One of the most acclaimed American writers of the 20th century, Kurt Vonnegut left a deep literary influence by creating truly unique novels that eschewed genre conventions in favor of blending disparate categories such as science fiction with humor, social commentary with absurdity, and so on…
Born in the Russian Empire in 1903, Mark Rothko would not only become one of America’s most celebrated abstract painters, but also a preeminent figure in 20th century art. Although Rothko did not personally subscribe to any one school, he is best known for the color field paintings he produced from 1949 to 1970…
Janice Voss (1956-2012) decided her career path at age six after reading Madeleine L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time,” a book featuring a woman scientist and adventurer. Voss would go on to become one of NASA’s most accomplished astronauts. Selected for training in 1990 as the first female astronaut from MIT, during the course of her career Voss logged almost 49 days in space…
Cara Mund won the 2018 Miss America pageant, making her not only the first contestant from North Dakota to win the title, but also the first Ivy League alumna to win the contest in the last 64 years. Mund, who began participating in pageantry as a child, has also been a philanthropist since her early teens, and is actively involved with the Make-a-Wish Foundation…
For more than 25 years, Andrea Wong has been one of the entertainment industry’s most powerful figures. The executive, who most recently spent six years with Sony, oversaw Sony’s 18 overseas production companies. During her tenure there, one of the more celebrated deals she helped to broker was Sony buying a majority stake in Left Bank Pictures…
A trailblazing computer scientist who also served as a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy, Grace Hopper’s legacy is a perfect blend of service and innovation. Hopper began her professional career teaching mathematics at Vassar for nearly a decade before enlisting in the U.S. Navy during World War II…
Widely regarded as having been the greatest cash-game poker player, Chip Reese was undoubtedly one of the most dangerous players on the felt for more than three decades. Born in 1951, Reese got started at an early age, when rheumatic fever forced him to stay at home during his years at elementary school…
Known as the “Lion of the Senate,” Democrat Ted Kennedy was an icon of liberal thought who was elected to Congress nine times, making him one of only six senators in U.S. history to serve more than 40 years. Born in 1932, he was the youngest of nine children in the famous Kennedy family…
In 2001, Ruth Simmons made the history books when she took the helm at Brown University and thus became the first African American president of an Ivy League institution. Before Brown, Simmons served six years as president of Smith College, where she launched a number of important academic initiatives, including the very first engineering program at a women’s college in America…
Thanks to his iconic role as the surly but soft-hearted Chief Jim Hopper on Netflix’s smash hit “Stranger Things,” David Harbour is currently one of television’s biggest stars. Harbour’s acting career stretches back to the late 90s, and he’s since gained a reputation as one of the most versatile actors around, consistently delivering compelling performances on film, television, and stage…
