|
Ba Jin
|
(1904-2005 )
|
Chinese
|
Novelist and essayist. When he began writing, he was an exponent of anarchism and opponent of traditional Confucian and family values. He abandoned the anarchism when the Communists came to power, but still suffered persecution during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960's and 1970's.
|
1
|
|
Baader, Andreas
|
(1943-1977)
|
German
|
Terrorist. From a start as a student protestor in the 1960's, he became more and more alienated from contemporary German society with its capitalist institutions and ties with the United States, and co-founded the Red Army Faction, an underground terrorist group. He was captured and committed suicide.
|
1
|
|
Baal-Shem-Tov
|
(c.1699-1760)
|
Russian
|
Jewish teacher. Toward the end of his life, he created the Hassidic movement that drew upon the tradition of the Cabala and emphasized a direct, mystical, and enthusiastic communion with God. Initially the concern with spirit seemed to de-emphasize the Law, which did not necessarily sit well with the orthodox. But today, within the context of an often religiously liberal Judaism, Hassidism is considered orthodox in its degree of observance.
|
1
|
|
Babar, sometimes Babur
|
(1483-1530)
|
Mughal
|
The first Mughal (Muslim) emperor of North India. He is primarily associated with conquest, but to a lesser degree with patronage of the arts, and is perhaps best remembered for the religious toleration that he fostered.
|
1
|
|
Bab-ed-Din
|
(1819-1850)
|
Iranian
|
Religious leader. He variously pronounced himself the forerunner of or the actual embodiment of the awaited 12th Imam of Shiite belief and was eventually executed for heresy. His sect was referred to as Babism. A follower, Baha-Allah, developed Bahaism.
|
1
|
|
Babeuf, Francois-Noel
|
(1760-1797)
|
French
|
Revolutionary. He was a Jacobin during the French Revolution, but favored an even more radical egalitarian and communist program. When his plot to seize power was uncovered, he was guillotined.
|
2
|
|
Babrius
|
(2nd-c)
|
Greek
|
Writer of fables. He helped popularize Aesop's fables.
|
1
|
|
Babson, Roger
|
(1875-1967)
|
American
|
Business author. He pioneered the use of statistics in business, economics, and the stock market, thus quantifying and advancing empirical methods. Perhaps best known for forecasting the stock market crash in 1929, he founded a business college for women as well as one for men.
|
1
|
|
Bacon, Francis
|
(1561-1626)
|
Irish
|
Philosopher and political figure. Bacon's philosophical writings have been widely credited with launching empiricism, induction, and indirectly, the scientific revolution. This is exaggerated. Others such as Harvey seem to have had a better grasp of rudimentary science. But Bacon was a brilliant essayist and deservedly influential.
His political as opposed to philosophical career was more of an object lesson than a beacon light for values. After successfully abandoning and then prosecuting his former patron, Lord Essex, for treason against Queen Elizabeth, his previously stalled political career took off. He held many important posts under King James I including the position of Lord Chancellor, and was made a peer as Lord Verulam. However, nemesis struck, he was convicted of taking large bribes, and never regained office.
|
3
|
|
Bacon, Roger
|
(c.1220-1292)
|
English
|
Philosopher, polymath, and pre-scientist. He was an early critic of the inhibiting effect of authorities on thought, and an early exponent of empiricism, logic, the experimental method in science, along with the encouragement of technology and invention. Given these attitudes, his decision at age forty-one to join the Franciscan Order was a tragic error, since the Franciscans were even less receptive to his work than other orders might have been. He was silenced, then permitted by the Papacy to write specifically for the Pope, then imprisoned by the Order for fourteen years, after which he died.
|
2
|
|
Badarayana
|
|
Indian
|
Philosopher. He is said to have written The Vedanta Sutra, a key text of the Vedanta School (one of the six philosophical schools) of Hinduism. For more on Vedanta, see Sankara, Ramanuja, and Madhva.
|
2
|
|
Baden-Powell, Robert
|
(1857-1941)
|
English
|
Soldier and social organizer. He became well known to the British public for his celebrated defense of Mafeking in South Africa during the Boer War. After his retirement from the military, he founded the Boy Scouts and (with his sister) the Girl Guides (Girl Scouts in the U.S.). Scouting quickly became an international movement seeking to teach youths good character ("A scout is truthful.") as well as skills and a love of the outdoors.
