Portal:Biography
Appearance
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A page from the first edition of Foxe's Book of Martyrs, published in 1563
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Third Volume of a 1727 edition of Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans printed by Jacob Tonson
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Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Cover of the first English publication, J. Parson's, London, 1793
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curriculum vitae (résumé), a biography presents a subject's life story, highlighting various aspects of their life, including intimate details of experience, and may include an analysis of the subject's personality. (Full article...)
Featured biographies
Today anniversaries
Pre-1600
- 869 – Yōzei, Japanese emperor (d. 949)
- 1462 – Piero di Cosimo, Italian painter (d. 1522)
- 1509 – Henry of Stolberg, German nobleman (d. 1572)
1601–1900
- 1642 – Mehmed IV, Ottoman sultan (d. 1693)
- 1647 – Nathaniel Bacon, English-American rebel leader (d. 1676)
- 1699 – Osman III, Ottoman sultan (d. 1757)
- 1713 – Marie Dumesnil, French actress (d. 1803)
- 1727 – James Wolfe, English general (d. 1759)
- 1732 – František Brixi, Czech organist and composer (d. 1771)
- 1777 – Christian Daniel Rauch, German sculptor and educator (d. 1857)
- 1803 – Guglielmo Libri Carucci dalla Sommaja, Italian mathematician and academic (d. 1869)
- 1822 – Rudolf Clausius, Polish-German physicist and mathematician (d. 1888)
- 1827 – Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, Russian geographer and statistician (d. 1914)
- 1833 – Frederick A. Johnson, American banker and politician (d. 1893)
- 1836 – Mendele Mocher Sforim, Russian author (d. 1917)
- 1836 – Queen Emma of Hawaii (d. 1885)
- 1837 – Mily Balakirev, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1910)
- 1857 – M. Carey Thomas, American educator and activist (d. 1935)
- 1860 – Dugald Campbell Patterson, Canadian engineer (d. 1931)
- 1860 – William Corless Mills, American historian and curator (d. 1928)
- 1866 – Gilbert Murray, Australian-English playwright and scholar (d. 1957)
- 1870 – Ernst Barlach, German sculptor and playwright (d. 1938)
- 1870 – Tex Rickard, American boxing promoter and businessman (d. 1929)
- 1873 – Antonie Pannekoek, Dutch astronomer and theorist (d. 1960)
- 1873 – Thérèse of Lisieux, French nun and saint (d. 1897)
- 1878 – Jaakko Mäki, Finnish politician (d. 1938)
- 1878 – Mannathu Padmanabha Pillai, Indian activist, founded the Nair Service Society (d. 1970)
- 1884 – Ben-Zion Dinur, Russian-Israeli historian and politician, 4th Israeli Minister of Education (d. 1973)
- 1885 – Gordon Flowerdew, Canadian lieutenant, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1918)
- 1886 – Apsley Cherry-Garrard, English explorer and author (d. 1959)
- 1889 – Bertram Stevens, Australian accountant and politician, 25th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1973)
- 1891 – Giovanni Michelucci, Italian architect and urban planner, designed the Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station (d. 1990)
- 1892 – Seiichiro Kashio, Japanese tennis player (d. 1962)
- 1895 – Folke Bernadotte, Swedish diplomat (d. 1948)
- 1896 – Dziga Vertov, Polish-Russian director and screenwriter (d. 1954)
- 1896 – Lawrence Wackett, Australian commander and engineer (d. 1982)
- 1897 – Theodore Plucknett, English legal historian (d. 1965)
- 1900 – Una Ledingham, British physician, known for research on diabetes in pregnancy (d. 1965)
1901–present
- 1901 – Bob Marshall, American activist, co-founded The Wilderness Society (d. 1939)
- 1902 – Dan Keating, Irish Republican Army volunteer (d. 2007)
- 1903 – Kane Tanaka, Japanese Supercentenarian, Oldest Japanese person ever, Second oldest verified person in world history (d. 2022)
- 1904 – Walter Heitler, German physicist and chemist (d. 1981)
- 1905 – Michael Tippett, English composer and conductor (d. 1998)
- 1905 – Luigi Zampa, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1991)
- 1909 – Riccardo Cassin, Italian mountaineer and author (d. 2009)
- 1909 – Barry Goldwater, American politician, businessman, and author (d. 1998)
- 1913 – Juanita Jackson Mitchell, American lawyer and activist (d. 1992)
- 1913 – Anna Lee, English-American actress (d. 2004)
- 1917 – Vera Zorina, German-Norwegian actress and dancer (d. 2003)
- 1918 – Willi Graf, German physician and activist (d. 1943)
- 1919 – Ernest Bender, American Indologist (d. 1996)
- 1919 – Beatrice Hicks, American engineer (d. 1979)
- 1920 (probable) – Isaac Asimov, American writer and professor of biochemistry (d. 1992)
- 1920 – Bob Feerick, American basketball player and coach (d. 1976)
- 1921 – Glen Harmon, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2007)
- 1926 – Gino Marchetti, American football player (d. 2019)
- 1928 – Dan Rostenkowski, American politician (d. 2010)
- 1929 – Charles Beaumont, screenwriter and American author of speculative fiction (d. 1967)
- 1929 – Tellervo Koivisto, Finnish politician, former First Lady of Finland
