“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.”
HELEN KELLER
In Tuscumbia, Alabama in 1880, a baby girl was born who would make a difference to millions. Her name was Helen Keller and she was no ordinary child; at 19 months old, she contracted a disease (possibly rubella or scarlet fever) that caused her to lose her sight and hearing. As a consequence, she also […]
It would be difficult to find an art aficionado who is not familiar with the influential Italian painter Caravaggio (1571-1610). Another talented individual, though, who is considered the one and only “Caravaggista” – the artist whose work stands out as equal in emotion, action and fervor to that of the renowned painter – was all […]
A leading foreign policy voice in the United States, Czech-born Madeleine Albright (1937-2022) was the first woman to serve as US secretary of state, remaining in that position from 1997 to 2001. Secretary of state is the most senior position in the American president’s cabinet and is fourth in the presidential line of succession, after […]
Six decades ago, US President John F. Kennedy announced that the United States would put human beings on the Moon by the end of the decade. But it wasn’t until 2016 that Margaret H. Hamilton (b. 1936), a computer scientist and software innovator, was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her work on […]
Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani human rights activist, especially for women’s and girls’ education, and the world’s youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate (the second Pakistani to receive the prize). Born in the Swat Valley in northwest Pakistan in 1997, she started writing a blog under a pseudonym for the BBC Urdu, detailing her life during […]
Marie Curie was a pioneer of modern science. Despite a career that was physically demanding and ultimately fatal, she discovered polonium and radium, championed the use of radiation in medicine and fundamentally changed the understanding of radioactivity. Marie Curie was born Marie Skłodowska in 1867 in Warsaw, Poland, to a family of teachers who believed […]
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
HARRIET TUBMAN
Most people, at least in the United States, have heard of Betsy Ross, the woman credited with making the first American flag, but who was Araminta Ross? Araminta Ross was a person of immense stature in a small body. Only about 5 feet tall (1.53 m), enslaved and illiterate, she dedicated her long life to […]
Olena Zelenska, a former architecture student who is a screenwriter by profession, is credited with initiating Ukraine’s accession to the G7 international initiative on gender equality – the Biarritz Partnership – in December 2019 during a speech at the third Ukrainian Women’s Congress (a permanent public platform that defines the gender policy agenda for the […]