|
2
|
|
Bader, Sir Douglas
|
(1910-1982)
|
English
|
Aviator. Although crippled by a flying accident that cost him his legs, he returned to the Royal Air Force to fly in the Battle of Britain when in Churchill's words, "Never was owed by so many to so few." He lost his plane in 1941 and was captured but miraculously survived the war. His career exemplified character, courage, skill, and daring.
|
1
|
|
Baedeker, Karl
|
(1801-1859)
|
German
|
Publisher. Originator of the eponymous guidebooks, his life expressed the love of travel and of foreign lands.
|
1
|
|
Baekeland, Leo
|
(1863-1944)
|
Belgian
|
Chemist. Among other inventions, he helped develop plastics, an extraordinarily useful material which poses risks for the environment and for human health. He thus illustrated the power of combining science with technology but also the inherent ambiguity of all technical advances.
|
1
|
|
Baez, Joan
|
(1941- )
|
American
|
Singer and songwriter. Her work celebrated folk music, political protest, and the use of folk music for political protest. Among the causes she embraced were civil rights and opposition to the Vietnam War.
|
1
|
|
Bagehot, Walter
|
(1826-1877)
|
English
|
Economist and journalist. His English Constitution of 1807 helped define a Constitution which, famously, remains unwritten to this day. He was thus a major figure in the movement for constitutional government as well as lawyer, economist, and editor of The Economist magazine.
|
1
|
|
Bagley, Sarah
|
(died 1847)
|
American
|
Labor agitator. She fought for a shorter workday and also helped found the Female Labor Reform Association among the textile mills of Lowell, Mass., a town which in her time was the center of industry in New England.
|
1
|
|
Baha-Allah (Mirza Huseyn Ali)
|
(1817-1892)
|
Iranian
|
Religious leader. He began as a follower of Bab-ed-Din (Mizra Ali Mohammed), the founder of the Babi Sect in Iran, who prophesied the coming of a new Shiite Imam but was executed as a heretic in 1850. Baha-Allah then assumed the mantle of the prophet and founded Bahaism, a new religion which states that God is unknowable, that all religions are one because they are all successive emanations of the incomprehensible truth of God, and that Jesus, Mohammed, and Bab-ed-Din were examples of such emanations.
|
3
|
|
Bailey, David
|
(1938- )
|
English
|
Photographer. His work expressed a fascination with fashion, beautiful women, rock and roll, celebrity, and style.
|
1
|
|
Bailey, Francis Lee
|
(1933- )
|
American
|
Criminal lawyer. He epitomized the idea of turning a court of law into a form of theater. Although critics charged that his defense antics represented both the theater of the absurd and a travesty of the concept of justice, he prepared each case with meticulous detective work, and was often masterful in manipulating the emotions of the jury.
|
1
|
|
Baily, Edward
|
(1788-1867)
|
English
|
Sculptor. His sculpture of Lord Nelson in Trafalgar Square, London expresses the spirit of larger-than-life achievement and heroism.
|
1
|
|
Bain, Alexander
|
(1818-1903)
|
Scottish
|
Psychologist. He emphasized the empirical study of the human mind as an organ, a part of the body, an approach and a view that has broad implications for many of the valuations we make.
|
1
|
|
Baird, John
|
(1888-1946)
|
Scottish
|
Inventor. His invention of television (along with Marconi and others) had profound implications for the development and transmission of culture and values.
|
1
|
|
Baird, Spencer
|
(1823-1887)
|
American
|
Naturalist. His catalogues of North American mammals and birds reflected an empirical mind as well as a love of and curiosity about animals and nature.
|
1
|
|
Baker, Chet (Chesney)
|
(1929-1988)
|
American
|
Musician. He combined trumpet playing, singing, personal dissoluteness, and general prodigality. He either committed suicide or was murdered.
|
1
|
|
Baker, George (Father Divine)
|
(died 1965)
|
American
|
Evangelist. He moved from the South to New York City where he founded the first Peace Mission settlement. His followers lived together, espoused racial tolerance, and lived simply and strictly without sex, alcohol, tobacco, or cosmetics.
|
2
|
|
Baker, Josephine
|
(1906-1975)
|
American
|
Dancer and singer. She was a true free spirit and moved to Paris both to earn money in revues and to escape American racial prejudice and puritanism. To everyone's surprise, she became an instant celebrity, first in France and then the world, an embodiment of Jazz Age energy, boldness, experimentation, and uninhibited living.
