wing of the archive
The Modern Era
The industrial and imperial centuries: inventors, statesmen, artists, and the makers of the modern world.
Modern era
Victor Emmanuel II
March 14, 1820 – January 9, 1878
King of Sardinia (1849–1861) and King of Italy (1861–1878)
Modern era
Giuseppe Mazzini
June 22, 1805 – March 10, 1872
Italian nationalist activist, politician, journalist and philosopher
Modern era
Alexander II of Russia
April 17, 1818 – March 1, 1881
The 12th Emperor of Russia (1855–1881)
Modern era
Nicholas II of Russia
May 6, 1868 – July 17, 1918
14th and last Emperor of Russia (1894–1917)
Modern era
Grigori Rasputin
January 9, 1869 – December 17, 1916
Russian mystic (1869–1916)
Modern era
Anastasia Romanov
June 18, 1901 – July 17, 1918
Grand Duchess of Russia (1901–1918); fourth child and youngest daughter of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse)
Modern era
Josip Broz Tito
May 7, 1892 – May 4, 1980
Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman (1892−1980)
Modern era
Vaclav Havel
October 5, 1936 – December 18, 2011
Czech statesman, playwright, and former dissident, the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic (1936–2011)
Modern era
Olof Palme
January 30, 1927 – February 28, 1986
Swedish Prime Minister (1969–76, 1982–86)
Modern era
Simone Veil
July 13, 1927 – June 30, 2017
French politician (1927–2017)
Modern era
Dag Hammarskjold
July 29, 1905 – September 18, 1961
Swedish diplomat, economist, and author (1905–1961)
Modern era
Eamon de Valera
October 14, 1882 – August 29, 1975
Irish statesman (1882–1975)
Modern era
Michael Collins (Irish leader)
October 31, 1930 – April 28, 2021
American astronaut (1930–2021)
Modern era
Pierre Trudeau
October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000
Prime Minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and 1980 to 1984 (1919–2000)
Modern era
Jose Marti
January 28, 1853 – May 19, 1895
Cuban poet, philosopher and nationalist (1853-1895)
Modern era
Juan Peron
October 8, 1895 – July 1, 1974
President of Argentina (1946–55, 1973–74)
Modern era
Getulio Vargas
April 19, 1882 – August 24, 1954
President of Brazil (1930–1945; 1951–1954)
Modern era
Pedro II of Brazil
December 2, 1825 – December 5, 1891
2nd and final Emperor of Brazil (r. 1831–89)
Modern era
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
October 26, 1919 – July 27, 1980
Shah of Iran from 1941 to 1979
Modern era
Yasser Arafat
August 4, 1929 – November 11, 2004
Palestinian political leader (1929-2004) and Former President of the Palestinian National Authority (1994-2004)
Modern era
Menachem Begin
August 16, 1913 – March 9, 1992
Israeli politician and former Prime Minister (1913–1992)
Modern era
Shimon Peres
August 2, 1923 – September 28, 2016
Israeli politician (1923–2016) –Former President of Israel (2007–2014) and Prime Minister of Israel (1977, 1984–1986, 1995–1996)
Modern era
Ibn Saud
January 15, 1876 – November 9, 1953
King of Saudi Arabia from 1932 to 1953
Modern era
Omar Mukhtar
August 20, 1858 – September 16, 1931
Leader of the Senussi resistance against the Italian fascist occupation (1858–1931)
Modern era
Menelik II
August 17, 1844 – December 12, 1913
Emperor of Ethiopia and King of Shewa (1844-1913)
Modern era
Leopold Sedar Senghor
October 9, 1906 – December 20, 2001
First president of Senegal, poet, and cultural theorist (1906–2001)
Modern era
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
b. October 29, 1938
24th president of Liberia
Modern era
F. W. de Klerk
March 18, 1936 – November 11, 2021
7th state president of South Africa from 1989 to 1994
Modern era
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
October 15, 1931 – July 27, 2015
Indian scientist, president and statesman (1931–2015)
Modern era
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
March 17, 1920 – August 15, 1975
President of the Provisional Government of Bangladesh and the 2nd Prime Minister and first President of Bangladesh
Modern era
Benigno Aquino Jr.
November 27, 1932 – August 21, 1983
Filipino senator and governor of Tarlac (1932–1983)
Modern era
Evariste Galois
October 25, 1811 – May 31, 1832
French mathematician (1811-1832)
Modern era
Niels Henrik Abel
August 5, 1802 – April 6, 1829
Norwegian mathematician (1802–1829)
Modern era
George Boole
November 2, 1815 – December 8, 1864
English mathematician, philosopher and logician (1815–1864)
Modern era
Georg Cantor
February 19, 1845 – January 6, 1918
German mathematician, inventor of set theory (1845–1918)
Modern era
Henri Poincare
April 29, 1854 – July 17, 1912
French mathematician, physicist and engineer (1854–1912)
Modern era
G. H. Hardy
August 14, 1882 – January 9, 1966
English entomologist (1882-1966)
Modern era
Paul Erdos
March 26, 1913 – September 20, 1996
Hungarian mathematician (1913–1996)
Modern era
Benoit Mandelbrot
November 20, 1924 – October 14, 2010
Polish-born, French and American mathematician (1924–2010)
Modern era
Donald Knuth
b. January 10, 1938
American computer scientist and mathematician (born 1938)
Modern era
Dennis Ritchie
September 9, 1941 – October 12, 2011
American computer scientist, co-inventor of the Unix operating system and the C programming language (1941–2011)
Modern era
John McCarthy
September 4, 1927 – October 24, 2011
American computer scientist and cognitive scientist (1927-2011)
Modern era
Marvin Minsky
August 9, 1927 – January 24, 2016
American cognitive scientist (1927-2016)
Modern era
Hendrik Lorentz
July 18, 1853 – February 4, 1928
Dutch physicist (1853–1928)
Modern era
Albert A. Michelson
December 19, 1852 – May 9, 1931
American physicist (1852–1931)
Modern era
Robert Millikan
March 22, 1868 – December 19, 1953
American physicist (1868–1953)
Modern era
Arthur Eddington
December 28, 1882 – November 22, 1944
British astrophysicist (1882-1944)
Modern era
Ernst Mach
February 18, 1838 – February 19, 1916
Austrian physicist (1838–1916)
Modern era
Gustav Kirchhoff
March 12, 1824 – October 17, 1887
German physicist (1824–1887)
Modern era
Leon Foucault
September 18, 1819 – February 11, 1868
French physicist (1819–1868)
Modern era
Hans Bethe
July 2, 1906 – March 6, 2005
German-American nuclear physicist
Modern era
Edward Teller
January 15, 1908 – September 9, 2003
Hungarian-American Jewish nuclear physicist (1908–2003)
Modern era
Leo Szilard
February 11, 1898 – May 30, 1964
Hungarian-American Jewish physicist and inventor (1898–1964)
Modern era
Freeman Dyson
December 15, 1923 – February 28, 2020
Theoretical physicist and mathematician (1923–2020)
Modern era
Murray Gell-Mann
September 15, 1929 – May 24, 2019
American physicist (1929–2019)
Modern era
Steven Weinberg
May 3, 1933 – July 23, 2021
American theoretical physicist (1933-2021)
Modern era
John Archibald Wheeler
July 9, 1911 – April 13, 2008
American physicist (1911-2008)
Modern era
John Bardeen
May 23, 1908 – January 30, 1991
American physicist and engineer (1908–1991)
Modern era
Jack Kilby
November 8, 1923 – June 20, 2005
American electrical engineer (1923–2005)
Modern era
Kip Thorne
b. June 1, 1940
American physicist (born 1940)