Historical figures in Philadelphia

The atlas holds 58 people and 105 moments here, from 1723 to 2023. The most recorded lives are Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and Walt Whitman. Among them Writers, Political Leaders and Scientists, across the Cold War and the Space Age.

Notable people

  1. James K. Polk

    in 1847

    2 moments here

    James Knox Polk was the eleventh president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. Born in North Carolina and raised largely in Tennessee,…

  2. James Madison

    from 1780 to 1787

    4 moments here

    James Madison (1751–1836) was a Virginia planter, revolutionary politician, delegate to the Continental and Confederation congresses, architect of…

  3. James Monroe

    in 1778

    1 moment here

    James Monroe was an American Revolutionary War officer, Virginia politician, diplomat, secretary of state and war, and fifth president of the United…

  4. Jimmy Carter

    in 1976

    1 moment here

    James Earl Carter Jr. was an American naval officer, Georgia state senator and governor, the 39th president of the United States, and a…

  5. John Adams

    from 1774 to 1797

    4 moments here

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

  6. John Atta Mills

    from 1978 to 1986

    2 moments here

    John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills was a Ghanaian legal scholar and politician who served as vice president of Ghana from 1997 to 2001 and president from 7…

  7. John F. Kennedy

    in 1962

    1 moment here

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

  8. John James Audubon

    from 1812 to 1843

    3 moments here

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

  9. John McCain

    in 1965

    1 moment here

    John Sidney McCain III was an American naval aviator, Vietnam War prisoner of war, U.S. representative, U.S.…

  10. José Martí

    in 1892

    1 moment here

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

  11. Judy Garland

    in 1968

    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. Kobe Bryant

    from 1978 to 1991

    2 moments here

    Kobe Bean Bryant was an American professional basketball player who spent his entire 20-year NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers.…

  13. Kwame Nkrumah

    from 1939 to 1943

    2 moments here

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

  14. Macfarlane Burnet

    in 1962

    1 moment here

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

  15. 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.…

  16. Mark Twain

    in 1853

    1 moment here

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

  17. Martin Luther King Jr.

    in 1950

    2 moments here

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

  18. Muhammad Ali

    in 1976

    1 moment here

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

  19. Nikola Tesla

    in 1893

    1 moment here

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

  20. Pedro II of Brazil

    in 1876

    1 moment here

    Pedro II (1825–1891) was the second and final emperor of Brazil, reigning from 1831 until the 1889 coup that abolished the monarchy.…

  21. Pope Francis

    in 2015

    1 moment here

    Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis, was an Argentine Jesuit priest, archbishop of Buenos Aires, cardinal, and head of the Catholic Church and…

  22. Ralph Waldo Emerson

    in 1854

    1 moment here

    American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, Unitarian minister, poet, abolitionist, and leading figure in Transcendentalism.…

  23. Richard Feynman

    in 1941

    1 moment here

    American theoretical physicist known for foundational work in quantum electrodynamics, the path-integral formulation of quantum mechanics, and…

  24. Richard Nixon

    in 1945

    1 moment here

    Richard Milhous Nixon was an American lawyer, naval officer, congressman, senator, vice president, and the 37th president of the United States.…

Moments

  1. 1876 Centennial Exposition opening Pedro II of Brazil
  2. 1876 Centennial Exhibition demonstration Alexander Graham Bell
  3. 1877 Thomas Paine program Walt Whitman
  4. 1877 Departure for world tour Ulysses S. Grant
  5. 1880 Lincoln lecture in Philadelphia Walt Whitman
  6. 1884 Mickle Street home Walt Whitman
  7. 1892 Organizing mission in Philadelphia José Martí
  8. 1892 Death at Camden home Walt Whitman
  9. 1893 Franklin Institute address Nikola Tesla
  10. 1900 Lectures in Philadelphia Winston Churchill
  11. 1918 American Jewish Congress convention Golda Meir
  12. 1918 First Korean Congress Syngman Rhee
  13. 1921 Visits the College of Physicians of Philadelphia Marie Curie
  14. 1921 Visit to Philadelphia Warren G. Harding
  15. 1929 Birth at Hahnemann University Hospital Grace Kelly
  16. 1930 Visit to Merion Henri Matisse
  17. 1931 Honorary degree at Temple University Helen Keller
  18. 1935 University of Pennsylvania arrival I. M. Pei
  19. 1936 Renominated in Philadelphia Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  20. 1939 Studies at the University of Pennsylvania Kwame Nkrumah
  21. 1940 Foreign-policy address in Philadelphia Herbert Hoover
  22. 1941 Lecturing at the Barnes Foundation Bertrand Russell
  23. 1941 Ballistics work at Frankford Arsenal Richard Feynman
  24. 1941 Recording at the Philadelphia Academy of Music Sergei Rachmaninoff
  25. 1942 East Falls childhood performance Grace Kelly
  26. 1942 Civilian chemist at the Philadelphia Navy Yard Isaac Asimov
  27. 1943 Graduate degrees at Penn Kwame Nkrumah
  28. 1943 USS Monterey pre-commissioning detachment Gerald Ford
  29. 1944 Campaigns through Philadelphia in the rain Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  30. 1945 Bureau of Aeronautics office Richard Nixon
  31. 1947 Graduation from Stevens School Grace Kelly
  32. 1950 Challenges segregation at Mary's Cafe Martin Luther King Jr.
  33. 1950 Hears Mordecai Johnson on Gandhi Martin Luther King Jr.
  34. 1954 Post-state-visit stop in Philadelphia Syngman Rhee
  35. 1956 Begins University of Pennsylvania career Alan MacDiarmid
  36. 1962 Chouke Lecture in Philadelphia Macfarlane Burnet
  37. 1962 Spoke at Independence Hall John F. Kennedy
  38. 1965 Marriage to Carol Shepp John McCain
  39. 1968 Philadelphia Black Power conference Rosa Parks
  40. 1968 Last United States concert Judy Garland
  41. 1970 Patterson Memorial Lecture at Fox Chase Dorothy Hodgkin
  42. 1976 Philadelphia Arena appearance Muhammad Ali
  43. 1976 First Carter–Ford debate Gerald Ford
  44. 1976 Ford debate at Walnut Street Theatre Jimmy Carter
  45. 1978 First Temple University visiting professorship John Atta Mills
  46. 1978 Birth in Philadelphia Kobe Bryant
  47. 1986 Second Temple University visiting professorship John Atta Mills
  48. 1989 Hershey Hotel engagement Astrud Gilberto
  49. 1991 Return to the Philadelphia area for school Kobe Bryant
  50. 1993 Liberty Medal appearance F. W. de Klerk

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