|
1
|
|
Bakunin, Mikhail
|
(1814-1876)
|
Russian
|
Revolutionary anarchist. He devoted his life to revolutionary activity in Germany, Russia, France, and England, in several instances narrowly escaping with his life. Although he joined the Communist International, his anarchist opposition to Karl Marx led to his ouster.
|
2
|
|
Balanchine, George
|
(1904-1983)
|
Russian
|
The most famous and prolific choreographer of his era. He began as a member of Diaghilev's legendary Ballet Russes, which combined romanticism with the avant-garde. In 1948 he founded the New York City Ballet, where he practiced a sparer and more intellectual form of choreography, but one still suffused with the joy of movement and music.
|
1
|
|
Balassa
|
(1554-1594)
|
Hungarian
|
Knight and poet. His verse extolled heroism, a life of service, love, and religious devotion, and he gave his life battling the Turks.
|
1
|
|
Balboa, Vasco
|
(1475-1519)
|
Spanish
|
Explorer and the first Spaniard to view the Pacific Ocean ("from a peak in Darien"). He lived a life of adventure and discovery, but eventually quarreled with his superior and was executed.
|
1
|
|
Balch, Emily
|
(1867-1961)
|
American
|
Pacifist, founder of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Her social activism and pacifism won her a shared Nobel Peace Prize in 1946.
|
1
|
|
Baldwin, James
|
(1924-1987)
|
American
|
Harlem-born novelist and essayist. He moved to Paris to escape American racial prejudice and his own family's puritanism, but eventually returned to New York where he supported the Civil Rights Movement.
|
1
|
|
Balenciaga, Cristobal
|
(1895-1972)
|
Spanish
|
Fashion designer. His clothes and life exemplified high style and luxury.
|
1
|
|
Ball, John
|
(? -1381)
|
English
|
Revolutionary. He became a priest but was defrocked, later executed for his part in Wat Tyler's Peasant Revolt of 1381.
|
1
|
|
Ball, John
|
(1818-1889)
|
Irish
|
Botanist and founder of the Alpine Club in London. His Alpine Guide further developed the 19th century vogue for mountains. He also served in the British cabinet, traveled extensively, and loved and wrote about botany.
|
1
|
|
Ball, Lucille
|
(1911-1989)
|
American
|
Comic actress. Her classic early television shows (I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show) expressed a love of zany comedy, farce, satire, and silliness.
|
1
|
|
Ballou, Hosea
|
(1771-1852)
|
American
|
Christian minister. He helped found the Universalist Church, which in the twentieth century merged with the Unitarians. The doctrine of Universalism originally taught that everyone would be saved, not just an elect.
|
2
|
|
Balmain, Pierre
|
(1914-1982)
|
French
|
Fashion designer. His clothing designs interwove the contrary concepts of simplicity and luxury into high style. He also enjoyed the illusion and fantasy of creating theatrical sets.
|
1
|
|
Balthasar, Hans
|
(1905-1988)
|
Swiss
|
Christian theologian. He was a prolific writer and left the Jesuits to form a community with the mystic Adrienne von Speyr.
|
1
|
|
Baltimore, David
|
(1938- )
|
American
|
Scientist. Although much of modern medicine falls short of being scientific, Baltimore's career as a chemist, cell biologist, and virologist exemplifies truly scientific medicine. He shared a Nobel Prize 1975.
|
1
|
|
Balzac, Honore de
|
(1799-1850)
|
French
|
Novelist and prodigy of literature. He wrote incessantly and indefatigably, producing as many as four novels a year. His statue by Rodin expresses this obsessive, larger-than-life literary figure who put his art above everything else and would not be stopped by poverty or debt.
|
1
|
|
Bambaataa
|
(1958- )
|
American
|
Music producer. His "Rap" music evolved as a kind of spontaneous, energetic, almost athletic, verbal competition, usually (but not always) in a spirit of fun, that incorporated African-American "street" speech and rhythms.
|
1
|
|
Bancroft, George
|
(1800-1891)
|
American
|
Statesman and writer. He was secretary of the navy, founder of the Naval Academy of Annapolis, and author of a famous ten-volume American history which helped establish the idea of an American "manifest destiny."
|
2
|
|
Bandaranaike, Sirimavo
|
(1916-2000)
|
Sri Lankan
|
Prime minister. After her husband was assassinated, she took his place as head of the Freedom Party. She was elected prime minister, the first woman in world history to hold this office, and was elected again following independence. Like Cory Aquino of the Philippines, who came later, her career expressed immense courage as well as women's rights.
