Historical figures in Boston

The atlas holds 83 people and 187 moments here, from 1706 to 2016. The most recorded lives are Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Adams and Helen Keller. Among them Writers, Political Leaders and Scientists, across the Space Age and the Cold War.

Notable people

  1. Theodore Roosevelt

    from 1876 to 1912

    2 moments here

    Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (1858–1919) was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909.…

  2. Thomas Edison

    in 1868

    1 moment here

    American inventor and industrialist whose laboratories developed and commercialized technologies in telegraphy, recorded sound, electric lighting and…

  3. Thomas Jefferson

    in 1784

    1 moment here

    Thomas Jefferson was an American lawyer, Virginia political leader, diplomat, secretary of state, vice president, and third president of the United…

  4. Toni Morrison

    from 1990 to 2016

    2 moments here

    Toni Morrison (Chloe Ardelia Wofford) was an American novelist, editor, and professor whose career moved through Ohio, Washington, D.C., New York,…

  5. T. S. Eliot

    from 1906 to 1947

    5 moments here

    Thomas Stearns Eliot was a St. Louis-born poet, critic, editor, and playwright who studied in Massachusetts, Paris, Germany, and Oxford before making…

  6. Walter Brattain

    in 1952

    1 moment here

    American experimental physicist and co-inventor of the point-contact transistor. Brattain’s documented life moved from his birth in Amoy, China,…

  7. Walt Whitman

    in 1881

    1 moment here

    American poet, essayist, journalist, and author of Leaves of Grass. Born on Long Island, he lived and worked chiefly in Brooklyn, Manhattan,…

  8. Warren G. Harding

    in 1920

    1 moment here

    Warren G. Harding was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923.…

  9. William Makepeace Thackeray

    in 1853

    1 moment here

    English novelist, illustrator, journalist, lecturer, and editor, best known for Vanity Fair.…

  10. William McKinley

    in 1892

    1 moment here

    William McKinley Jr. (1843–1901) was an American lawyer, Civil War veteran, Republican politician, governor of Ohio, and the 25th president of the…

  11. Winston Churchill

    in 1949

    1 moment here

    Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874–1965) was a British soldier, journalist, author and statesman whose career ranged from imperial campaigns in…

Moments

  1. 1969 Visiting lecturer at Harvard University Nadine Gordimer
  2. 1970 Second postdoctoral appointment at MIT Ada Yonath
  3. 1971 Management study at MIT Sloan Kofi Annan
  4. 1971 Cambridge visit Léopold Sédar Senghor
  5. 1974 Charles Eliot Norton lectures at Harvard Octavio Paz
  6. 1977 The Red Devil Battery Sign in Boston Anthony Quinn
  7. 1978 Harvard commencement address Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
  8. 1979 Amandla Festival headline performance Bob Marley
  9. 1981 Joined family in exile Benigno Aquino III
  10. 1981 Arrival at Boston University Derek Walcott
  11. 1982 Exile residence in Boston Corazon Aquino
  12. 1983 Visiting fellowship at Harvard Kim Dae-jung
  13. 1983 Private Lives pre-Broadway run Elizabeth Taylor
  14. 1984 Visited Infocom's Boston offices Douglas Adams
  15. 1987 Procter and Gamble Lecture Sydney Brenner
  16. 1990 Massey lectures at Harvard Toni Morrison
  17. 1991 Wellcome Visiting Professorship Sydney Brenner
  18. 1992 Boston University commencement keynote Mario Vargas Llosa
  19. 1994 MIT Louvre conversation I. M. Pei
  20. 1995 F. A. Bourke Lecture Sydney Brenner
  21. 1995 United States tour performance in Boston Mercedes Sosa
  22. 1997 Return to Macworld as interim CEO Steve Jobs
  23. 1998 Death at home in Winchester Allan MacLeod Cormack
  24. 1999 Begins graduate study at Harvard Maryam Mirzakhani
  25. 2001 Harvard degree ceremony with Noam Chomsky Kenzaburō Ōe
  26. 2001 Death in Boston Anthony Quinn
  27. 2001 Death in Boston Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
  28. 2002 Teaching at Episcopal Divinity School Desmond Tutu
  29. 2002 African President-in-Residence Kenneth Kaunda
  30. 2003 Harvard Merit Fellowship Maryam Mirzakhani
  31. 2007 Retirement from Boston University Derek Walcott
  32. 2008 Wishful Drinking in Boston Carrie Fisher
  33. 2008 Kennedy School speech Kim Dae-jung
  34. 2013 Death after illness Chinua Achebe
  35. 2014 Former neighborhood visit Benigno Aquino III
  36. 2016 Norton Lecture at Harvard Toni Morrison
  37. 2016 Morris Loeb Lecture at Harvard Stephen Hawking

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