- 1931 – Toshiki Kaifu, Japanese lawyer and politician, 76th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2022)
- 1934 – John Hollowbread, English footballer, goalkeeper (d. 2007)
- 1936 – Roger Miller, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor (d. 1992)
- 1938 – David Bailey, English photographer and painter
- 1938 – Lynn Conway, American computer scientist and electrical engineer (d. 2024)
- 1938 – Robert Smithson, American sculptor and photographer (d. 1973)
- 1940 – Jim Bakker, American televangelist
- 1940 – Saud bin Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabian economist and politician, Saudi Arabian Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2015)
- 1942 – Thomas Hammarberg, Swedish lawyer and diplomat
- 1942 – Dennis Hastert, American educator and politician, 59th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
- 1943 – Janet Akyüz Mattei, Turkish-American astronomer (d. 2004)
- 1944 – Charlie Davis, Trinidadian cricketer
- 1944 – Péter Eötvös, Hungarian composer and conductor (d. 2024)
- 1944 – Norodom Ranariddh, Cambodian field marshal and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Cambodia (d. 2021)
- 1944 – Mohamed Ali Yusuf, Somali politician (d. 2024)
- 1947 – Jack Hanna, American zoologist and author
- 1947 – Calvin Hill, American football player
- 1947 – David Shapiro, American poet, historian, and critic (d. 2024)
- 1948 – Judith Miller, American journalist
- 1948 – Deborah Watling, English actress (d. 2017)
- 1949 – Christopher Durang, American playwright and screenwriter (d. 2024)
- 1949 – Iris Marion Young, American political scientist and academic (d. 2006)
- 1952 – Indulis Emsis, Latvian biologist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Latvia
- 1952 – Wendy Phillips, American actress
- 1954 – Henry Bonilla, American broadcaster and politician
- 1954 – Évelyne Trouillot, Haitian playwright and author
- 1961 – Gabrielle Carteris, American actress
- 1961 – Paula Hamilton, English model
- 1961 – Todd Haynes, American film director, screenwriter, and producer
- 1961 – Craig James, American football player and sportscaster
- 1961 – Robert Wexler, American lawyer and politician
- 1963 – David Cone, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1963 – Edgar Martínez, American baseball player
- 1964 – Chris Welp, German-American basketball player (d. 2015)
- 1964 – Pernell Whitaker, American boxer (d. 2019)
- 1967 – Francois Pienaar, South African rugby player
- 1967 – Tia Carrere, American actress
- 1967 – Jón Gnarr, Icelandic actor and politician; 20th Mayor of Reykjavík
- 1968 – Cuba Gooding, Jr., American actor and producer
- 1968 – Anky van Grunsven, Dutch dressage champion
- 1969 – István Bagyula, Hungarian pole vaulter
- 1969 – William Fox-Pitt, English horse rider and journalist
- 1969 – Róbert Švehla, Slovak ice hockey player
- 1969 – Christy Turlington, American model
- 1970 – Eric Whitacre, American composer and conductor
- 1971 – Taye Diggs, American actor and singer
- 1971 – Renée Elise Goldsberry, American actress
- 1972 – Rodney MacDonald, Canadian educator and politician, 26th Premier of Nova Scotia
- 1972 – Shiraz Minwalla, Indian theoretical physicist and string theorist
- 1972 – Mattias Norström, Swedish ice hockey player and manager
- 1974 – Ludmila Formanová, Czech runner
- 1974 – Juha Lind, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1974 – Tomáš Řepka, Czech footballer
- 1975 – Dax Shepard, American actor
- 1975 – Jeff Suppan, American baseball player
- 1975 – Reuben Thorne, New Zealand rugby player
- 1976 – Paz Vega, Spanish actress
- 1977 – Brian Boucher, American ice hockey player and sportscaster
- 1977 – Stefan Koubek, Austrian tennis player
- 1979 – Jonathan Greening, English footballer
- 1980 – David Gyasi, British actor
- 1981 – Kirk Hinrich, American basketball player
- 1981 – Maxi Rodríguez, Argentine footballer
- 1983 – Kate Bosworth, American actress
- 1983 – Anthony Carrigan, American actor
- 1987 – Shelley Hennig, American actress and model
- 1987 – Robert Milsom, English footballer
- 1987 – Loïc Rémy, French footballer
- 1988 – Germán Cano, Argentine footballer
- 1988 – Luke Harangody, American basketball player
- 1988 – Damien Tussac, French-German rugby player
- 1991 – Ben Hardy, English actor
- 1992 – Paulo Gazzaniga, Argentine footballer
- 1992 – Alexey Marchenko, Russian ice hockey player
- 1992 – Teemu Pulkkinen, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1992 – Korbin Sims, Australian-Fijian rugby league player
- 1993 – Bryson Tiller, American singer and rapper
- 1994 – Ronald Darby, American football player
- 1996 – Jonah Bolden, Australian-American basketball player
- 1998 – Tfue, American online streamer
- 1998 – Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Dutch footballer
- 1999 – Georgios Kalaitzakis, Greek basketball player
- 1999 – Fernando Tatís Jr., Dominican baseball player
- 2000 – Spencer Arrighetti, American baseball player
- 2001 – Cole Caufield, American ice hockey player
- 2001 – Luiz Henrique, Brazilian footballer
- 2006 – Claudio Echeverri, Argentine footballer (Full article...)
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