An online biographical encyclopedia

Discover the people who shaped the world — and the extraordinary stories that inspire us to shape what comes next.

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The natural sciences

PhysicistsMathematiciansAstronomersChemistsBiologists

Invention and computing

Computer scientistsInventorsEngineers

Business & Economy42

Enterprise and economics

Business & industryEconomists

History & Society48

Power and reform

Political leadersActivists & reformersJurists & legal scholars

Philosophy & Religion25

Ideas and belief

Painting, music and performance

ComposersPaintersSingers & songwriters

Writers, poets and playwrights

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Explore by achievement

Nobel laureate43 Founders & entrepreneurs32 Inventors20 Heads of state13 Polymaths11

Notable people

Eugene Paul Wigner, Mathematicians

Eugene Paul Wigner

Hungarian-American physicist

William of Ockham, Philosophers

William of Ockham

English Franciscan philosopher

Hans Christian Ørsted, Physicists

Hans Christian Ørsted

Danish physicist

Anders Celsius, Astronomers

Swedish astronomer

Évariste Galois, Mathematicians

Évariste Galois

Jabir ibn Hayyan, Chemists

Jabir ibn Hayyan

Francis Crick, Biologists

David Ricardo, Economists

Amedeo Avogadro, Chemists

Amedeo Avogadro

Peter Higgs, Physicists

Paul Samuelson, Economists

Emmy Noether, Mathematicians

Rudolf Diesel, Inventors

George Boole, Mathematicians

English mathematician and logician

Donald Knuth, Mathematicians

American computer scientist

Fritz Haber, Chemists

Lise Meitner, Physicists

Frederick Douglass, Activists & reformers

Frederick Douglass

Activists & reformers

Hugo Grotius, Jurists & legal scholars

Jurists & legal scholars

Dennis M. Ritchie, Computer scientists

Dennis M. Ritchie

American computer scientist

Joseph Priestley, Chemists

Joseph Priestley

Jack Ma, Business & industry

Business & industry

Murray Gell-Mann, Physicists

Murray Gell-Mann

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Physicists

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar