Historical Figures
Every figure has a voice
Meet the people who shaped our world. Explore their portraits, read their stories — then start a conversation with them, in their own voice and from their own time.
1127 historical figures
Ancient
Before 800 BC4Classical
800 BC – 500 AD17
Alexander the Great
d. 323 BC
Military commander, King of Macedon from 336 to 323 BC

Cleopatra
d. 30 BC
Pharaoh of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC

Julius Caesar
100 BC–44 BC
Roman general and dictator (100–44 BC)

Claudius
10–54
Roman emperor from AD 41 to 54

Mark Antony
83 BC–30 BC
Roman politician and general (83–30 BC)

Qin Shi Huang
d. 210 BC
Emperor of China from 221 to 210 BC

Trajan
53–117
Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117

Domitian
51–96

Livia
b. 58 BC

Ovid
b. 43 BC

Pompey
106 BC–48 BC

Pompey the Great
b. 106 BC
Late Antiquity
300 – 70014
Augustus Caesar
b. 63
Roman emperor from 27 BC to AD 14

Nero
37–68
Roman emperor from AD 54 to 68

Augustus
63 BC–14
Roman emperor from 27 BC to AD 14

Caligula
d. 41
Roman emperor from AD 37 to 41

Constantine the Great
272–337
Roman emperor from 306 to 337

Hadrian
76–138
Roman emperor from 117 to 138

Marcus Aurelius
121–180
Roman emperor from 161 to 180

Atticus
d. 425

Liu Bei
d. 223

Caracalla
d. 217

Saint Mark
d. 68

Theodosius I
d. 395
Early Medieval
500 – 10005Medieval
500 – 15007High Medieval
1000 – 13008Late Medieval
1300 – 150017
Leonardo da Vinci
1452–1519
Italian polymath (1452–1519)

Joan of Arc
1412–1431
French folk heroine and saint (1412–1431)

Suleiman the Magnificent
1495–1566
Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1520–1566)

Amerigo Vespucci
1454–1512

Giotto
d. 1337

Guru Nanak Dev
1469–1539

Johannes Gutenberg
d. 1468

Lucrezia Borgia
1480–1519

Mehmed the Conqueror
1432–1481

Thomas More
1478–1535

Xuande Emperor of China (b. 1398)
d. 1435

Yongle Emperor of China (d. 1424)
b. 1360
Renaissance
1400 – 160029
Galileo Galilei
1564–1642
Italian physicist and astronomer (1564–1642)

Michelangelo
d. 1564
Italian artist and architect (1475–1564)

William Shakespeare
1564–1616
English playwright and poet (1564–1616)

Anne Boleyn
d. 1536
Queen of England from 1533 to 1536

Guru Nanak
1469–1539
Founder and first guru of Sikhism (1469–1539)

Martin Luther
d. 1546
German priest, theologian and author (1483–1546)

Nicolaus Copernicus
d. 1543
Mathematician and astronomer (1473–1543)

Anne of Cleves
d. 1557

Catherine of Aragon (b. 1485)
d. 1536

Isabella I
d. 1504

Lorenzo de' Medici
1492–1519

Nostradamus
d. 1566
Early Modern
1500 – 170017
Isaac Newton
1643–1726
English polymath (1642–1727)

Charles II
1630–1685

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
1754–1838

George Frideric Handel
1685–1759

Maria Theresa
1717–1780

Charles de Batz-Castelmore d'Artagnan
d. 1673

Christopher Wren
1632–1723

Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
1686–1736

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
b. 1646

Guru Gobind Singh
1666–1708

Guru Tegh Bahadur
d. 1675

Klemens von Metternich
1773–1859
Enlightenment
1685 – 181532
Benjamin Franklin
1706–1790
American Founding Father and polymath (1706–1790)

Napoleon Bonaparte
1769–1821
French general and emperor (1769–1821)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
d. 1791
Composer (1756–1791)

Catherine the Great
1729–1796
Empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796

Johann Sebastian Bach
d. 1750
German composer (1685–1750)

