Historical figures in Paris
The atlas holds 247 people and 788 moments here, from 508 to 2023. The most recorded lives are Édith Piaf, Joséphine de Beauharnais and Sarah Bernhardt. Among them Writers, Political Leaders and Scientists, across the Space Age and the Cold War.
Notable people
Saint-John Perse
from 1932 to 1940
3 moments here
Saint-John Perse was the pen name of Alexis Léger, a French poet and diplomat. Born in Guadeloupe, he spent formative years in Pau and Bordeaux,…
Salvador Dalí
from 1926 to 1979
5 moments here
Spanish painter, sculptor, writer, designer, filmmaker, and leading exponent of Surrealism. Born in Figueres, Dalí trained in Madrid, joined the…
Sarah Bernhardt
from 1844 to 1923
21 moments here
French stage and early film actress, born Henriette-Rosine Bernard in Paris. Bernhardt became an international theatrical star through performances…
Satyendra Nath Bose
from 1924 to 1954
3 moments here
Indian theoretical physicist and mathematician whose 1924 work founded Bose-Einstein statistics.…
Sebastián Piñera
from 2010 to 2021
3 moments here
Chilean economist, businessman and politician who served as president of Chile from 2010 to 2014 and from 2018 to 2022.…
Sergei Rachmaninoff
from 1907 to 1939
2 moments here
Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Born in the Novgorod Governorate of the Russian Empire, he studied and worked chiefly in Saint…
Shinzo Abe
from 2014 to 2015
2 moments here
Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2006 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2020.…
Sigmund Freud
from 1885 to 1938
2 moments here
Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis. This chronology traces documented locations from his Moravian birthplace and Viennese education…
Silvio Berlusconi
in 2010
1 moment here
Italian media entrepreneur, owner of AC Milan, and politician who served three terms as prime minister of Italy (1994–1995, 2001–2006, and…
Simón Bolívar
from 1802 to 1806
3 moments here
Venezuelan military and political leader known as El Libertador. Bolívar led revolutionary campaigns that helped secure the independence of…
Simone de Beauvoir
from 1908 to 1986
10 moments here
French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Born and died in Paris, Beauvoir studied philosophy in Paris,…
Sun Yat-sen
in 1905
1 moment here
Chinese physician, revolutionary, and political thinker who founded the Republic of China and the Kuomintang.…
Swami Vivekananda
in 1900
1 moment here
Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, teacher, and chief disciple of Ramakrishna. Born Narendranath Datta in Calcutta, he travelled widely through India…
Thomas Aquinas
from 1245 to 1269
4 moments here
Italian Dominican friar, priest, theologian, and philosopher. His documented movements connected family residences in southern Italy, Dominican and…
Thomas Edison
in 1889
1 moment here
American inventor and industrialist whose laboratories developed and commercialized technologies in telegraphy, recorded sound, electric lighting and…
Thomas Hobbes
from 1629 to 1647
3 moments here
English philosopher and political theorist, best known for Leviathan (1651). Hobbes’s documented movements include study at Oxford, European travel…
Thomas Jefferson
from 1784 to 1789
2 moments here
Thomas Jefferson was an American lawyer, Virginia political leader, diplomat, secretary of state, vice president, and third president of the United…
Thomas Sankara
in 1986
2 moments here
Burkinabé army officer and revolutionary political leader who became president of Upper Volta after the 4 August 1983 coup and led Burkina Faso until…
Toni Morrison
in 2006
1 moment here
Toni Morrison (Chloe Ardelia Wofford) was an American novelist, editor, and professor whose career moved through Ohio, Washington, D.C., New York,…
T. S. Eliot
from 1910 to 1945
4 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…
Ulysses S. Grant
in 1877
1 moment here
Ulysses S. Grant was an American army officer, Union commander during the Civil War, and the 18th president of the United States.…
Victor Hugo
from 1827 to 1885
10 moments here
French Romantic poet, novelist, dramatist, artist, activist, and politician. This chronology traces documented physical presences from his mobile…
Vincent van Gogh
from 1873 to 1886
3 moments here
Dutch Post-Impressionist painter whose documented movements trace a path from a Brabant childhood through work and religious study in the…
Vladimir Lenin
from 1895 to 1911
4 moments here
Russian Marxist revolutionary, Bolshevik leader, political theorist, and founding head of government of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union.…
Moments
- 1921 Attends Paris Opera benefit Marie Curie
- 1922 Return to Paris with Pound T. S. Eliot
- 1922 Debates Bergson in Paris Albert Einstein
- 1922 Studied at the École de Guerre Charles de Gaulle
- 1922 Death in Paris's 16th arrondissement Marcel Proust
- 1923 Death in Paris Sarah Bernhardt
- 1924 Return to Paris Ernest Hemingway
- 1924 Entered the École normale supérieure Jean-Paul Sartre
- 1924 Eightieth-birthday tribute at the Trocadéro Anatole France
- 1924 35 rue de Sèvres studio Le Corbusier
- 1925 Studies at Institut Catholique de Paris Simone de Beauvoir
- 1926 Honeymoon in Paris Alfred Hitchcock
- 1926 Makes first Paris journey Salvador Dalí
- 1926 Philosophy studies at the Sorbonne Simone de Beauvoir
- 1928 American Battle Monuments Commission office Dwight D. Eisenhower
- 1928 Residence on Rue du Pot-de-Fer George Orwell
- 1929 Moves into the Paris art world Salvador Dalí
- 1929 Teaching at Lycée Victor-Duruy Simone de Beauvoir
- 1929 Hospitalization at Hopital Cochin George Orwell
- 1930 Street-singing residence at Grand Hôtel de Clermont Édith Piaf
- 1931 Return to Paris from London James Joyce
- 1931 Receives the Legion of Honour in Paris Charlie Chaplin
- 1931 Tour of France Helen Keller
- 1931 Leaves London and speaks in Paris Mahatma Gandhi
- 1932 Birth in Paris Jacques Chirac
- 1934 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré apartment Igor Stravinsky
- 1934 Marries Gala in Paris Salvador Dalí
- 1934 Birth in Paris Brigitte Bardot
- 1935 Writers' congress in Paris Pablo Neruda
- 1935 Professional debut at Le Gerny's Édith Piaf
- 1936 Teaching at Lycée Molière Simone de Beauvoir
- 1936 Journey through Paris en route to Spain George Orwell
- 1937 Teaching in Paris before the war Jean-Paul Sartre
- 1937 Return to Paris Pablo Neruda
- 1937 Bobino engagement Édith Piaf
- 1937 First ABC music-hall appearance Édith Piaf
- 1937 Paints Guernica at Grands-Augustins Pablo Picasso
- 1937 Attends the Spanish Pavilion opening Pablo Picasso
- 1937 World Brain speech at documentation congress H. G. Wells
- 1938 Third ABC engagement Édith Piaf
- 1938 Arrives in Paris during exile journey Sigmund Freud
- 1938 First top billing at L'Européen Édith Piaf
- 1938 Top-billed appearance at Bobino Édith Piaf
- 1939 Paris exhibition trip Frida Kahlo
- 1939 Teaching at Lycée Camille-Sée Simone de Beauvoir
- 1939 Teaching at Lycée Henri-IV Simone de Beauvoir
- 1940 Move to Paris for Paris-Soir Albert Camus
- 1940 Tours Paris Adolf Hitler
- 1940 In Paris as brigadier-general Charles de Gaulle
- 1940 In Paris during the German invasion Henri Matisse