Biographies for Kids

Erik Weihenmayer (born September 23, 1968) is the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on May 25, 2001. He also completed the Seven Summits in September 2002. His story was covered in a Time article in June 2001 titled Blind to Failure. He is the author of Touch the Top of the World: A Blind Man’s …

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was born on 29 October 1938, in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, amongst the descendants of original colonists of Liberia. These descendants are known in Liberia as Americo-Liberians. Sirleaf’s father Jahmale Carney Johnson became the first Liberian from an indigenous ethnic group to sit in the country’s national legislature. Sirleaf studied economics and accounts from 1948 to …

Elie Wiesel — Eliezer “Elie” Wiesel was born on September 30, 1928. He is a writer, professor at Boston University, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He is the author of 57 books, the best known of which is Night, a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. His diverse range …

Francois Quesnay was a French economist of the Physiocratic school. The physiocrats were a group of economists who believed that the wealth of nations was derived solely from the value of land agriculture or land development. Their use of the term laissez faire meant that the only legitimate form of government revenue derived from the value of land. Their theories …

Edward Osborne Wilson is an American biologist (Myrmecology, a branch of entomology), researcher (sociobiology, biodiversity), theorist (consilience, biophilia), and naturalist (conservationism). A two-time Pulitzer Prizewinner, Wilson argues that human behaviour can largely be explained by biology. He is Pellegrino University professor emeritus of entomology at Harvard University. Wilson is known for his career as a scientist, his advocacy for environmentalism, …

Eddie Lampert — Edward S. “Eddie” Lampert was born on July 19, 1962 in Roslyn, New York, USA. He is an American investor, financier and businessman. He is the chairman of Sears Holdings Corporation (SHLD) and founder, chairman, and CEO of ESL Investments. Until May, 2007 he was a director of AutoNation, Inc. He previously served as a director of …

Ehud Olmert was born near Binyamina in the British Mandate of Palestine, Olmert is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with degrees in psychology, philosophy and law. According to Olmert, his parents, Bella and Mordechai escaped “persecution in Ukraine and Russia and found sanctuary in Harbin, China. They emigrated to Israel to fulfill their dream of building a …

Dr. Subroto Das — Ahmedabad: Just how many times have we seen an accident on the city road or the highway and moved past as we didn’t have the time or energy to involve ourselves into police matters? On August 21, 2002, Dr Subroto Das and his wife were driving on the National Highway 8 to Baroda when their vehicle …

Dr. Karni Singh — Maharaja of the erstwhile princely state of Bikaner, Karni Singh was a legendary shooter in the Indian shooting circuit. A shooter par excellence, Singh was world renowned for his outclassed talent and brilliant performance. However, he did not restrict himself to shooting and had varied interests as well. This is well reflected from the fact that …

Dr. D Ashish — Kolkata, the City of Joy, is also the city that houses the sick, the starved and the homeless. But they aren’t the only ones scouring the slums and shanties of this metropolis. At least twice a week you might just bump into D Ashish and his troupe of volunteers walking through the streets collecting medicines which …