Historical figures in Chicago

The atlas holds 67 people and 94 moments here, from 1858 to 2011. The most recorded lives are Enrico Fermi, John F. Kennedy and Frank Lloyd Wright. Among them Writers, Performers and Political Leaders, across the Cold War and the Space Age.

Notable people

1. Heath Ledger

   in 2007

   1 moment here

   Australian actor and music-video director whose career began in Australian television, expanded internationally after his 1998 move to the United…

2. Henry David Thoreau

   in 1861

   1 moment here

   American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher associated with transcendentalism. Thoreau lived chiefly in and around Concord, Massachusetts,…

3. H. G. Wells

   in 1906

   1 moment here

   Herbert George Wells was an English novelist, journalist, historian, teacher, and social critic.…

4. Jack London

   in 1905

   1 moment here

   American novelist, journalist, sailor, war correspondent, and socialist activist. Born John Griffith Chaney in San Francisco, he grew up around the…

5. James A. Garfield

   in 1880

   1 moment here

   James Abram Garfield was an Ohio educator, Union Army general, U.S. representative, and the 20th president of the United States.…

6. Joan Fontaine

   in 1967

   1 moment here

   British-American actress Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland, professionally Joan Fontaine, was an Academy Award-winning performer known especially for…

7. John Eccles

   in 1966

   1 moment here

   Australian neurophysiologist and philosopher John Carew Eccles (1903–1997) was a Nobel laureate noted for research on synaptic transmission.…

8. John F. Kennedy

   from 1942 to 1960

   3 moments here

   John Fitzgerald Kennedy was an American naval officer, journalist, congressman, senator, and the 35th president of the United States.…

9. John Maynard Keynes

   in 1931

   1 moment here

   English economist, civil servant, Cambridge fellow, and British international negotiator whose work shaped modern macroeconomics.…

10. José Rizal

    in 1888

    1 moment here

    Filipino nationalist, writer, physician, and polymath whose reform advocacy, novels, exile, trial, and execution made him a central figure in…

11. Judy Garland

    in 1934

    1 moment here

    American actress, singer, and vaudevillian, born Frances Ethel Gumm. Garland rose from childhood vaudeville and MGM musical films to become a major…

12. Louis Armstrong

    from 1922 to 1925

    2 moments here

    American jazz trumpeter, vocalist, bandleader, and entertainer whose career transformed jazz solo performance and made him an international cultural…

13. Marie Curie

    in 1921

    1 moment here

    Polish-born, naturalized-French physicist and chemist who pioneered research on radioactivity. With Pierre Curie she discovered polonium and radium.…

14. Mark Twain

    in 1885

    1 moment here

    Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known as Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, journalist, lecturer, riverboat pilot, and traveler.…

15. Martin Luther King Jr.

    in 1966

    2 moments here

    American Baptist minister and civil-rights leader who advanced racial equality through nonviolent protest.…

16. Max Weber

    in 1904

    1 moment here

    German sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economist whose work on rationalisation, bureaucracy, religion, capitalism, and social action…

17. Mercedes Sosa

    in 1986

    1 moment here

    Argentine folk singer and leading exponent of the nuevo cancionero movement, internationally known for interpreting Latin American popular song and…

18. Muhammad Ali

    in 1959

    1 moment here

    Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.) was an American boxer, activist, humanitarian, and global cultural figure.…

19. Nikola Tesla

    from 1893 to 1899

    2 moments here

    Serbian-American engineer and inventor best known for foundational work on alternating-current power systems, the induction motor, high-frequency…

20. Oscar Niemeyer

    in 1988

    1 moment here

    Brazilian modernist architect whose career ranged from early work in Rio de Janeiro and New York to Brasília, Paris exile, and later international…

21. Ravi Shankar

    in 1974

    1 moment here

    Indian sitarist and composer Ravi Shankar (1920–2012) was a leading exponent of Hindustani classical music whose performances, teaching, recordings,…

22. Robin Williams

    in 1951

    1 moment here

    Robin McLaurin Williams was an American actor and comedian, born in Chicago and raised in Illinois, Michigan, and California.…

23. Ronald Reagan

    from 1914 to 1980

    2 moments here

    American broadcaster, actor, labor leader, governor of California, and 40th president of the United States.…

24. Rudyard Kipling

    in 1889

    1 moment here

    English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. Born in Bombay, Kipling spent his childhood in India and England, worked as a journalist…

Moments

1. 1942 Chicago Pile-1 chain reaction Enrico Fermi
2. 1943 Final concerto appearances in Chicago Sergei Rachmaninoff
3. 1943 Chicago Stadium speech Soong Mei-ling
4. 1945 Graduate enrollment at the University of Chicago Yang Chen-Ning
5. 1945 Postwar teaching at Chicago Enrico Fermi
6. 1946 Graduate study at the University of Chicago Tsung-Dao Lee
7. 1947 Meeting Nelson Algren Simone de Beauvoir
8. 1948 Fundraising speech in Chicago Golda Meir
9. 1948 Chicago Stadium campaign address Harry S. Truman
10. 1951 University of Chicago student Carl Sagan
11. 1951 Birth at St. Luke's Hospital Robin Williams
12. 1952 Teaching commute to Chicago Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
13. 1954 Post-state-visit stop in Chicago Syngman Rhee
14. 1954 Addressed Chicago executives John F. Kennedy
15. 1954 Exploratory operation Enrico Fermi
16. 1954 Death at home Enrico Fermi
17. 1959 State-visit stop in Chicago Ahmed Sékou Touré
18. 1959 Chicago Golden Gloves championship Muhammad Ali
19. 1959 World Book meeting in Chicago Edmund Hillary
20. 1960 Faced Nixon in the first televised debate John F. Kennedy
21. 1960 Yeti-scallop examination trip Edmund Hillary
22. 1961 Lee Lecture at the University of Chicago Dorothy Hodgkin
23. 1964 Permanent move to Chicago campus Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
24. 1966 Institute for Biomedical Research appointment John Eccles
25. 1966 Moves into North Lawndale apartment Martin Luther King Jr.
26. 1966 Peace press conference with Martin Luther King Jr. Thích Nhất Hạnh
27. 1966 Marches through Marquette Park Martin Luther King Jr.
28. 1967 Dial M for Murder in Chicago Joan Fontaine
29. 1971 La Leche League conference address Grace Kelly
30. 1973 Visit to Chicago Willy Brandt
31. 1974 Heart attack during North American tour Ravi Shankar
32. 1974 Veterans of Foreign Wars address Gerald Ford
33. 1975 Chicago motorcade during United States tour Alexei Leonov
34. 1977 Visiting professor at the University of Chicago Ada Yonath
35. 1979 Filming The Blues Brothers Carrie Fisher
36. 1980 Debates Republican rivals in Chicago Ronald Reagan
37. 1986 Performance in Chicago Mercedes Sosa
38. 1988 Pritzker Prize ceremony Oscar Niemeyer
39. 1995 International Amphitheater concert Selena
40. 1995 Death at University of Chicago Hospitals Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
41. 1996 Cancer-research fundraiser in Chicago Diana, Princess of Wales
42. 2007 Lollapalooza performance Amy Winehouse
43. 2007 Films The Dark Knight in Chicago Heath Ledger
44. 2011 Chicago comeback show Aretha Franklin

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