|
1
|
|
Bankhead, Tallulah
|
(1903-1968)
|
American
|
Actress. As Regina in Lillian Hellman's play, The Little Foxes, she portrayed a strong, willful, dominating woman, a role that she seemed to reprise in her personal life with even more passion and panache.
|
1
|
|
Banks, Sir Joseph
|
(1743-1820)
|
English
|
Botanist. He loved the study and cultivation of plants, travel, and science and promoted all three as resident botanist on James Cook's ship, the Endeavor, as it sailed around the world, and then as president of the Royal Society for much of his lifetime.
|
1
|
|
Banneker, Benjamin
|
(1731-1806)
|
American
|
Polymath and scientist. He was born the child of a free black mother and a slave father, was selected by Thomas Jefferson to help survey the District of Columbia, and later became widely known as a scientist. His story conclusively proved the intellectual potential of freed slaves.
|
1
|
|
Bannister, Sir Roger
|
(1929- )
|
English
|
Athlete and doctor. He was the first man to run the mile under four minutes, and thus expressed hard work, preparation, and determinism, as well as a joy in speed and in movement.
|
1
|
|
Banting, Sir Frederick Grant
|
(1891-1941)
|
Canadian
|
Medical scientist. His discovery of insulin, which rescued diabetics from certain death, illustrated the marriage of science with medicine, a marriage which remains only partially complete today. It also illustrated the role of intuition in human discovery, as Banting put the problem he was working on out of his mind only to awake with the answer. In his personal life, Banting also exemplified fairness and generosity by sharing his Nobel Prize money with his assistant.
|
1
|
|
bar Kokhba (Kochba), Simon
|
(?-135)
|
|
Jewish rebel. When the Romans decided to erect a pagan city on the site of Jerusalem, Bar Kokhba died leading a rebellion that was savagely put down by the Emperor Hadrian.
|
1
|
|
Baraka, Imamu Amiri (Le Roi Jones)
|
(1934- )
|
American
|
Writer and political activist. He has written in many genres, but is best known for his early expression of black anger and alienation from American society.
|
1
|
|
Barbour, John
|
(c.1320-1395)
|
Scottish
|
Poet. He helped fashion a Scottish national identity by writing his epic poem, The Brus, about the life of King Robert Bruce, the hero who secured Scottish independence after many failed attempts. In Barbour's fable of "Robert Bruce and the Spider," the king has been defeated six times, but after seeing a spider in a cave cast its web six times and fail, only to succeed the seventh time, the hero resolves to try again, and subsequently defeats the English at the battle of Bannockburn.
|
1
|
|
Barclay, Robert
|
(1648-1690)
|
Scottish
|
Quaker. His books, especially the Apology for the True Christian Divinity (1678), were among the most important early Quaker tracts.
|
1
|
|
Bardesanes
|
(154-222)
|
Syrian
|
Christian theologian and poet. He expressed a Christian gnosticism.
|
1
|
|
Bardot, Brigitte
|
(1934- )
|
French
|
Film actress. Her youthful film career exemplified an open, free, prodigal, and unrepentant sexuality, and American teenagers in the strait-laced 1950's lied about their age to try to sneak into "art theatres" to see her film And God Created Woman. Later she became an animal rights champion.
|
1
|
|
Barebone (Barbon), Praise-God
|
(c.1596-1679)
|
English
|
Preacher, merchant, and follower of Oliver Cromwell. His preaching was reputed to have been so vehement, rancorous, and explosive that it not only moved crowds, it created mayhem.
|
1
|
|
Barkley, Alben
|
(1877-1956)
|
American
|
|
1
|
|
Barks, Carl
|
(1901-2000)
|
American
|
Disney comic artist and writer. He brought the arts of comic animal anthropomorphism and social satire to new heights. In his duck world, the adults (Grandma alone excepted) are alternatively driven and greedy (Uncle Scrooge), shiftless, lazy, but still greedy (Donald, Gladstone), incompetent (Donald especially), or eccentrically impractical (Gyro Gearloose). The children (triplets Huey, Dewey and Louie) are omniscient, level-headed, and always come to the rescue. The Uncle Scrooge tales also illustrate the fascination of ancient history, archaeology, travel, and adventure.
|
2
|
|
Barnardo, Thomas
|
(1845-1905)
|
Irish
|
Doctor and social worker. He wanted to devote his life to Christian service, became a doctor, then opened homes for street children in London and elsewhere.
