Curated playlist
1888 births
- Seitarō KitayamaSeitarō Kitayama's 1917 anime, made for paying audiences, retold Japanese folktales.
- T. S. EliotT. S. Eliot compared an evening sky to a patient on a surgical table.
- Julio Rey PastorJulio Rey Pastor's report from Germany led to Spain's first math research institute outside a university.
- Harilal GandhiHarilal Gandhi appeared at his father's funeral in such poor health that few of the mourners recognized him. He was the eldest son of Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi, born into a family whose name is known across the world. Yet his own…
- Raymond ChandlerRaymond Chandler sold his first story for $180 after losing his oil job at forty-four.
- Eugene O'NeillPlaywright Eugene O'Neill was born in a hotel room and died in one. His last words were about that coincidence.
- John Foster DullesJohn Foster Dulles ran U.S. foreign policy while his brother Allen ran the CIA.
- Maulana AzadJailed in Ahmednagar Fort, Maulana Azad wrote 24 letters that were never sent. Mail was forbidden.
- Maxwell AndersonMaxwell Anderson was fired from Whittier College for backing a jailed student.
- Eric BlomEric Blom asked for a Bach chorale at his funeral and got Offenbach. The organist had only been told "Bach chorale."
- C. V. RamanC. V. Raman, the Indian physicist, bought two steamship tickets to Stockholm in July 1930. One was for himself and one was for his wife. The Nobel Prize announcements were not due until November. Raman knew that the voyage to Sweden by sea…
- T. E. LawrenceT. E. Lawrence wrote that he once crossed the Sinai Peninsula, from Aqaba to the Suez Canal, in just 49 hours without any sleep. His own notebooks say otherwise. The famous camel ride took more than 70 hours and included two long breaks…
- Jean WahlPhilosopher Jean Wahl escaped the Drancy internment camp and crossed the Atlantic.
- Sarvepalli RadhakrishnanSarvepalli Radhakrishnan had just become President of India when some of his students and friends asked a simple favor. They wanted to celebrate his birthday, the 5th of September. He turned down the party and proposed something else. In…
- Otto SternOtto Stern and Walther Gerlach fired silver atoms through a magnetic field in 1922. The atoms landed in two bands.