Marie Antoinette
1755–1793
Queen of France from 1774 to 1792

Thomas Jefferson
1743–1826
Founding Father, U.S. president from 1801 to 1809

Alessandro Volta
1745–1827

Alexander Hamilton
1755–1804

Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke
1737–1809

Horatio Nelson
1758–1805

James Madison
1751–1836
Industrial
1760 – 184043
Alexandre Dumas
1802–1870
French writer and dramatist (1802–1870)

Charles de Gaulle
1890–1970
French general and statesman (1890–1970)

Eleanor Roosevelt
1884–1962
American diplomat and activist (1884–1962)

Enzo Ferrari
1898–1988
Italian racing driver, engineer and entrepreneur (1898–1988)

Gustave Eiffel
1832–1923
French civil engineer (1832–1923)

Leo Tolstoy
1828–1910
Russian writer (1828–1910)

Niels Bohr
1885–1962
Danish theoretical physicist (1885–1962)

Billy The Kid
1859–1881

David Ben-Gurion
1886–1973

Elisabeth of Bavaria a.k.a Sissi
b. 1837

George S. Patton
1885–1945

Herbert Hoover
1874–1964
Industrial Revolution
1760 – 184029
Abraham Lincoln
1809–1865
President of the United States from 1861 to 1865
Charles Darwin
1809–1882
English naturalist and biologist (1809–1882)

John Adams
1735–1826
Founding Father, U.S. president from 1797 to 1801

Ludwig van Beethoven
d. 1827
German composer (1770–1827)

Otto von Bismarck
1815–1898
Chancellor of Germany from 1871 to 1890

Thomas Edison
1847–1931
American inventor and businessman (1847–1931)

Alfred Nobel
1833–1896

Isambard Kingdom Brunel
1806–1859

John Wilkes Booth
1838–1865

Levi Strauss
1829–1902

Louis Braille
1809–1852

P. T. Barnum
1810–1891
Victorian Era
1837 – 190166
Adolf Hitler
1889–1945
Dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945

Albert Einstein
1879–1955
German-born theoretical physicist (1879–1955)
Mahatma Gandhi
1869–1948
Indian independence activist (1869–1948)

Marie Curie
1867–1934
Polish-French physicist and chemist (1867–1934)

Sir Winston Churchill
1874–1965
British statesman and writer (1874–1965)

Bertrand Russell
1872–1970
Mathematician and philosopher

Franklin D. Roosevelt
1882–1945
President of the United States from 1933 to 1945

Harry S. Truman
1884–1972
President of the United States from 1945 to 1953

Hermann Göring
1893–1946
German Nazi politician and military leader (1893–1946)

Karl Marx
d. 1883
German philosopher and socialist theorist (1818–1883)

Maria Sklodowska-Curie
1867–1934
Polish-French physicist and chemist (1867–1934)

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
1881–1938
Founder of Turkey (c. 1881–1938)
Early 20th Century
1900 – 193058
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
b. 1917
Head of state and government of the United States

Nelson Mandela
1918–2013
President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999

Francis Crick
1916–2004
English physicist and biologist (1916–2004)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt
1914–1988
President of the United States from 1933 to 1945

Heinrich Himmler
1900–1945
German Nazi leader of the SS (1900–1945)

Mark Twain
d. 1910
American author and humorist (1835–1910)

Mother Teresa
1910–1997
Albanian-Indian Catholic saint (1910–1997)

Queen Victoria
d. 1901
Queen of the United Kingdom from 1837 to 1901

Richard Feynman
1918–1988
American theoretical physicist (1918–1988)

Richard Nixon
1913–1994
President of the United States from 1969 to 1974

Ronald Reagan
1911–2004
President of the United States from 1981 to 1989

Christian Dior
1905–1957
Interwar & WWII
1918 – 1945129
Elvis Presley
1935–1977
American singer and actor (1935–1977)

John Lennon
1940–1980
English musician and activist (1940–1980)

Martin Luther King
1929–1968
American civil rights activist (1929–1968)

Sir Paul McCartney
b. 1942
English musician (born 1942)

Gabriel García Márquez
1927–2014
Colombian writer and Nobel laureate (1927–2014)

George Harrison
1943–2001
English musician (1943–2001)

Jerry Garcia
1942–1995
American guitarist and singer (1942–1995)

Kofi Annan
1938–2018
UN Secretary-General from 1997 to 2006

Margaret Thatcher
1925–2013
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990

