People
Dizzy Gillespie: Trumpet Player, Jazz Legend, And Jimmy...
April 8, 2021
American jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie performing at the Meridien Hotel in Paris, France. (Thierry Orban/Sygma via Getty Images) For more than half a century,...
P.T. Barnum: Circus Magnate And Entertainer Extraordina...
April 7, 2021
Phineas Taylor "P. T." Barnum (July 5, 1810–April 7, 1891). (Harvard Library/Wikimedia Commons) Called "The Greatest Showman on Earth," P.T. Barnum is known f...
Jonas Salk: Inventor Of The Polio Vaccine (Life, Bio, &...
March 28, 2021
Poliomyelitis, A.K.A. polio, is a viral infection which damages neurons, specifically motor neurons, weakening the infected's muscles and sometimes resulting...
Guccio Gucci: Founder Of Gucci And Its Complicated Hist...
March 26, 2021
Guccio Gucci c. 1940. (Unknown author/Wikimedia Commons) His name is now synonymous with style, luxury, and haute couture, but what do you know about Guccio G...
Gilbert Paul Jordan: The 'Boozing Barber' Who Targeted ...
March 12, 2021
Kingsway Avenue, where Jordan's barber shop was located. (Flying Penguin/Wikimedia Commons) From the Grim Sleeper to Jeffrey Dahmer, too many serial killers g...
John Steinbeck: Famous Author Biography, About, Facts, ...
February 27, 2021
Author John Steinbeck. (Peter Stackpole/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images) If you went to high school in the United States, you definitely know the...
W.E.B. Du Bois: American Sociologist, Black Leader, And...
February 23, 2021
Formal photograph of W. E. B. Du Bois, with beard and mustache, around 50 years old. (Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons) You may not know the name William...
George Washington: Biography, About, Facts, & Things Yo...
February 22, 2021
George Washington (1732–1799), first president of the United States, 1789–97, in an engraved portrait after 1792 painting by John Trumbull. (Stock Montage/Gett...
Nina Simone: Jazz Singer's Biography & Things You Didn'...
February 21, 2021
Courageous and complicated, Nina Simone remains an artist whose work begs to be pored over and inspected. She may be famous for her performance of "I Loves Y...
Ansel Adams: Artist Biography, Facts, Trivia, & More Ab...
February 20, 2021
Photographer Ansel Adams stands on a bluff above the Pacific Ocean. He adjusts the settings on his camera. (Roger Ressmeyer/CORBIS/VCG via Getty Images) Even...
Galileo Galilei: Biography, Facts, & Things You Don't K...
February 15, 2021
Italian astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) using a telescope, circa 1620. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Much like Madonna and Cher, Galileo...
Jesse James: Biography, Facts, & Things You Didn't Know...
February 13, 2021
American outlaw Jesse James, circa 1870. (MPI/Getty Images) Between 1866 and 1879, Jesse James terrorized the people and wallets of America. From Minnesota t...
Marilyn Monroe's Love Life: Divorces And Dates With Joe...
February 8, 2021
1954: A wistful Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jean Mortenson or Norma Jean Baker, 1926–1962). (Baron/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Norma Jeane Mortenson's life was fra...
Charles Dickens: Stories, Biography, & Things You Didn'...
February 7, 2021
British novelist Charles Dickens (1812–1870) seated in his study in Gads Hill near Rochester, Kent circa 1860. (Epics/Getty Images) Today, Charles Dickens is...
Hank Aaron: Stories, Biography, & Things You Didn't Kno...
February 5, 2021
A baseball signed by Hank Aaron. (Arturo Pardavila III/Wikimedia Commons) It's not hyperbole to say that baseball wouldn't be the same without Hank Aaron, th...
Mozart: Biography, Facts, And Things You Didn't Know Ab...
January 27, 2021
Posthumous portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1819. (Barbara Krafft/Wikimedia Commons) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart only lived to be 35 years old, but in his bri...
Salvador Dali: Biography, Trivia, And Facts About The F...
January 24, 2021
Dalí in 1939. (Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons) The 20th century was very nearly the century of Salvador Dalí. From 1904 to 1989, he lived a life of sur...
When Explorer James Cook Discovered Hawaii And Was Boil...
January 18, 2021
Death of Captain Cook. (John Webber/Wikimedia Commons) James Cook was one of the most prolific British sea captains, navigators, and explorers during the Age ...
Benjamin Franklin: Biography, Trivia, And Facts About T...
January 17, 2021
1767, oil on canvas on panel, located in the White House, Washington, DC, USA. (VCG Wilson/Corbis via Getty Images) The guy from the Dos Equis commercials mig...
Martin Luther King, Jr.: Biography And Facts About The ...
