Biography

Monday, 22 December 2025

Did you know?

Robert Oppenheimer
In 1947, Oppenheimer took a position as director of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton.
He received a hefty salary of $20,000 a year and the opportunity to live for free in a 17th-century house, with a cook and caretaker. The house was surrounded by woods covering 107 acres.
Peter the Great
Meddling in the Polish election, Peter I supported the election of August II the Strong as king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1697.
Gaius Julius Caesar
Pompey himself, after his defeat at Pharsalos in 48 BC, fled to Egypt.
Seeking rescue on the other side of the Mediterranean, however, he fell into the worst possible posi ...
Peter the Great
Peter I dreamed of bringing Russia as a strong, modernized, accepted state into the arena of European politics.
He wanted to establish permanent diplomatic relations with European courts to gain their support in ...
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American novelist, short story writer, journalist, and sportsman whose many works are considered classics of American literature.
He published seven novels, six collections of short stories, and two non-fiction items. After his death, three more of his novels, four more short stories, and three non-fiction pieces were published.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte suffered from ailurophobia - an irrational, terrifying fear of cats.
He was not the only one among the famous historical figures to suffer from this type of phobia. In a ...
William Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s works have inspired filmmakers. Some 420 full-length films were based on his works.
The 1990 “Hamlet” by Franco Zeffirelli, starring Mel Gibson and Glenn Close, was nominated for an Os ...
Rasputin
A few weeks after Rasputin was assassinated, the Romanov dynasty was overthrown.
Shortly before his death, Rasputin wrote a letter to Tsar Nicholas II in which he announced that "no ...
Napoleon Bonaparte
During Napoleon's reign, France was involved in more than a dozen wars, in variable coalitions, with all European countries taking part.
Napoleon fought in Austria, Spain, and Germany, where he won great victories (Marengo, Ulm, Austerli ...
Salvador Dali
In 1954, Dali and photographer Philippe Halsman published a book entirely devoted to the mustache.