|
1
|
|
Barnes, William
|
(1801-1886)
|
English
|
Anglican Priest and Poet. His three volume Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect celebrated British country life.
|
1
|
|
Barnett, Samuel
|
(1844-1913)
|
English
|
Anglican priest, social reformer. He founded Toynbee Hall for the poor and agitated for more government assistance for the needy and the old in Britain.
|
1
|
|
Barnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor)
|
(1810-1891)
|
American
|
Impresario. He was reputed to have said that "a sucker is born every minute," and he tried to prove it. In one of his exhibitions of dwarfs and other "marvels," a sign said "To the Egress" and patrons who followed it found themselves outside and unable to reenter without purchasing another ticket.
People seemed amused by the well publicized bamboozlement, and Barnum thrived as a master of low culture and kidding con artistry. In 1881 he co-founded the Barnum and Bailey Circus.
|
1
|
|
Barr, Alfred
|
(1902-1981)
|
American
|
Museum director. As director of the new Rockefeller funded Museum of Modern Art in New York, he provided a launching pad for many controversial new artists and for modernism as a movement.
|
1
|
|
Barras, Paul
|
(1755-1829)
|
French
|
Revolutionary. A Jacobin and regicide in the French Revolution, he emerged as virtually the head of state after Robespierre's execution and at several subsequent points, only to be overthrown by Napoleon.
|
1
|
|
Barrie, Sir J. M.
|
(1860-1937)
|
English
|
Author. Although he wrote many books and plays, his Peter Pan epitomizes both childhood fantasy at its most magical and males who refuse to grow up and assume adult responsibilities.
|
1
|
|
Barrington, George (Waldron, George)
|
(1755-1804)
|
Irish
|
Public figure, author. As a youth, he was arrested in London for theft and sent with other convicts to Botany Bay in Australia. There he became a respected political figure and historian.
|
1
|
|
Barrow, Clyde
|
(1909-1934)
|
American
|
Robber. He was Bonnie Parker's partner and lover. Both were riddled by police bullets.
|
1
|
|
Barrymore, Ethel
|
(1879-1959)
|
American
|
Actress. She was Lionel and John Barrymore's sister. The three of them were considered "stage royalty" and were much admired.
|
1
|
|
Barth, Karl
|
(1886-1968)
|
Swiss
|
Protestant minister, later celebrated theologian. He sought to define a Christianity that was neither fundamentalist (with the Bible literally true in all respects), nor overly liberal (with Christian doctrine and creed thrown out the window, retaining only fellowship, ethics, and a devotion to a shadowy God). He famously considered God to be "Wholly Other," incomprehensible, but mystically approachable through the teaching, life, and experience of Christ.
In secular matters, Barth was a stern critic of capitalism, found it generally at odds with Christian ethics, but also warned against Pharisaic self-congratulation by Christians intending to dedicate their lives to the service of others.
|
2
|
|
Barthes, Roland
|
(1915-1980)
|
French
|
Critic. He was skeptical of earlier forms of literary criticism and helped develop both literary semiotics (also called semiology) and structuralism, two critical techniques that swept academe in Europe and the United States and that carried large implications for valuation in general.
Because of the characteristic opacity of their sometimes shamanic utterances, semioticians and structuralists have often been parodied. But the core of semiotics is to focus on forms of communication, both verbal and non-verbal, and the core of literary structuralism is to look for common underlying "structures" in widely variant languages and texts. This is in turn part of a wider structuralist effort to discover common underlying "structures" in different human cultures.
|
1
|
|
Bartlett, John
|
(1820-1905)
|
American
|
Original compiler of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations. His work stands for the value of preserving, winnowing, and learning from the accumulated wisdom of the past that is available to us in written form.
|
1
|
|
Barton, Clara (Clarissa)
|
(1821-1912)
|
American
|
Founder of U.S. Red Cross. She founded the U.S. Red Cross in 1881 as part of the International Red Cross and served as its president until 1904. She also successfully lobbied for the U.S. to join the Geneva Convention governing the treatment of prisoners.
|
2
|
|
Barton, Elizabeth
|
(died 1534)
|
English
|
Christian visionary. She was a simple housemaid, but began to fall into trances and report visions. After she courageously condemned Henry VIII's divorce and break with Rome, she was executed.
