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Peter Abelard
1079–1142 - French
Philosopher and theologian. He was famous for passionate love (Heloise), but also for reintroducing logic to Europe. At different times, both his passion and his logic led to tragic complications: he was assaulted and castrated by angry relatives of Heloise and repeatedly charged with heresy by different Church authorities.
John 1st Baron Acton
1834–1902 - English
Celebrated historian and Roman Catholic. He rejected the new doctrine of papal infallibility.
Gerry Adams
Born 1948 - Irish
Political rebel and the leader of the Sinn Fein, the political party closely linked to the Irish Republican Army of Northern Ireland. Some see him as a murderer and terrorist, others as an Irish patriot.
Will Adams
1564–1620 - English
A seaman working for the Dutch. One of first Europeans in Japan, he was initially jailed but became a shipbuilder and samurai.
Joy Adamson
1910–1980 - Austrian
Autobiographer. She wrote about her love of wild Africa, animals, and especially lions.
Michel Adanson
1727–1806 - French
Botanist. His classifications combined logic with a love of plants.
Joseph Addison
1672–1719 - English
Literary figure and politician. He combined writing and literature with public office.
Konrad Adenauer
1876–1967 - German
Statesman. He courageously opposed Hitler, later restored German democracy and also sought to build Europe-wide institutions.
Alfred Adler
1870–1937 - Austrian
Psychiatrist, member of Freud's inner circle, then rebel against Freud. His idea of the "inferiority complex," became deeply embedded in popular culture. For a time, especially in the 1950's, almost any degree of ambition or effort was popularly dismissed by some as evidence of a feeling of inferiority.
Theodor Adorno
1903–1969 - German
Philosopher, sociologist, and music critic. A member of the so-called Frankfurt School, he became an inspiration to the American and European "new left" of the 1960's. Among the values he expressed were: anti-fascism, reinterpreting and rescuing Marxism from Stalinism, a rejection of modern materialism and technologism, and the indispensability of revolution and the revolutionary attitude.
St. Agnes of Assisi
1197–1253 - Italian
Christian Nun and Saint. She assisted her sister, St. Clare, in founding the order of Poor Clares, the female counterpart of St. Francis's order. Like St. Francis, she and her sister exemplified a simple, pure, uncompromising, and thus revolutionary, Christianity, an attempt to follow Jesus's teachings directly, to reject all forms of worldliness, to embrace the natural world, including animals and birds, to serve the poor and sick and anyone in need, and to live as much as possible as Jesus lived.
Maria Agnesi
1718–1799 - Italian
Mathematician, child prodigy, and author of a mathematical textbook. She demonstrated that mathematics was not a male preserve.
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Agrippina
15–59 - Roman
Infamous figure of Roman history, granddaughter of the first Emperor Augustus, and mother of the Roman Emperor Nero by her first husband. She poisoned anyone (probably including her third husband, the Emperor Claudius) who stood in the way of securing the throne for her son. He in turn murdered her.
Don Fernando Alaverez
1507–1582 - Spanish
Aristocrat, military leader, and devoted Catholic. His repression of the Dutch rebellion and of Protestants between 1567 and 1573 became legendary for its brutality.
Prince Albert
1819–1861 - German
Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, husband of Britain's Queen Victoria. His relationship with his wife set a new standard of marital fidelity in British aristocratic circles.
Leon Alberti
1404–1472 - Italian
Florentine Architect and designer. He embodied the Renaissance ideal of "virtu" by mastering nearly every field he touched, including philosophy, literature, music, and art, as well as architecture.
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