January 14, 2021
(National Archives and Records Administration/Wikimedia Commons) Whether you were alive when Martin Luther King, Jr. was marching for freedom as a Baptist min...
Dalai Lama History: Biography, History, And Legacy Of T...
January 13, 2021
The 14th Dalai Lama holding a speach in Vienna, Austria. (Wolfgang H. Wögerer, Vienna, Austria/Wikimedia Commons) As the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists...
Yasuke: The First African Samurai Who Was A Shogun Body...
November 29, 2020
A black man wrestling with Japanese circa 1605. This is a possible artwork depicting Yasuke, but unconfirmed. (Unknown author/Wikimedia Commons) Yasuke was mo...
Albert Fish: Serial Killer Cannibal Who Ate Kids And Wr...
November 28, 2020
(Unknown author/Wikimedia Commons) Albert Fish was a gray man living in a gray world. Known as the Brooklyn Vampire, he was a cannibal, real-life Bluebeard, a...
Jeffrey Dahmer: Serial Killer Biography Of America's Mo...
November 27, 2020
Cannibal, killer, monster: Jeffrey Dahmer has rightfully earned his place among some of the most vicious serial killers in America, and his murders shined an...
The Most Eccentric Presidents in U.S. History
November 22, 2020
President Ronald Reagan throwing a football from his desk in the Oval Office. (Mary Anne Fackelman-Miner/White House/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images) Presiden...
J. Edgar Hoover Cross-Dressing: Did He Really?
November 21, 2020
Hoover photographed in 1959. (Federal Bureau of Investigation/Wikimedia Commons) Long after his death in 1972, J. Edgar Hoover has held the American public's attention, m...
Shirley Chisholm: Everything You Didn't Know About The ...
November 18, 2020
African-American educator and U.S. Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm speaks at a podium at the Democratic National Convention, Miami Beach, Florida, July 1972. (Pi...
Invention of the Radio: Guglielmo Marconi's Genius And ...
October 28, 2020
Guglielmo Marconi, portrait, head and shoulders, facing left. (Pach Brothers/Wikimedia Commons) Born in 1874 in Bologna, Italy, Guglielmo Marconi was the grea...
Pablo Picasso: Everything You Didn't Know About The Ava...
October 25, 2020
This file pictured dated October 13, 1971 shows Spanish painter Pablo Picasso in Mougins, France. (RALPH GATTI/AFP via Getty Images) As the father of cubism,...
Nikola Tesla: Everything You Didn't Know About The Famo...
October 22, 2020
Nikola Tesla (1856–1943), Serbian-American physicist sitting in his Colorado Springs laboratory with his "magnifying transmitter," 1899 (multiple exposure). (S...
Thomas Edison: Everything You Didn't Know About The Fam...
October 18, 2020
Thomas Edison (1847–1931) was a prolific inventor who was issued over 1,000 patents over his lifetime. (George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images) The name "Thom...
Teddy Roosevelt: Things You Didn't Know About The Bull ...
October 14, 2020
Teddy Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, was a rugged, no-nonsense statesman, writer, and naturalist. When not making policy and negotiating...
Kim Il Sung: Facts You Didn't Know About The Ruthless D...
October 13, 2020
If you were asked who the current President of North Korea is, you'd likely answer Kim Jong Un, the current ruler of the Democratic People's Republic (though...
Eleanor Roosevelt: Facts And Trivia You Didn't Know Abo...
October 11, 2020
As FDR's first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt matured into a icon of the feminist movement and a symbol of charity and activism. But she wasn't always the wise, con...
Groucho Marx: Facts You Didn't Know About Comedy's Firs...
October 2, 2020
You know the greasepaint mustache and the big glasses, but there's so much more to Groucho Marx than his signature look. As a member of the Marx Brothers com...
John D. Rockefeller: The First Billionaire's Biography ...
September 28, 2020
Seated portrait of John Davison Rockefeller (1839-1937), American oil magnate, early twentieth century. (Interim Archives/Getty Images) America's first billio...
Thomas Nast: Father of The American Political Cartoon
September 27, 2020
German-born American cartoonist and caricaturist Thomas Nast (1840–1902). (Hulton Archive/Getty Images) It is true that oftentimes, a picture is worth 1,000 words....
Coco the Clown: The UK's Number-One Vintage Clown
September 25, 2020
Coco the Clown inspects a replica of his face painted on an eggshell. (Peter Johnson/BIPs/Getty Images) On September 25, 1974, the entertainment world, particularly in...
Bill The Butcher A.K.A. William Poole: Bio, Facts, & Tr...
September 22, 2020
(Unknown author/Wikimedia Commons) More than the inspiration for Daniel Day Lewis's character in Gangs Of New York, William Poole, also known as "Bill the Bu...
When Charlie Chaplin Was Banned From America For Commun...
