wing of the archive
The Modern Era
The industrial and imperial centuries: inventors, statesmen, artists, and the makers of the modern world.
Modern era
Swami Vivekananda
January 12, 1863 – July 4, 1902
Indian Hindu monk and philosopher (1863–1902)
Modern era
Pope John Paul II
May 18, 1920 – April 2, 2005
Pope, cardinal, bishop, priest, author
Modern era
Pope Francis
December 17, 1936 – April 21, 2025
266th pope of the Catholic Church from 2013 to 2025 (1936–2025)
Modern era
Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso)
b. July 6, 1935
14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibetans
Modern era
Desmond Tutu
October 7, 1931 – December 26, 2021
South African churchman, politician, archbishop, Nobel Prize winner (1931–2021)
Modern era
Billy Graham
November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018
American Baptist evangelist (1918–2018)
Modern era
Thich Nhat Hanh
October 11, 1926 – January 22, 2022
Vietnamese Buddhist monk and activist (1926–2022)
Modern era
Isaac Asimov
January 2, 1920 – April 6, 1992
American writer and biochemist (1920–1992)
Modern era
Abdulhamid II
September 21, 1842 – February 10, 1918
34th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1876–1909)
Modern era
Abdulmecid II
May 29, 1868 – August 23, 1944
Last caliph of the Ottoman Dynasty (1868–1944)
Modern era
William Wallace
July 3, 1860 – December 16, 1940
Scottish composer and writer (1860-1940)
Modern era
George Washington
February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799
Commander of the American Revolution and first President of the United States
Modern era
Napoleon Bonaparte
August 15, 1769 – May 5, 1821
French emperor and general whose campaigns redrew the map of Europe
Modern era
Benito Juarez
March 21, 1806 – July 18, 1872
President of Mexico from 1858 to 1872
Modern era
Emiliano Zapata
August 8, 1879 – April 10, 1919
Mexican revolutionary (1879–1919)
Modern era
Pancho Villa
June 5, 1878 – July 20, 1923
Mexican revolutionary (1878-1923)
Modern era
Abraham Lincoln
February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865
US President who preserved the Union and ended slavery in America
Modern era
Ulysses S. Grant
April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885
President of the United States from 1869 to 1877
Modern era
Theodore Roosevelt
October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919
26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909 (1858–1919)
Modern era
Woodrow Wilson
December 28, 1856 – February 3, 1924
28th President of the United States (1913–1921)
Modern era
Franklin D. Roosevelt
January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945
President of the United States from 1933 to 1945 (1882–1945)
Modern era
Eleanor Roosevelt
October 11, 1884 – November 7, 1962
American diplomat and activist, First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945 (1884–1962)
Modern era
Harry S. Truman
May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972
President of the United States from 1945 to 1953; politician (1884–1972)
Modern era
Dwight D. Eisenhower
October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969
President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 (1890–1969)
Modern era
John F. Kennedy
May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963
President of the United States from 1961 to 1963 (1917–1963)
Modern era
Lyndon B. Johnson
August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973
President of the United States from 1963 to 1969 (1908–1973)
Modern era
Richard Nixon
January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994
President of the United States from 1969 to 1974 (1913–1994)
Modern era
Jimmy Carter
October 1, 1924 – December 29, 2024
President of the United States from 1977 to 1981 (1924–2024)
Modern era
Ronald Reagan
February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004
President of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor (1911–2004)
Modern era
Joe Biden
b. November 20, 1942
46th President of the United States (2021–2025)
Modern era
Queen Victoria
May 24, 1819 – January 22, 1901
Queen of the United Kingdom from 1837 to 1901 (1819-1901)
Modern era
Prince Albert
August 26, 1819 – December 14, 1861
Consort of Queen Victoria from 1840 to 1861 (1819–1861)
Modern era
Benjamin Disraeli
December 21, 1804 – April 19, 1881
British statesman (1804–1881)
Modern era
William Gladstone
December 29, 1809 – May 19, 1898
British Liberal prime minister (1809–1898)
Modern era
David Lloyd George
January 17, 1863 – March 26, 1945
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922
Modern era
Winston Churchill
November 30, 1874 – January 24, 1965
British Prime Minister who led the defiance of Nazi Germany
Modern era
Clement Attlee
January 3, 1883 – October 8, 1967
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 (1883–1967)
Modern era
Margaret Thatcher
October 13, 1925 – April 8, 2013
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990
Modern era
Otto von Bismarck
April 1, 1815 – July 30, 1898
German statesman and Chancellor (1815-1898)
Modern era
Konrad Adenauer
January 5, 1876 – April 19, 1967
German politician, Chancellor of West Germany (1949–1963), Zentrum and CDU
Modern era
Willy Brandt
December 18, 1913 – October 8, 1992
German politician (SPD), chancellor of West Germany (1969–1974) and Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Modern era
Charles de Gaulle
November 22, 1890 – November 9, 1970
French general and statesman (1890–1970)
Modern era
Francois Mitterrand
October 26, 1916 – January 8, 1996
21st President of the French Republic from 1981 to 1995 (1916–1996)
Modern era
Giuseppe Garibaldi
July 4, 1807 – June 2, 1882
Italian general, patriot and republican (1807–1882)
Modern era
Vladimir Lenin
April 10, 1870 – January 21, 1924
Founding leader of the Soviet Union (1870–1924)
Modern era
Leon Trotsky
October 26, 1879 – August 21, 1940
Russian Marxist revolutionary (1879–1940)
Modern era
Nikita Khrushchev
April 3, 1894 – September 11, 1971
Leader of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964
Modern era
Mikhail Gorbachev
March 2, 1931 – August 30, 2022
Leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991 (1931–2022)
Modern era
Boris Yeltsin
February 1, 1931 – April 23, 2007
Soviet and Russian politician, 1st President of Russia (1931–2007)
Modern era
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
1881 – November 10, 1938
Founding father of the Republic of Turkey (c. 1881–1938)
Modern era
Gamal Abdel Nasser
January 15, 1918 – September 28, 1970
President of Egypt from 1956 to 1970
Modern era
Anwar Sadat
December 25, 1918 – October 6, 1981
President of Egypt from 1970 to 1981
Modern era
Golda Meir
April 21, 1898 – December 8, 1978
Prime Minister of Israel from 1969 to 1974
Modern era
David Ben-Gurion
October 16, 1886 – December 1, 1973
Israeli politician, Zionist leader, prime minister of Israel (1948–1953, 1955–1963) - (born1886–1973)
Modern era
Yitzhak Rabin
March 1, 1922 – November 4, 1995
Israeli politician, statesman and general (1922–1995)
Modern era
Mahatma Gandhi
October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948
Leader of India's independence movement through nonviolent resistance
Modern era
Jawaharlal Nehru
November 14, 1889 – May 27, 1964
Prime Minister of India from 1947 to 1964
Modern era
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
October 31, 1875 – December 15, 1950
Indian barrister, leader of the Indian National Congress and founding father of the Republic of India (1875-1950)
Modern era
B. R. Ambedkar
April 14, 1891 – December 6, 1956
Indian polymath, philosopher, and social reformer (1891–1956)
Modern era
Subhas Chandra Bose
January 23, 1897 – August 18, 1945
Indian nationalist leader (1897-1945)