Historical figures in New York City

The atlas holds 252 people and 669 moments here, from 1772 to 2023. The most recorded lives are Nikola Tesla, Andy Warhol and Isaac Asimov. Among them Writers, Political Leaders and Performers, across the Space Age and the Cold War.

Notable people

1. John Adams

   in 1789

   1 moment here

   American lawyer, revolutionary leader, diplomat, first vice president of the United States, and second U.S. president.…

2. John F. Kennedy

   from 1927 to 1962

   3 moments here

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

3. John James Audubon

   from 1841 to 1851

   3 moments here

   French-American artist, naturalist, explorer, and ornithologist best known for The Birds of America.…

4. John Lennon

   from 1964 to 1980

   10 moments here

   English musician, songwriter, artist and peace activist; co-founder of the Beatles. This chronology records documented physical presence at…

5. John Steinbeck

   from 1925 to 1968

   2 moments here

   American novelist, journalist, and war correspondent whose life and work ranged from California’s Salinas Valley and Monterey Peninsula to wartime…

6. John Tyler

   in 1844

   1 moment here

   John Tyler was an American lawyer, Virginia politician, tenth vice president, and tenth president of the United States.…

7. Jorge Luis Borges

   from 1971 to 1979

   3 moments here

   Argentine writer, poet, essayist, translator, lecturer, librarian, and critic. Borges was born in Buenos Aires, lived in Switzerland and Spain during…

8. José Martí

   from 1879 to 1893

   5 moments here

   Cuban nationalist, writer, journalist, and organizer of the Cuban Revolutionary Party. Martí lived and worked across Cuba, Spain, Mexico, Guatemala,…

9. José Raúl Capablanca

   from 1905 to 1942

   11 moments here

   Cuban chess player and diplomat, world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. This chronology records documented physical presence at places of birth,…

10. Judy Garland

    from 1939 to 1967

    6 moments here

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

11. Jules Verne

    in 1867

    1 moment here

    French novelist, playwright, and poet whose documented life included residences and work in Nantes, Paris, Amiens, Auteuil, and Le Crotoy, together…

12. Kahlil Gibran

    from 1911 to 1931

    7 moments here

    Lebanese-American writer, poet, and visual artist, best known for The Prophet. Born in Bsharri, he emigrated to Boston as a child, studied in Beirut…

13. Katharine Hepburn

    from 1921 to 1969

    8 moments here

    American stage, film, and television actress whose career ran from 1928 to 1995. Hepburn was born in Hartford, Connecticut, educated at Bryn Mawr…

14. Kelly Preston

    from 2001 to 2018

    3 moments here

    Kelly Kamalelehua Smith, known professionally as Kelly Preston, was an American actress whose career spanned film and television from 1980 to 2020.…

15. Kofi Annan

    from 1983 to 2006

    3 moments here

    Ghanaian diplomat and statesman who served as Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006.…

16. Kurt Cobain

    from 1992 to 1993

    3 moments here

    American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and founding member of Nirvana. This chronology maps documented residences, recording sessions, performances,…

17. Kwame Nkrumah

    from 1935 to 1944

    2 moments here

    Ghanaian nationalist leader, Pan-Africanist, and political theorist who led the Gold Coast to independence as Ghana in 1957.…

18. Lars Onsager

    from 1942 to 1967

    2 moments here

    Norwegian-American physical chemist and theoretical physicist whose career took him from Norway and Switzerland to major American universities.…

19. Leon Trotsky

    in 1917

    2 moments here

    Leon Trotsky (Lev Davidovich Bronstein) was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet political leader, Marxist theorist, and organizer of the Red Army.…

20. Louis Armstrong

    from 1924 to 1971

    4 moments here

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

21. Lyndon B. Johnson

    in 1965

    1 moment here

    Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973) was a Texas-born teacher, congressman, senator, vice president, and the 36th president of the United States.…

22. Macfarlane Burnet

    from 1956 to 1980

    2 moments here

    Australian virologist and immunologist Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet, known as Macfarlane Burnet, shared the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine…

23. Manmohan Singh

    from 1966 to 2004

    2 moments here

    Indian economist, academic, civil servant, finance minister and prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014.…

24. Margaret Thatcher

    in 1989

    1 moment here

    British stateswoman Margaret Hilda Thatcher (née Roberts) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, the first woman to hold the…

Moments

1. 1941 Central Park South residence Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
2. 1941 National Book Award luncheon Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
3. 1941 Master's degree at Columbia Isaac Asimov
4. 1941 William Howard Taft High School student Stanley Kubrick
5. 1942 Saboteur location-scouting tour Alfred Hitchcock
6. 1942 Marriage to Arline Greenbaum Richard Feynman
7. 1943 Permanent settlement in Corona Louis Armstrong
8. 1943 Acting study in New York Marlon Brando
9. 1943 Death at Hotel New Yorker Nikola Tesla
10. 1943 Cultural event in New York Pablo Neruda
11. 1944 Pan-African conference in New York Kwame Nkrumah
12. 1944 With Jean Gabin in New York Marlene Dietrich
13. 1944 Broadway debut Marlon Brando
14. 1944 War Loan duty in New York Ronald Reagan
15. 1944 Campaigns through New York City in the rain Franklin Delano Roosevelt
16. 1945 Mexican diplomatic posting in New York City Octavio Paz
17. 1945 Evening student at City College Stanley Kubrick
18. 1945 Spinal operation in New York Frida Kahlo
19. 1945 New York City visit Charles de Gaulle
20. 1946 A Flag Is Born on Broadway Marlon Brando
21. 1946 The Crisis of Man at Columbia Albert Camus
22. 1946 Residence in Brooklyn after Army service Isaac Asimov
23. 1947 National Conference on the German Problem Eleanor Roosevelt
24. 1947 United Nations headquarters design work Oscar Niemeyer
25. 1947 Arrival for United States lecture tour Simone de Beauvoir
26. 1947 Lions Club address during world tour Helen Keller
27. 1947 American opening night at Playhouse Theatre Édith Piaf
28. 1948 Versailles Club engagement Édith Piaf
29. 1948 New York fundraising accident Golda Meir
30. 1948 Meeting Robert Craft in New York Igor Stravinsky
31. 1948 Webb and Knapp career begins I. M. Pei
32. 1948 Home with Toba Metz Stanley Kubrick
33. 1948 Inauguration as Columbia president Dwight D. Eisenhower
34. 1948 Residence at Stuyvesant Town Isaac Asimov
35. 1948 Second Versailles Club run Édith Piaf
36. 1949 Graduation from Notre Dame Convent School Corazon Aquino
37. 1949 American Academy of Dramatic Arts graduation Grace Kelly
38. 1949 Visiting professorship at Columbia University Hideki Yukawa
39. 1949 Moves to New York City Andy Warhol
40. 1949 Versailles performance after Cerdan's death Édith Piaf
41. 1950 As You Like It at the Cort Theatre Katharine Hepburn
42. 1950 Departure via New York V. S. Naipaul
43. 1950 Three-month Versailles booking Édith Piaf
44. 1951 Cleopatra repertory on Broadway Vivien Leigh
45. 1951 Palace Theatre opening Judy Garland
46. 1951 Broadway opening of Gigi Audrey Hepburn
47. 1952 Residence at the Waldorf apartment Herbert Hoover
48. 1952 New York Republican fundraiser Richard Nixon
49. 1952 Boards Queen Elizabeth in New York Charlie Chaplin
50. 1952 Marriage to Jacques Pills in New York Édith Piaf

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