of eroticism, mysticism, surrealism, and transgression

American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, and winner of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature

Nobel Prize-winning German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter whose works like "Siddhartha" and "Steppenwolf" explored themes of authenticity, self-knowledge, and spirituality

American actress and model known for iconic "blonde bombshell" roles and becoming a top sex symbol of the 1950s and early 1960s

Danish author and short story writer known for her works under the pen name Isak Dinesen, including 'Den afrikanske farm'

American author and poet renowned for his experimental use of grammar and typography, and for works like The Enormous Room and Tulips and Chimneys

French philosopher and writer known for his contributions to poetics and the philosophy of science, including concepts like epistemological obstacle and break

French lawyer and politician who served as the 17th President of France and last president of the Fourth Republic from 1954-1959

American diplomat, activist, and longest-serving First Lady, known for her advocacy for human rights and her pivotal role in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

British-American actor, director, and screenwriter known for his Academy Award-winning performances and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame