Great Thinkers

Meet the great minds whose ideas have shaped the world — philosophers, scientists, artists, leaders, and revolutionaries whose thinking still matters today.

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83 thinkers
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Philosophy
María Lugones
1944-2020 · Argentina / United States
María Lugones (1944-2020) was an Argentine-American philosopher. She was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and moved to the United States as a young woman, where…
Cultural heritage and identity Relationships and communication Ethical thinking Citizenship +1
"I am a being in multiple worlds and I travel among them, feeling at ease in some of them, not…"
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Literature
Maya Angelou
1928-2014 · United States
Maya Angelou (1928-2014) was an American poet, memoirist, essayist, and public figure whose seven-volume autobiography and body of poetry made her one of the most…
Creative expression Ethical thinking Critical thinking Cultural heritage and identity +1
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget…"
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Philosophy
Michel Foucault
1926-1984 · France
Michel Foucault was a French philosopher and historian. He was one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century. He was born on 15…
Critical thinking Research skills Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity +1
"Where there is power, there is resistance."
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Politics
Nadia Murad
born 1993 · Iraq
Nadia Murad (born 1993) is a Yazidi human rights activist from the Sinjar region of northern Iraq. In 2014, when she was twenty-one years old,…
Critical thinking Resilience Intercultural competence Critical literacy
"I want to be the last girl in the world with a story like mine."
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Physics
Narges Mohammadi
born 1972 · Iran
Narges Mohammadi (born 1972) is an Iranian physicist, journalist, and human rights activist. She is one of Iran's most prominent advocates for the abolition of…
Critical thinking Critical literacy Resilience Intercultural competence
"I will not stop. My voice will not be silenced."
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Law
Nelson Mandela
1918-2013 · South Africa
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African lawyer, freedom fighter, and statesman. He led the long struggle to end apartheid, the racist system that ruled…
Ethical thinking Critical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Emotional intelligence +1
"I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and…"
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Politics
Patrice Lumumba
1925-1961 · Democratic Republic of the Congo
Patrice Émery Lumumba was a Congolese political leader and the first Prime Minister of the independent Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was born in…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Creative expression +1
"We have known the mockery, the insults, the blows we had to endure morning, noon, and night because we were…"
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Medicine & Health
Paul Farmer
1959-2022 · United States / Haiti / Rwanda
Paul Farmer (1959-2022) was an American physician, anthropologist, and global health activist. He was born in North Adams, Massachusetts, and grew up in modest and…
Health literacy Citizenship Ethical thinking Systems thinking +1
"The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world."
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Chemistry
Percy Julian
1899-1975 · United States
Percy Lavon Julian (1899-1975) was an African American chemist whose pioneering synthesis of plant-derived steroids made cortisone and other hormone-based medicines widely available for the…
Scientific thinking Research skills Ethical thinking Critical thinking +1
"You can do anything you want if you will put enough work into it. That has always been my philosophy."
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Literature
Peter Drucker
1909-2005 · United States (born Austria)
Peter Ferdinand Drucker (1909-2005) was an Austrian-American writer and teacher whose books and articles over seven decades shaped the practice of management and helped establish…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Research skills Creative expression +1
"The purpose of a business is to create a customer."
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Sociology
Pierre Bourdieu
1930-2002 · France
Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002) was a French sociologist whose work on class, culture, and power made him one of the most influential social scientists of the…
Critical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Ethical thinking Research skills +1
"Taste classifies, and it classifies the classifier."
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Biology
Rachel Carson
1907-1964 · United States
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) was an American marine biologist, writer, and conservationist. She was born in rural Pennsylvania and developed a love of the natural world…
Environmental thinking Scientific thinking Critical literacy Citizenship +1
"In every outthrust headland, in every curving beach, in every grain of sand there is a story of the earth."
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Politics
Rigoberta Menchú
born 1959 · Guatemala, Central America
Rigoberta Menchú Tum (born 1959) is an indigenous Maya K'iche' woman from Guatemala and one of the most important human rights activists of the twentieth…
Citizenship Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Research skills +1
"I am still keeping secret what I think no-one should know. Not even anthropologists or intellectuals, no matter how many…"
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Biology
Robin Wall Kimmerer
1953-present · United States, Potawatomi Nation
Robin Wall Kimmerer (born 1953) is an American botanist, ecologist, and writer who is a citizen of the Potawatomi Nation, one of the Indigenous peoples…
Environmental thinking Scientific thinking Research skills Cultural heritage and identity +1
"In the Potawatomi language, to be a human being is to be grateful. It is a reminder to say thank…"
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Chemistry
Rosalind Franklin
1920-1958 · England, United Kingdom
Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958) was a British chemist and X-ray crystallographer. She was born in London into a prominent Jewish family and showed exceptional scientific ability…
Scientific thinking Research skills Ethical thinking Critical thinking +1
"Science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated."
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Law
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
1933-2020 · United States
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an American lawyer and Supreme Court Justice. She is widely seen as one of the most important legal advocates for gender…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Research skills Problem solving +1
"Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time."
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Literature
Seamus Heaney
1939-2013 · Northern Ireland / Ireland
Seamus Heaney was an Irish poet. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest English-language…
Creative expression Cultural heritage and identity Emotional intelligence Ethical thinking +1
"Between my finger and my thumb / The squat pen rests; snug as a gun."
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Religion
Simon Kimbangu
1887-1951 · Democratic Republic of the Congo
Simon Kimbangu was a Congolese religious leader and the founder of Kimbanguism, one of the largest African-initiated churches in the world. He was born on…
Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Critical thinking Emotional intelligence +1
"It is now time for me to turn myself in to the authorities; let impatient men prone to anger be…"
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Philosophy
Simone de Beauvoir
1908-1986 · France, Western Europe
Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) was a French philosopher, novelist, and feminist thinker. She was born in Paris and studied philosophy at the Sorbonne, where she…
Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Critical thinking Relationships and communication +1
"One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman."
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Politics
Steve Biko
1946-1977 · South Africa
Steve Biko (1946-1977) was a South African activist and philosopher. He was born in King William's Town in the Eastern Cape, and grew up under…
Citizenship Ethical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Self regulation +1
"The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed."
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Sociology
Stuart Hall
1932-2014 · Jamaica / United Kingdom
Stuart McPhail Hall was a Jamaican-born British sociologist and cultural theorist. He is one of the founding figures of cultural studies. He was born on…
Critical thinking Cultural heritage and identity Creative expression Ethical thinking +1
"Identity is not as transparent or unproblematic as we think."
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Technology & Engineering
Taiichi Ohno
1912-1990 · Japan
Taiichi Ohno (1912-1990) was a Japanese industrial engineer whose work at the Toyota Motor Company produced the Toyota Production System, a way of organising manufacturing…
Problem solving Critical thinking Scientific thinking Research skills +1
"Having no problems is the biggest problem of all."
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Philosophy
Thomas Kuhn
1922-1996 · United States
Thomas Kuhn (1922-1996) was an American philosopher and historian of science. He studied physics at Harvard University and then became interested in the history of…
Scientific thinking Research skills Critical thinking Metacognition +1
"Normal science does not aim at novelties of fact or theory and, when successful, finds none."
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Law
Thurgood Marshall
1908-1993 · United States
Thurgood Marshall was an American civil rights lawyer and the first Black Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He spent his life using the…
Critical thinking Ethical thinking Research skills Problem solving +1
"In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute."
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