Famous People

Leonardo da Vinci

The painter and engineer who left the Last Supper, the Mona Lisa and thousands of pages of notes. Born in Vinci on 24 April 1452 at 22:30 local mean time.

Johannes Kepler

The astronomer who derived the three laws of planetary motion and first described an orbit as an ellipse. Born in Weil der Stadt on 27 December 1571 at 14:30 local mean time.

Henry Ford

The industrialist who put the car on an assembly line and made it affordable. Born in Dearborn on 30 July 1863 at 07:00 local mean time.

Walt Disney

The creator of Mickey Mouse and of the first animated feature, who built Disneyland. Born in Chicago on 5 December 1901 at 00:30.

Neil Armstrong

The first man to set foot on the Moon, on 20 July 1969. Born in Wapakoneta on 5 August 1930 at 00:31.

Marie Antoinette

The Austrian archduchess who became queen of France and ended on the guillotine. Born in Vienna on 2 November 1755 at 19:30.

Florence Nightingale

The founder of modern nursing, who proved with figures that hospital filth kills more men than bullets. Born in Florence on 12 May 1820 at 14:00.

Maria Montessori

One of Italy’s first women doctors and the creator of a method now used to teach children everywhere. Born at Chiaravalle on 31 August 1870 at 03:30.

Agatha Christie

The best-selling novelist in history: two billion books, Poirot and Miss Marple. Born in Torquay on 15 September 1890 at 04:00.

Virginia Woolf

The novelist who moved the novel inside consciousness and wrote “A Room of One’s Own”. Born in London on 25 January 1882 at 12:15.

Jules Verne

The founder of science fiction: over sixty novels in the “Extraordinary Voyages”. Born in Nantes on 8 February 1828 at exactly noon.

Oscar Wilde

The author of “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and of the most quoted comedies on the English stage. Born in Dublin on 16 October 1854 at 03:00 local mean time.