|
1
|
|
Barton, John
|
(1928- )
|
English
|
Director. He is especially noted for his devotion to Shakespeare.
|
1
|
|
Baruch, Bernard
|
(1870-1965)
|
American
|
Financier and public figure. He was a successful speculator on Wall Street and also nurtured his legend as an informal advisor to presidents and prime ministers. He eventually came to represent a glamorous mix of money, access to power, and worldly wisdom.
|
1
|
|
Baryshnikov, Mikhail
|
(1948- )
|
Russian
|
Dancer and defector from the former Soviet Union. Inspired by a need for artistic as well as personal freedom, he became one of the leading male dancers of his era, famous for his high leaps as well as director of American Ballet Theater.
|
1
|
|
Basho, Matsuo (Munefusa, Matsuo)
|
(1644-1694)
|
Japanese
|
Poet. He was a lover of nature and a brilliant inventor and practitioner of the present form of traditional Japanese haiku. Each poem consists of seventeen syllables divided into three lines of five, seven, and five syllables, and must appeal to two of our five senses or to one of our senses and our feeling of movement. In his famous walk around Japan, he approached his experiences from a Zen Buddhist perspective, and described them in exquisite prose and verse.
|
2
|
|
Basil I (Basil the Macedonian)
|
(c.812-886)
|
Macedonian
|
Byzantine emperor. He began life as a peasant horse-trainer, won favor with the dissolute Emperor Michael III because of his magical touch with horses, and insinuated himself into the court. There he gradually acquired enough power to murder Michael and proclaim himself Emperor, which he remained for nineteen turbulent years. His name became a byword for opportunism and treachery, but also for daring and strong military leadership.
|
1
|
|
Basil II (Basil Bulgaroctonus)
|
(c.958-1025)
|
Byzantine
|
Byzantine emperor. He became infamous for blinding fourteen thousand Bulgar soldiers captured after a battle and sending them home led by one-eyed scouts. Even the Byzantine public, generally inured to ferocity and cruelty, took notice.
|
1
|
|
Basil, St.
|
(c.329-79)
|
Greek
|
Christian Bishop, Saint. He lived an Ascetic life in the desert for a time, later became a Bishop, and zealously guarded Christian monotheism against the Arian heresy (see Arius).
|
1
|
|
Basilides
|
(2nd-c)
|
Egyptian
|
Philosopher. His gnosticism drew on Christianity and many other philosophic and religious strands.
|
1
|
|
Bassi, Agostino
|
(1773-1856)
|
Italian
|
Biologist and pioneer bacteriologist. Through patient scientific observation and research, he discovered that silkworms became infected by fungi. He then theorized that other diseases might have comparable origins, an insight that preceded Pasteur's revolutionary work, and thus helped lay that groundwork for scientific medicine.
|
1
|
|
Bates, Daisy May
|
(1863-1951)
|
Irish
|
Anthropologist. She devoted her life to the study of Australian Aborigines, and also tried to assist them, especially the aged.
|
1
|
|
Bateson, William
|
(1861-1926)
|
English
|
Scientist. His translation and acknowledgement of the work of Gregor Mendel, an obscure Austrian monk whose path-breaking study of peas had remained in obscurity, demonstrated the scrupulous ethics on which science depends. Bateson also introduced the term genetics.
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1
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Baudelaire, Charles
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(1821-1867)
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French
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Poet. His 1857 book of poetry, Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil), created a scandal and was prosecuted for indecency. A languorous celebration of decadence, perversion, and prodigality, it is a darkly romantic masterpiece.
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2
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Baumer, Gertrude
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(1873-1954)
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German
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Leading feminist. She became president of the League of German Women's Associations in 1910 and also served as a member of the Reichstag under the Weimar Republic.
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1
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Baumgarten, Alexander
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(1714-1762)
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German
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Philosopher. His work Esthetica contributed to the adoption of the term esthetics to connote the philosophical and critical study of beauty.
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1
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Baxter, Richard
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(1615-1691)
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English
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Clergyman. He was a leading Non-conformist minister (protestant but non-conforming to the Church of England), courageously refused to temper his views, and was eventually imprisoned.
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1
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Bayes, Thomas
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(1702-1761)
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English
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Christian minister and mathematician. He pioneered the use of statistical inference, in which the probability of an event occurring is estimated from the number of previous occurrences. Probability estimates, whether informal and subjective or statistical and objective, are an important valuation tool.