September 18, 2020
(United Artists/Wikimedia Commons) British-born Charlie Chaplin was one of America's best-loved silent film stars and one of the few who made a smooth transit...
Terence McKenna: Psychonaut, Father Of The Stoned Ape T...
September 16, 2020
Did prehistoric man used psychedelic drugs? (Paul Zinken/Picture Alliance via Getty Images) Back in our pre-history, several species of humans marched to the ...
Jackie Kennedy Onassis: Biography, Facts, And Things Yo...
September 11, 2020
It would be impossible for any parent to know that their daughter would grow up to be not only a scholar and journalist but also a century-defining fashion i...
Arnold Palmer: Things You Didn't Know About The Golf Le...
September 9, 2020
(U.S. Coast Guard/Wikimedia Commons) Everyone knows the name Arnold Palmer, be it as a cool drink or one of the greatest golfers who ever lived, but the man w...
William James Sidis: The Smartest Man Alive In The Earl...
June 29, 2020
Imagine being nine years old and, while all the other children experiment with booger sculpture, creating your own language while studying experimental mathe...
Helen Keller: What You Didn't Know About The Outspoken ...
June 27, 2020
Helen Keller on her four-acre estate near Westport, Conn. (David McLane/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images) Today, Helen Keller's name is synonymous with ...
Marquis De Sade: The Father Of Sadism, Explained
June 22, 2020
Poet, playwright, rebel, and seeker of erotic pleasure through all of its nuanced and varied means, the Marquis de Sade literally embodied sadism. This libidinous Fren...
Tupac Shakur: Things You Didn't Know About The Pop Cult...
June 16, 2020
Tupac Shakur is most famous as the king of West Coast '90s hip-hop, rapping alongside fellow Death Row Records luminaries like Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg until h...
Josephine Baker: French Resistance Agent, Old Hollywood...
June 8, 2020
Portrait of American-born singer and dancer Josephine Baker, circa 1925, lying on a tiger rug in a silk evening gown and diamond earrings. (Photo by Hulton Arch...
Rodney King: The Riots, The Movement, And What Eventual...
June 5, 2020
Activist Jasmine Cannock addresses a crowd of reporters and listeners at a memorial for Rodney King on June 19, 2012. (Neon Tommy/Wikimedia Commons) In the ea...
Freddish: The Scientific Formula For How Fred Rogers Ta...
June 1, 2020
Fred McFeely Rogers, better known as simply Mister Rogers, shot to fame during the late 1960s thanks to his inspirational and revolutionary children's televi...
How George Washington Died: Bloodletting, Enemas, and t...
May 30, 2020
In his early twenties, he fumbled his way through the Ohio Country alongside the British Army in his first military outing and quite unintentionally became a...
Howard Hughes: Facts And Stories You Didn't Know (All T...
April 2, 2020
Long before the term "social distancing" entered our everyday vocabulary, there have been people who chose to self-isolate. We called them recluses or—if the...
The Mad Bomber: George Metesky's Bombs Terrorized New Y...
March 30, 2020
As millions of people file for unemployment and still more lack health insurance, it's easy to understand, here in 2020, why someone might get salty with an ...
Charles 'Pretty Boy' Floyd: The Depression-Era Robin Ho...
March 28, 2020
One of the most colorful Depression-era criminals was the cherub-faced, Robin Hood–esque Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd. Floyd's love for his machine gun and hab...
Gary M. Heidnik: The Real-Life 'Buffalo Bill' Who Kept ...
March 27, 2020
Buffalo Bill—the unhinged villain of Silence Of The Lambs, not the greatest showman of the wild west—feels too evil to be real. However, the most frightening thin...
Harry Houdini: Stories, Myths, And Facts About Magic's ...
March 24, 2020
Harry Houdini may have passed away in 1936, but he remains the most well-known magician of the 20th century. He was the scourge of false mystics and imitators, a ...
Alexander Graham Bell: Inventor Of The Telephone, Inter...
March 7, 2020
Although several noted inventors of the day, including Thomas Edison and Elisha Gray, were also tinkering with communication technology, it was Alexander Gra...
Dr. Seuss: Facts And Stories You Didn't Know About The ...
March 2, 2020
Who didn’t grow up reading the fun-tastical books of Dr. Seuss? The rhymes were catchy, the stories had morals, and the illustrations were whimsical. From Th...
Buffalo Bill: The Old West's Greatest Showman
February 26, 2020
The greatest showman of the wild, wild west, William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody, was born 174 years ago today in Scott County, Iowa. You might think you know everythin...
Hiram Rhodes Revels: The First Black Congressman
February 25, 2020
This Black History Month, we'd be remiss to overlook incredible life of Hiram Rhodes Revels, who was sworn into the U.S. Senate on February 25, 1870, just five years a...
