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Curated category

American agnostics

  • Albert EinsteinOn the 14th of March 1879, Albert Einstein was born in Ulm within the Kingdom of Württemberg. His parents were Hermann Einstein and Pauline Koch.
  • John SteinbeckJohn Steinbeck was born on the 27th of February 1902 in Salinas, California. He grew up in a small rural valley set about 25 miles from the Pacific Coast.
  • Kurt VonnegutKurt Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis on the 11th of November 1922. He descended from a long line of German Americans whose family fortune rested on the…
  • J. Robert OppenheimerJulius Robert Oppenheimer was born on the 22nd of April 1904, in New York City to Ella Friedman and Julius Seligmann Oppenheimer.
  • Enrico FermiEnrico Fermi was born in Rome, Italy, on the 29th of September 1901. He grew up at Via Gaeta 19 with his parents Alberto and Ida de Gattis.
  • Miles DavisMiles Dewey Davis III arrived in the world on the 26th of May 1926, born into an affluent African-American family in Alton, Illinois.
  • Susan B. AnthonySusan Anthony was born on the 15th of February 1820 in Adams, Massachusetts. Her father Daniel Anthony and mother Lucy Read raised seven children within a…
  • Eugene O'NeillEugene Gladstone O'Neill was born on the 16th of October 1888, inside the Barrett House hotel located at Longacre Square in New York City.
  • Aaron CoplandAaron Copland was born in Brooklyn, New York, on the 14th of November 1900. He grew up above his family's store at 628 Washington Avenue.
  • Arthur MillerArthur Asher Miller was born on the 17th of October 1915 in Harlem, Manhattan. He grew up as the second child of Augusta and Isidore Miller.
  • Carl SaganCarl Edward Sagan was born on the 9th of November 1934 in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn. His father Samuel worked as a garment worker who had…
  • Stan LeeStanley Martin Lieber entered the world on the 28th of December 1922. He was born in a Manhattan apartment at the corner of West 98th Street and West End…
  • H. P. LovecraftHoward Phillips Lovecraft was born on the 20th of August 1890 in Providence, Rhode Island. His father Winfield Scott Lovecraft suffered a psychotic episode…
  • Milton FriedmanMilton Friedman was born on the 31st of July 1912 in Brooklyn, New York City. His parents were Jewish working-class immigrants from Beregszász in Carpathian…
  • Carrie FisherCarrie Frances Fisher entered the world on the 21st of October 1956 at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California.
  • Vladimir NabokovVladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov entered the world on the 22nd of April 1899 in Saint Petersburg. His family belonged to an ancient Russian nobility granted a…
  • Joseph HellerJoseph Heller was born on the 1st of May 1923, in Coney Island. His parents were poor Jewish immigrants from Russia named Lena and Isaac Donald Heller.
  • Warren BuffettWarren Buffett was born on the 30th of August 1930, in Omaha, Nebraska. He grew up as the second of three children and the only son of Congressman Howard…
  • Edward TellerEde Teller was born on the 15th of January 1908, in Budapest, then part of Austria-Hungary. He grew up in a Jewish family where his father Miksa worked as an…
  • George R. R. MartinGeorge Raymond Martin was born on the 20th of September 1948, in Bayonne, New Jersey. His father worked as a longshoreman while his mother's family had once…
  • W. E. B. Du BoisWilliam Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born on the 23rd of February 1868 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. His mother Mary Silvina Burghardt came from a…
  • Ambrose BierceAmbrose Gwinnett Bierce was born in a log cabin at Horse Cave Creek in Meigs County, Ohio on the 24th of June 1842. He entered the world as the tenth child…
  • Ray KurzweilRaymond Kurzweil grew up in Queens, New York City. He attended Kingsbury Elementary School PS188 during his childhood years.
  • Wilhelm ReichWilhelm Reich was born on the 24th of March 1897 in Dobzau, Galicia. He grew up as the first son of Leon Reich and Cäcilie Roniger.
  • Edwin HubbleEdwin Powell Hubble was born on the 20th of November 1889 in Marshfield, Missouri. His early years were defined by physical dominance rather than academic…