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1
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Bayezit I
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(c.1354-1403)
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Turkish
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Ottoman Sultan. After his succession to the Sultanate in 1389, he enjoyed many military successes, besieged the Byzantine Emperor at Constantinople for a decade, and defeated a crusader army. Then in 1402, Timur (Tamerlane), the legendary ruler of the Central Asian empire centered on Samarkand, tricked him by marching around his forces and poisoned his water sources to the rear, so that the Ottoman soldiers entered battle in poor condition and were defeated. Bayezit, previously known as the "Thunderbolt," was captured, treated with courtesy by Timur, but had to watch helplessly as his women and possessions were divided among his foes. He died shortly thereafter, a poignant reminder of the fickleness of fate and the impermanence of pomp, power and conquest.
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1
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Bayle, Pierre
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(1647-1706)
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French
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Philosopher. His Dictionairre historique and critique of 1696, which espoused toleration and a skeptical attitude toward philosophical and religious truths, became an early tract of the Enlightenment and influenced Diderot and other contributors to The Encyclopedie.
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2
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Bayliss, Sir William
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(1860-1924)
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English
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Scientist. He and Ernest Henry Starling discovered the first hormone at University College, London and introduced the term. Since then the critical role of hormones for mental as well as physical states (and for mental and psychological functions such as valuation) has become more and more apparent.
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1
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Beach, Sylvia
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(1887-1962)
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American
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Book store owner and publisher. Her Shakespeare and Company bookstore, founded in Paris in 1919, became a legendary setting for Bohemians, artists, intellectuals, and "Americans in Paris." In 1922, she published James Joyce's Ulysses, which had been deemed too sexually explicit by other publishers, and which was subsequently banned in Britain and other countries. She refused to serve Nazis after the fall of France and was imprisoned, but was released and survived the war.
Her life became emblematic of the generation of Americans between the two world wars who abandoned bourgeois norms in their own country and who found a freer, more creative air in Paris.
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1
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Beale, Dorothea
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(1831-1906)
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English
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Educator, Women's Rights Advocate. She founded a number of women's colleges and generally devoted her life to the then controversial proposition that women should receive an advanced education, should vote, and otherwise share equal rights with men.
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1
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Bean, Roy
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(?1825-1903)
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American
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Saloon keeper, justice of peace. After opening a saloon in a remote area of Texas, he also became justice of the peace and liked to refer to himself as "the law west of Pecos [River]." According to some, probably self-inspired, legends, he was a "hanging" judge, but the truth seems to be that he was a colorful liquor salesman, showman, and prankster par excellence, in the tradition of a Till Eulenspiegal or his near contemporary P. T. Barnum.
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1
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Beard, Charles
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(1874-1948)
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1
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Beardsley, Aubrey
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(1872-1898)
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English
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Illustrator. His exaggerated, fanciful, and romantic drawings, appearing in books such as Morte d' Arthur and Salome and especially in the celebrated pages of the Yellow Book Magazine, seemed to epitomize a fin de siecle attitude. This involved arch estheticism, neurasthenia, even decadence, but in a spirit of fun, of showing off a bit, and in service to an elevated concept of living for art or pursuing art solely for art's sake, and of burning one's candle rapidly and dying young, as Beardsley did.
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1
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Beatles, The
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(1962-1970)
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English
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Popular music group. Their simple but experimental rock style, ranging from lyricism and ballads to manic tempos, became widely popular and unleashed a kind of fan hysteria, especially among teenage girls. Both in song and film, their early persona was of innocent but madcap naifs with an infectious humor, joy, and ebullience.
Especially after the dissolution of the group, John Lennon added political radicalism, along with a luxurious style of Bohemianism, all cut short by his shocking murder outside his apartment in New York in 1980 by a deranged man apparently seeking a name for himself. The other primary composer and lyricist of the group, Paul McCartney, continued his musical career by expressing different values and themes.
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1
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Beaton, Sir Cecil
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(1904-1980)
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English
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Photographer (and more). He lived in a glamorous world of high society and royalty, of theater, film, ballet, and opera, of luxurious travel, beautiful clothes and furnishings, of high fashion, and his photographs, books, set designs, and costumes captured and expressed all of it with flair and wit.
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1
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Beatty, Warren
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(1937- )
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American
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Actor and director. He became well known for his good looks, luxurious living, and especially for his pursuit of women, but was also active in radical politics (from the left), a combination not uncommon in the film world of 20th century Hollywood, but which he perhaps best exemplified.
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1
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