Eternal Minds

An English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine.

A German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics. His work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science.

A German painter, printmaker, and theorist of the German Renaissance. Dürer established his reputation and influence across Europe when he was still in his twenties due to his high-quality woodcut prints.

An Arab mathematician, astronomer, and physicist of the Islamic Golden Age. Referred to as 'the father of modern optics'.

A Brabantian anatomist, physician, and author of one of the most influential books on human anatomy, De humani corporis fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body).

A Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. He is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity.

A Persian polymath who is regarded as one of the most significant physicians, astronomers, thinkers and writers of the Islamic Golden Age.

An English Benedictine monk at the monastery of St. Peter and its companion monastery of St. Paul in the Kingdom of Northumbria of the Angles.

King of the Franks who united most of Western Europe during the Early Middle Ages and laid the foundations for modern France and Germany.

An English naturalist, geologist and biologist, best known for his contributions to the science of evolution.

An English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era.

A French poet and trouvère known for his work on Arthurian subjects, and for originating the character of Lancelot.

The last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt. A skilled diplomat and linguist, she navigated complex Roman politics to protect her empire.

A Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages.

An Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His Divine Comedy is widely considered the most important poem of the Middle Ages and the greatest literary work in the Italian language.

A British Marxist historian of the rise of industrial capitalism, socialism and nationalism. His best-known works include his trilogy about the 19th century: The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789–1848, The Age of Capital: 1848–1875 and The Age of Empire: 1875–1914.

An Italian historian and statesman. A friend and critic of Machiavelli, he is considered one of the major political writers of the Italian Renaissance.

An Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, whose discoveries with the telescope revolutionized astronomy and paved the way for the acceptance of the Copernican heliocentric system.

An Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, mathematician, poet, and cosmological theorist. He is known for his cosmological theories, which conceptually extended the then-novel Copernican model.

A German-American political philosopher. Her work deals with the nature of power, and the subjects of politics, direct democracy, authority, and totalitarianism.

A Greek writer who invented the field of study known today as 'history'. He was the first writer to perform systematic investigation of historical events.

A German Benedictine abbess, writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, visionary, and medical writer and practitioner during the High Middle Ages.

A Greek physician of the Age of Pericles, who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine. He is often referred to as the 'Father of Medicine'.

The presumed author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, two epic poems that are the central works of ancient Greek literature.

An American historian, playwright, and social activist. He was a professor of political science at Boston University. Zinn wrote more than 20 books, including his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United States.

An Arab sociologist, philosopher, and historian who is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest social scientists of the Middle Ages.

An Egyptian chancellor to the pharaoh Djoser, probable architect of the step pyramid, and high priest of the sun god Ra at Heliopolis.

Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Sometimes called the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth was the last of the five monarchs of the House of Tudor.

A Scottish scientist in the field of mathematical physics. His most notable achievement was to formulate the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, bringing together for the first time electricity, magnetism, and light as different manifestations of the same phenomenon.

A French jurist and political philosopher, member of the Parlement of Paris and professor of law in Toulouse. He is best known for his theory of sovereignty.

A peasant girl who, believing she was acting under divine guidance, led the French army in a momentous victory at Orléans in 1429.

An English philosopher, political economist, and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of classical liberalism, he contributed widely to social theory, political theory, and political economy.

A Brazilian writer of the modernist school. He remains the best known of modern Brazilian writers, with his work having been translated into some 49 languages and popularized in film, notably Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands.

A French historian and a major figure in the historiography of the 19th century. He is known for his monumental work, 'Histoire de France' (History of France).

A Roman general and statesman who played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire.

A German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 pamphlet, The Communist Manifesto, and the three-volume Das Kapital.

An ancient Chinese philosopher and writer. He is the reputed author of the Tao Te Ching, the founder of philosophical Taoism, and a deity in religious Taoism and traditional Chinese religions.

An Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who is widely considered one of the most diversely talented individuals ever to have lived.

An English Catholic historian, politician, and writer. He was one of the most learned men of his time, and one of the most influential historians of the 19th century.

Portugal's and the Portuguese language's greatest poet. His mastery of verse has been compared to that of Shakespeare, Vondel, Homer, Virgil and Dante.

A Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages.

A Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.

An English scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism and electrolysis.

One of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance, known for popularizing the essay as a literary genre.

A French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and how they are used as a form of social control through societal institutions.

A South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.

An Italian diplomat, politician, historian, philosopher, and writer of the Renaissance period. He has often been called the father of modern political philosophy and political science.

A Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist who is best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.

A conservative Prussian statesman who masterminded the unification of Germany in 1871 and served as its first chancellor until 1890.

A prominent and influential Greek statesman, orator and general of Athens during its golden age – specifically the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars.

A Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, geographer and astrologer. He lived in the city of Alexandria in the Roman province of Egypt, under Roman rule.

Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and seven months is known as the Victorian era.

An American theoretical physicist, known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium.

An English philosopher and Franciscan friar who placed considerable emphasis on the study of nature through empiricism.

A Sunni Muslim Kurd who became the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led the Muslim military campaign against the Crusader states in the Levant.

An Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, Catholic priest, and Doctor of the Church. An immensely influential philosopher, theologian, and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism.

A Chinese historian of the early Han dynasty. He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for his Records of the Grand Historian.

A classical Greek (Athenian) philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, and as being the first moral philosopher of the Western ethical tradition of thought.

An American novelist. Her first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed Song of Solomon (1977) brought her national attention and won the National Book Critics Circle Award.

A French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the Romantic movement. Hugo is considered to be one of the greatest and best-known French writers.

An ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He wrote three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: the Eclogues, the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid.

An English playwright, poet, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.

A British statesman, army officer, and writer. He was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, during the Second World War, and again from 1951 to 1955.