TODAY'S BIRTHDAY:

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792)
Shelley was an English Romantic poet who is widely considered to be among the finest lyric poets in the English language. He studied at Oxford, where his collaboration on the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism led to his expulsion. He married Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, now famed as Mary Shelley, after his first wife drowned herself in 1816. Shelley himself drowned on July 8, 1822.

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Alexander Fleming (1881)
Motivated by the devastating infection he saw in battlefield hospitals during WWI, Fleming, a Scottish bacteriologist, set about searching for an effective antiseptic. In 1922, he discovered lysozyme, an antibacterial enzyme present in saliva, nasal secretions, and tears. In 1928, he isolated the antibiotic substance penicillin, a finding that earned him a Nobel Prize and has forever changed modern medicine.

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Mata Hari (1876)
Born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, this Dutch courtesan, dancer, and probable spy went by the stage name Mata Hari. During WWI, she had intimate relationships with many high-ranking Allied military officers and government officials. In January 1917, French intelligence intercepted German messages about a spy that the former identified as Mata Hari. Less than a year later, she was executed by the French on espionage charges.

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Emiliano Zapata (1879)
During the Mexican Revolution, Zapata led the Liberation Army of the South, whose slogan "Land and Liberty" represented its goal of repossessing the indigenous Mexican lands taken by the Spanish. Though Zapata's family lived comfortably on their own land, he was a born leader who keenly felt the injustices suffered by his people. Zapata's soldiers, mainly peasants recruited from plantations and villages, occupied Mexico City three times between 1914 and 1915

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Herbert Hoover (1874)
At the outbreak of WWI, Hoover devoted himself to humanitarian efforts, arranging the return of Americans stranded abroad and securing supplies for civilians of war-devastated Europe. Elected president of the US in 1928, his administration was dominated by the economic depression that followed the 1929 stock market crash. Believing the economy would regenerate spontaneously, he was reluctant to extend federal activities

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Eiji Yoshikawa (1892)
Yoshikawa was a Japanese historical novelist and was among the most famous authors of that genre. Despite the fact that many of his novels are actually revisions of past works, Yoshikawa was awarded the Cultural Order of Merit in 1960 and the Mainichi Art Award just before his death two years later. He is credited with renewing Japan's interest in its history

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Christian III of Denmark and Norway (1503)
Christian III was king of Denmark and Norway from 1534 to 1559. Early in his reign, he allied with Sweden to defeat the German city of Lübeck, which had invaded Denmark in an attempt to reinstate the deposed Christian II. That victory broke the power of the Hanseatic League and made the Danish fleet supreme in northern waters. As ruler, Christian established Lutheranism in Denmark and laid the foundation for the absolutist Danish monarchy of the 17th century.

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Vladimir Odoevsky (1803)
Odoevsky was a prominent Russian philosopher, writer, music critic, philanthropist, and pedagogue who was recently credited with having predicted "blogging" and the basic principles of the Internet. Written in 1837, his novel, Year 4338, describes a magnetic telegraph that allows the occupants of different houses to communicate. Odoevsky also wrote tales for children and phantasmagoric stories for adults

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Leon Theremin (1896)
In 1919, in the midst of the Russian Civil War, Theremin invented the musical instrument that bears his name. The theremin is an electronic device that resonates sound when its operator waves his hands near its two antennas. It was the first musical instrument designed to be played without being touched. Theremin also worked on an early burglar alarm and devised the first covert listening device using passive electromagnetic induction to transmit a signal

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My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions.

Samuel Goldwyn (1879)
Goldwyn was a Polish-born American film producer. He founded his own film company, which later merged with others to form Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), and in 1946, he received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. Goldwyn is said to have had an explosive temper that left him with few close friends. When a former colleague died, Goldwyn allegedly declared, "The reason so many people turned up at his funeral is that they wanted to make sure he was dead."

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Joe Strummer (1952)
Strummer was the lead singer and guitarist, as well as the principle songwriter for The Clash, a British rock band. The Clash was instrumental in ushering in the age of punk rock music in the late 1970s and was the most musically diverse and overtly political of the original English punk bands. Strummer supported the Rock Against Racism campaign. He was also known for his devotion to his fans, often signing autographs for hours after performances

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Leni Riefenstahl (1902)
Riefenstahl was a German filmmaker whose most famous works are documentary propaganda films for the German Nazi Party. Her Triumph of the Will, a documentary of a huge Nazi rally glorifying Hitler, is widely regarded as one of the most effective pieces of propaganda ever produced. After the war, Riefenstahl was classified as a Nazi sympathizer and blacklisted. Later, she became interested in underwater photography and the Nuba tribe in the Sudan.

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

James Lick (1796)
A piano maker by training, Lick spent many years in South America before returning to the US in 1848. He settled in San Francisco, where he soon abandoned the piano-making trade in favor of real estate. Shortly after his arrival, gold was discovered in the region, and Lick made a fortune in the housing boom that followed. The wealthiest man in California at the time of his death, he left most of his estate to social and scientific causes

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770)
Hegel was a German philosopher who developed the Hegelian dialectic, in which one concept inevitably generates its opposite, and the interaction of these leads to a new concept. He used the dialectic to explain everything from logic to nature, and politics to art. Hegel also influenced many subsequent philosophies, including post-Hegelian idealism, the existentialism of Kierkegaard and Sartre, and Marx's socialism

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Wilhelmina I of the Netherlands (1880)

Strong-willed and astute, Wilhelmina I enjoyed great popularity as queen of the Netherlands. She reigned for 50 years and guided her country through two world wars. Wilhelmina also had a keen understanding of business matters, and her investments made her one of the wealthiest women in the world. In 1948, she abdicated in favor of her daughter Juliana

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii 1838

Liliuokalani was the last reigning queen of the Hawaiian Islands. She ascended the throne in 1891 upon the death of her brother, King Kalakaua. Her refusal to recognize the constitutional changes inaugurated in 1887 precipitated a revolt—fostered largely by resident American sugar planters—which led to her dethronement in early 1893 and the establishment of a provisional government. Liliuokalani wrote many songs, including the popular "Aloha Oe,"

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

François-René de Chateaubriand

1768
Chateaubriand was a French political leader, diplomat, and writer, and is considered the Father of French Romanticism. His René, an autobiographical novella and tragic love story, exemplifies the characteristically evocative language of romantic fiction. Exiled during the Reign of Terror, Chateaubriand returned to France during Napoleon's reign and was appointed to a variety of political positions

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My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions.

Louis XIV of France 1638

Known as the "Sun King," Louis XIV ruled over France for 72 years, longer than any other major European monarch. Reigning over a highly centralized state, he became the archetype of the absolute monarch. He fought several wars, built one of Europe's most elaborate palaces at Versailles, and was a great supporter of the arts

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

(1157) King Richard I of England

Among the few kings of England remembered by reputation, not number, Richard the Lionheart reigned from 1189 to 1199. He rose to the throne following Henry II's death and set out on the Third Crusade shortly after his coronation. Unable to capture the strongly fortified city of Jerusalem, Richard negotiated a treaty with Saladin that allowed Christian pilgrims access to its holy sites

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010

Paul Bryant Born >> 1913

Paul "Bear" Bryant was an American college football coach. Best known as the longtime head coach of the University of Alabama football team, he achieved an unparalleled legendary status in the sport, winning the national championship six times. Bryant retired with a record 323 career wins, including 15 bowl wins

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LETS BEGIN IN 2010