May 3: Niccolo Machiavelli, Italian Renaissance author

BORN MAY 3:

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) was an Italian Renaissance diplomat, author, philosopher, and historian best known for The Prince (Il Principe), written about 1513 but not published until 1532. He also wrote comedies, songs, and poetry, but in most people's minds he was a ruthless political animal who advocated the unscrupulous acts in The Prince. One of his leadership maxims was, "It is better to be feared than to be loved"; he claimed that throughout the course of  history, politics had always been played with deception, treachery, and criminal acts: any action could be excused if it benefited the ruler. Some are unsure whether Machiavelli believed these things and was recommending them to rulers, or perhaps was just publicizing them as a warning to an unwary public. Some even see them as satire, a serious jester's slap at bad rulers. In any case, the term "Machiavellian" has come to describe these cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous actions.

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Apr. 13: Thomas Jefferson, American president and polymath

BORN APRIL 13:

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was an American statesman, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and U.S. Founding Father who was the new nation's first secretary of state (under George Washington), second vice president (under John Adams) and third president. His resume was such that President John F. Kennedy in 1962 told a group of Nobel Prize winners at a White House dinner: "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone. Someone once said that Thomas Jefferson was a gentleman of 32 who could calculate an eclipse, survey an estate, tie an artery, plan an edifice, try a cause, break a horse, and dance the minuet." His reputation has been tarnished by the keeping of over 600 slaves on his plantation, Monticello, but at least he took one step toward eventual emancipation by signing the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves in 1807. Nevertheless, he fathered at least six children with Sally Hemings, a mixed-race enslaved woman who was his late wife's half-sister. He was a man of many accomplishments: the principal author of the Declaration of Independence; president of the American Philosophical Society; knew several languages; founded the University of Virginia; made the Louisiana Purchase (doubling the nation's size) and sending out Lewis and Clark's "Corps of Discovery" to obtain scientific, geographic, and ethnological knowledge. Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of U.S. independence, and the same day as his long-time friend (and sometime political rival) John Adams. Historians generally rank Thomas Jefferson as one of the greatest presidents in American history.

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Mar. 28: Mario Vargas Llosa, Peruvian author

BORN MARCH 28:

Mario Vargas Llosa (1936 - ) is a Peruvian novelist, journalist, short story writer, essayist, and former politician. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010 (among others), and is a leading representative of the so-called "Latin American Boom," writing about the Peruvian experience. Novels like The Time of the Hero, The Green House, and Conversation in the Cathedral brought him to international fame; Captain Pantoja and the Special Service and Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter have been made into feature films. According to one source, he has written fifteen novels and three short story collections, as well as several collections of essays. His books have been translated into more than thirty languages.

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Feb. 12: Abraham Lincoln, American president AND Charles Darwin, English naturalist

BORN FEBRUARY 12:

Sometimes the stars align and a birthday is shared by two people who are so outstanding that I can't pick one over the other. Such is the case with February 12, and not only were these two titans born on the same calendar date, but it was in the same year: February 12, 1809!

• Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was arguably the greatest of the 46 American presidents (so far). He led the country admirably through its darkest episode--the War between the States--and paid the price with his own blood when assassinated by a rebel sympathizer. His speeches set a standard never met by others; see the "House Divided" speech, the "First Inaugural Address," the renowned "Gettysburg Address," and the "Second Inaugural Address."
• Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was a humble English naturalist whose writings completely revised our understanding of who we are: the result of natural processes rather than the special creation of God. His Voyage of the Beagle is a wonderfully readable account of a five-year journey around South America; The Origin of Species and The Descent of Man set out his theory in clear, logical prose. Though his idea has been tweaked and clarified as new evidence has come to light, it has never been replaced.

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Jan. 17: Benjamin Franklin, American polymath

BORN JANUARY 17:

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American polymath, Founding Father, first Ambassador to France, and ladies' man. Read his Autobiography; much of Poor Richard's Almanack has entered the common core of culture ("A friend in need is a friend indeed!")

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Dec. 11: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer and activist

BORN DECEMBER 11:

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) Russian novelist, historian, and short story writer better known for his outspoken criticism of communism and his activism regarding political repression in the Soviet Union (USSR). This led to eight years of imprisonment, described in works like The First Circle, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, and The Gulag Archipelago. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature (1970).

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