Mick Jagger
b. 1943
English musician (born 1943)

Mikhail Gorbachev
1931–2022
Leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991

Ringo Starr
b. 1940
English musician and actor (born 1940)
Postwar
1945 – 1970194
Barack Obama
1961–1982
President of the United States from 2009 to 2017

Freddie Mercury
1946–1991
British rock musician (1946–1991)

John F. Kennedy
1917–1963
President of the United States from 1961 to 1963

Joseph Stalin
d. 1953
Leader of the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1953

Michael Jackson
1958–2009
American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist

Michelle Obama
b. 1964
First Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017

Oprah Winfrey
b. 1954
American media personality and proprietor (born 1954)

Will Smith
1968–2016
American actor and rapper (born 1968)

Alexander Fleming
1881–1955
Scottish physician and microbiologist (1881–1955)

Angela Merkel
b. 1954
Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021

Ayrton Senna
1960–1994
Brazilian racing driver (1960–1994)

Bob Marley
1945–1981
Jamaican singer, songwriter and guitarist (1945–1981)
Late 20th Century
1970 – 2000130
Beyoncé
b. 1981
American singer (born 1981)

Donald Trump
b. 1977
President of the United States (2017–2021; since 2025)

Harry Styles
b. 1994
English singer, songwriter and actor (born 1994)

LeBron James
b. 1984
American basketball player (born 1984)

Mao Zedong
d. 1976
Leader of China from 1949 to 1976

Scarlett Johansson
b. 1984
American actress (born 1984)

Adele
b. 1988
English singer-songwriter (born 1988)

Akira Kurosawa
d. 1998
Japanese filmmaker (1910–1998)

Deng Xiaoping
d. 1997
Leader of China from 1978 to 1989

Harry Truman
d. 1980
American businessman and airman (1896–1980)

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
1929–1994
First Lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963

Jim Morrison
1943–1971
American singer (1943–1971)
Modern
1900 – Present206
Arnold Schwarzenegger
b. 1947
Austrian and American bodybuilder, actor and politician (born 1947)

Benjamin Netanyahu
b. 1949
Prime Minister of Israel (1996–1999; 2009–2021; 2022–present)

Charles III
1948–1375
King of the United Kingdom since 2022

Che Guevara
1928–1967
Argentine revolutionary (1928–1967)

Emmanuel Macron
b. 1977
President of France since 2017

Enrico Fermi
1901–1954
Italian-American physicist (1901–1954)

Gal Gadot
b. 1985
Israeli actress (born 1985)

Gwen Stefani
b. 1969
American singer-songwriter (born 1969)

Halle Berry
b. 1966
American actress (born 1966)

Jay-Z
b. 1969
American rapper (born 1969)

Joe Biden
b. 1942
President of the United States from 2021 to 2025

Kim Jong-un
b. 1983
Leader of North Korea since 2011
Contemporary
1970 – Present31
Elizabeth II
d. 2022
Queen of the United Kingdom from 1952 to 2022

William
1982–968
Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne

Alexander McQueen
d. 2010

F. W. de Klerk
1936–2021

George Floyd
d. 2020

Jiang Zemin
d. 2022

Lisa Lopes
1971–2002

Paul Allen
1953–2018

Pierre Trudeau
1919–2000

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother of the United Kin
d. 2002

Robin Gibb
1949–2012

Charles M. Schulz
d. 2000
Cold War Era
1Other Notable Figures
90Confucius
551 BC–479 BC
Chinese philosopher (c. 551 – c. 479 BCE)
Homer
800 BC–700 BC

Jesus Christ
d. 30

Alex Trebek
d. 2020
Canadian-American TV personality (1940–2020)
Aristotle
384 BC–322 BC
Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath (384–322 BC)

Bill Clinton
b. 1946
President of the United States from 1993 to 2001

Coco Chanel
d. 1971
French fashion designer (1883–1971)

Fatimah
d. 632
Daughter of Muhammad (died 632)

George Washington
d. 1799
U.S. Founding Father, president from 1789 to 1797

Joseph Goebbels
d. 1945
German Nazi propaganda minister (1897–1945)
Plato
428 BC–348 BC
Greek philosopher

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
d. 1893
Russian composer (1840–1893)























