engineer, inventorBorn: 5/23/1820Birthplace: Lawrenceburg, Ind. With little formal education, he began his career as a purser on a Mississippi River steamboat in 1838. He began a business in 1842…
financial speculatorBorn: 4/1/1834Birthplace: Bennington, Vt. Known as the “Barnum of Wall Street” in part for his childhood job in a circus, but more for his flamboyant approach to business, he…
flutistBorn: 12/8/1939Birthplace: Belfast, Northern Ireland James Galway has achieved unparalleled success as a classical flutist, largely because of his frequent forays into popular music. Galway…
civil rights leaderBorn: 1920Birthplace: Marshall, Tex. The son of a preacher, Farmer attended Howard University's School of Divinity. In 1942 he founded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a…
actorBorn: 4/18/1947Birthplace: Vernal, Utah Woods made his Broadway debut in Borstal Boy (1970) and his film debut a few years later in The Way We Were (1973). His other movies include The Onion…
(James Aurness)actorBorn: 5/26/1923Birthplace: Minneapolis, Minnesota Arness became one of television's best-known heroes during the twenty years he spent on the series Gunsmoke (1955–75), playing…
Born: March 19, 1943Birthplace: Brooklyn, N.Y. Excimer eye surgery— IBM researchers Srinivasan, Wynne, and Blum developed this technique used in LASIK (Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis) eye…
Born: 1892 Purified Insulin. Canadian scientists Banting, Best, and Collip determined that insulin injections would help keep diabetics alive and developed techniques for extracting, isolating, and…
Born: 3/16/1751Birthplace: Port Conway, Va. James Madison was born in Port Conway, Va., on March 16, 1751 (March 5, 1750/1, old style). A Princeton graduate, he joined the struggle for independence…
Born: 4/28/1758Birthplace: Westmoreland County, Va. James Monroe was born on April 28, 1758, in Westmoreland County, Va. A William and Mary graduate, he served in the army during the first years of…