The Medici Family: Stories Of The Most Important Family...
February 17, 2020
Lorenzo the Magnificent (1585-1644) with the major artists of the time, in a 1635 fresco by Ottavio Vannini. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images) Before the Roc...
How Much Do You Know About Machiavelli?
February 15, 2020
Just as Machiavelli was put to the test by the Medici family, you, too, are about to face the music. Of course, in this instance, you're just taking a short quiz. Machiavelli was se...
Machiavelli: Biography And Facts About History's Most M...
February 15, 2020
His name is connected with political leaders prone to playing 3-D chess, but was Machiavelli actually the conniving manipulator that we know him as? His most well...
Mary Shelley Kept Her Husband's Heart After His Death A...
February 12, 2020
One of the earliest masters of horror, Mary Shelley wasn't just dabbling in the dark when she wrote one of the most important and influential novels of all time. ...
Saint Valentine: The Patron Saint Of Bees, Fainting, An...
February 11, 2020
Valentine ministered to persecuted Christians in the third century. Colored engraving, Italy, 1886. (Photo by Fototeca Gilardi/Getty Images). Today, most of w...
Delphine LaLaurie: New Orleans's Famously Sadistic Slav...
February 9, 2020
New Orleans is full of ghost stories, but the most haunting tale is that of Delphine LaLaurie, a mad slave owner who tortured the men and women in her employ. Sto...
Mary Queen of Scots: Stories, Trivia, And A Botched Beh...
February 8, 2020
When King James V of Scotland died at the ripe age of 30 (hey, it was ripe for medieval times), his kingdom was in a bit of a pickle. His only surviving legi...
Elizabeth II: Stories And Facts You Maybe Didn't Know Q...
February 6, 2020
Elizabeth II became queen on February 6, 1952, although she had to wait until June for her official coronation ceremony. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images) ...
Vlad The Impaler: Real-Life Dracula's Most Monstrous Ac...
February 3, 2020
You could say Vlad the Imapler was a bad guy. After all, you don't get to be immortalized as a bloodthirsty monster if you're Mr. Congeniality. Not only did Vlad ...
Clark Gable: Hitler, Bugs Bunny, And More Stories You'v...
February 1, 2020
Happy birthday to Clark Gable! The uber-masculine heartthrob of the Golden Age of Hollywood was born on this day in 1901. This birthday boy lit up the silver...
Guy Fawkes: The Man, The Myth, The Mask
January 31, 2020
A man with a Guy Fawkes mask during a protest. (Photo by Giorgos Georgiou/NurPhoto via Getty Images) In recent years, we've come to know Guy Fawkes more for his dashing, mustach...
The Many Men Of Elizabeth Taylor
January 29, 2020
What comes to mind when you see the name Elizabeth Taylor? Is it Cleopatra? Her humanitarian work? Or is it her stature as the queen of divorce? In 1951, before she was 20 years old, this ...
The Six Wives Of King Henry VIII
January 28, 2020
Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived: A morbid rhyme indeed, but useful if you want to keep up with the lives and fates of the six wives of Henry VIII. While his reign wa...
J.D. Salinger Was Basically Holden Caulfield
January 27, 2020
J.D. Salinger wrote Catcher in the Rye in 1951 and then spent the rest of his life running away from its central character, Holden Caulfield. He didn't want to talk about the b...
The Legend Of The Green Man: Raymond Robinson Had No Fa...
January 26, 2020
Have you heard the one about Green Man? You know, the guy without a face who walks the highway at night? Supposedly, he fell into a vat of acid, but some people s...
Jack The Baboon Operated A Railway, Earned A Salary, An...
January 25, 2020
Anyone passing through Cape Town, South Africa on the Port Elizabeth Mainline Railroad in the late 1800s saw something curious along the railway: a baboon operati...
Rasputin's Daughter Literally Ran Away And Joined The C...
January 24, 2020
Imagine this scenario: Your father is a high-profile mystic, purported to be impossible to kill. Your friends are empresses. Not what most people consider a ...
The Making Of A Mad Monk: How Rasputin Went From A Peas...
January 21, 2020
Grigorj Rasputin, Russia's Mad Monk and mystic. (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images) Known as "the Mad Monk," Grigori Rasputin was a central figure in the downf...
Edgar Allan Poe And His Adoptive Father Feuded For His ...
January 19, 2020
Closeups of a very old book by Edgar A. Poe. (Photo by Herbert Gehr/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images) One of the best-known American writers and p...
Winnie Was A Real Bear: A. A. Milne's Inspirations
January 18, 2020
Winnie the Pooh is one of the most beloved children’s literary characters in history. Along with his pals Piglet, Tigger, Owl, Eeyore, and Rabbit, Winnie the Pooh ha...
