wing of the archive
The Modern Era
The industrial and imperial centuries: inventors, statesmen, artists, and the makers of the modern world.
Modern era
Frederic Chopin
February 22, 1810 – October 17, 1849
Polish composer and pianist (1810–1849)
Modern era
Franz Liszt
October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886
Hungarian romantic composer and virtuoso pianist (1811-1886)
Modern era
Robert Schumann
June 8, 1810 – July 29, 1856
German composer, pianist and critic (1810–1856)
Modern era
Clara Schumann
September 13, 1819 – May 20, 1896
German musician and composer (1819–1896)
Modern era
Johannes Brahms
May 7, 1833 – April 3, 1897
German composer (1833–1897)
Modern era
Richard Wagner
May 22, 1813 – February 13, 1883
German composer (1813–1883)
Modern era
Giuseppe Verdi
April 10, 1813 – January 27, 1901
Italian opera composer (1813–1901)
Modern era
Giacomo Puccini
December 22, 1858 – November 29, 1924
Italian opera composer (1858–1924)
Modern era
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
April 25, 1840 – October 25, 1893
Russian composer (1840–1893)
Modern era
Sergei Rachmaninoff
April 1, 1873 – March 28, 1943
Russian composer, pianist and conductor (1873–1943)
Modern era
Igor Stravinsky
June 18, 1882 – April 6, 1971
Russian, French, and American composer (1882–1971)
Modern era
Antonin Dvorak
September 8, 1841 – May 1, 1904
Czech composer (1841–1904)
Modern era
Claude Debussy
August 22, 1862 – March 25, 1918
French classical composer (1862–1918)
Modern era
Maurice Ravel
March 7, 1875 – December 28, 1937
French composer (1875–1937)
Modern era
Erik Satie
May 17, 1866 – July 1, 1925
French composer and pianist (1866-1925)
Modern era
Gustav Mahler
July 7, 1860 – May 18, 1911
Austrian late-Romantic composer (1860–1911)
Modern era
Felix Mendelssohn
February 3, 1809 – November 4, 1847
German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of Jewish descent (1809-1847)
Modern era
Hector Berlioz
December 11, 1803 – March 8, 1869
French composer and conductor (1803–1869)
Modern era
Camille Saint-Saens
October 9, 1835 – December 16, 1921
French composer, organist, conductor and pianist (1835–1921)
Modern era
Edvard Grieg
June 15, 1843 – September 4, 1907
Norwegian composer and pianist (1843–1907)
Modern era
Jean Sibelius
December 8, 1865 – September 20, 1957
Finnish composer (1865–1957)
Modern era
Dmitri Shostakovich
September 25, 1906 – August 9, 1975
Soviet composer and pianist (1906-1975)
Modern era
Sergei Prokofiev
April 23, 1891 – March 5, 1953
Russian and Soviet pianist, composer and conductor (1891–1953)
Modern era
George Gershwin
September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937
American composer and pianist (1898–1937)
Modern era
Leonard Bernstein
August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990
American conductor and composer (1918–1990)
Modern era
John Williams
b. February 8, 1932
American composer and conductor (born 1932)
Modern era
Ennio Morricone
November 10, 1928 – July 6, 2020
Italian composer, orchestrator and conductor (1928–2020)
Modern era
Luciano Pavarotti
October 12, 1935 – September 6, 2007
Italian operatic tenor (1935–2007)
Modern era
Maria Callas
December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977
American-Greek operatic soprano (1923–1977)
Modern era
John Muir
April 21, 1838 – December 24, 1914
Scottish-American naturalist (1838–1914)
Modern era
David Livingstone
March 19, 1813 – May 1, 1873
Scottish missionary and explorer (1813-1873)
Modern era
Henry Morton Stanley
January 28, 1841 – May 10, 1904
British journalist and explorer (1841–1904)
Modern era
Richard Francis Burton
March 19, 1821 – October 20, 1890
British explorer, army officer, writer and scholar (1821–1890)
Modern era
Ernest Shackleton
February 15, 1874 – January 5, 1922
Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer (1874–1922)
Modern era
Roald Amundsen
July 16, 1872 – June 18, 1928
Norwegian explorer; first person to reach the South Pole (1872–1928)
Modern era
Robert Falcon Scott
June 6, 1868 – March 29, 1912
Royal Navy officer and explorer (1868–1912)
Modern era
Fridtjof Nansen
October 10, 1861 – May 13, 1930
Norwegian polar explorer and diplomat; Nobel Peace Prize laureate (1861-1930)
Modern era
Robert Peary
May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920
Explorer from the United States (1856–1920)
Modern era
Matthew Henson
August 8, 1866 – March 9, 1955
American explorer (1866–1955)
Modern era
Edmund Hillary
July 20, 1919 – January 11, 2008
New Zealand mountaineer and philanthropist (1919–2008)
Modern era
Tenzing Norgay
May 29, 1914 – May 9, 1986
Nepalese Indian Sherpa mountaineer (1914-1986)
Modern era
Florence Nightingale
May 12, 1820 – August 13, 1910
Founder of modern nursing and pioneer of medical statistics
Modern era
Amelia Earhart
July 24, 1897 – January 5, 1939
Aviation pioneer, first woman to fly the Atlantic solo
Modern era
Bessie Coleman
January 26, 1892 – April 30, 1926
American aviator (1892–1926)
Modern era
Charles Lindbergh
February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974
American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist (1902–1974)
Modern era
Chuck Yeager
February 13, 1923 – December 7, 2020
American World War II flying ace and test pilot; first pilot to fly faster than sound (1923–2020)
Modern era
Jacques Cousteau
June 11, 1910 – June 25, 1997
French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author (1910-1997)
Modern era
Thor Heyerdahl
October 6, 1914 – April 18, 2002
Norwegian anthropologist and adventurer (1914-2002)
Modern era
Valentina Tereshkova
b. March 6, 1937
Russian cosmonaut and pilot, first woman to have flown in space (born 1937)
Modern era
Alan Shepard
November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998
American astronaut, first American in space, lunar explorer (1923–1998)
Modern era
John Glenn
July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016
American astronaut and politician (1921–2016)
Modern era
Buzz Aldrin
b. January 20, 1930
American astronaut (born 1930)
Modern era
Harriet Tubman
1821 – March 10, 1913
African-American abolitionist (1822–1913)
Modern era
Frederick Douglass
1817 – February 20, 1895
African-American social reformer, writer, and abolitionist (c. 1818–1895)
Modern era
Susan B. Anthony
February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906
American women's rights activist (1820–1906)
Modern era
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902
American writer, suffragist and Women's Rights activist (1815–1902)
Modern era
Emmeline Pankhurst
July 15, 1858 – June 14, 1928
English suffragist
Modern era
Ida B. Wells
July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931
American journalist and civil rights activist (1862–1931)
Modern era
W. E. B. Du Bois
February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963
American sociologist and activist (1868–1963)
Modern era
Booker T. Washington
April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915
African-American educator, author, orator, and advisor (1856-1915)