20th Century

American singer and actress (1979–2001), nicknamed the "Princess of R&B." A revelation at 15 with her debut album, she profoundly influenced pop and R&B music of the 1990s–2000s before dying tragically in a plane crash.

Abbas Kiarostami (1940-2016) was an Iranian filmmaker, screenwriter and photographer, a major figure in the renewal of Iranian cinema. His work, on the border between documentary and fiction, earned him worldwide recognition.

American jazz singer, songwriter, and actress, a major figure of artistic commitment to the civil rights movement. Her expressive voice and her lyrics make her an emblematic artist of 20th-century jazz.

Adelaide Hall was an American jazz singer, later a naturalized British citizen, with an exceptionally long career. A pioneer of wordless singing, she rose to prominence in 1927 alongside **Duke Ellington** before becoming a star of the European stage.

French photographer, visual artist, film director and screenwriter

Agnez Mo is an Indonesian-American singer-songwriter and actress born in 1986 in Jakarta. A pop star in Indonesia from childhood, she broke onto the international scene in the 2010s.

Aishwarya Rai is an Indian actress and model born in 1973. Crowned Miss World in 1994, she became one of Bollywood's most internationally recognized stars and a global ambassador for L'Oréal Paris.

Japanese film director and screenwriter

Al Pacino is an American actor born in 1940, a major figure of the New Hollywood movement. Brought to fame by his role as Michael Corleone in 'The Godfather' (1972), he established himself as one of the greatest performers in American cinema, trained at the Actors Studio.

British director born in 1944, Alan Parker is the filmmaker behind landmark works such as Midnight Express, Fame, and Pink Floyd – The Wall. A major figure in British cinema, he also worked in advertising before establishing himself in Hollywood.

Aleksandra Exter was a Russian-Ukrainian painter and designer, a leading figure of the early 20th-century Russian avant-garde. A pioneer of Cubo-Futurism and Constructivism, she revolutionized theatrical sets and costumes.

Hungarian-born film director and producer who became a naturalised British citizen. Founder of the company London Films, he was a major figure in British cinema between the two world wars and the first film professional to be knighted.

A British filmmaker and naturalized American citizen, Alfred Hitchcock was nicknamed the “master of suspense.” A pioneer of a cinema built on psychological tension and dread, he profoundly reinvented the conventions of the thriller with works such as *Psycho*, *The Birds*, and *Vertigo*.

The first female filmmaker in history, Alice Guy directed her first narrative film at Gaumont around 1896. She went on to found the Solax Company in the United States, one of the largest production companies of the era, before falling into obscurity despite a remarkable body of work.

Alla Pugacheva (born 1949) is the most famous pop singer of the Soviet Union and Russia. Nicknamed "the Primadonna," she dominated the Soviet and then Russian music scene for over forty years. Her career illustrates mass culture and the entertainment industry under a communist regime.

Alvin Ailey (1931-1989) was an American dancer and choreographer, a major figure in modern dance. In 1958, he founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, a company that celebrates African American cultural heritage and brought modern dance to audiences around the world.

Amina Annabi is a French-Tunisian singer and actress born in 1962. A figure of world music blending Arab-Andalusian influences with Western pop, she represented France at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1991 while also pursuing a parallel career in film.

Andie MacDowell is an American actress and model born in 1958. First making her name as a model for major cosmetics brands, she became a film star in the 1990s with a string of hit romantic comedies.

French poet and writer (1896–1966), co-founder and theorist of Surrealism. He authored the Manifestoes of Surrealism and gathered around him a generation of revolutionary artists and writers.

A major Soviet filmmaker of the 20th century, creator of a contemplative and spiritual body of work. His films such as Andrei Rublev, Solaris and Stalker left a profound mark on the history of auteur cinema.

Ang Lee is a Taiwanese director born in 1954, celebrated for his ability to cross genres and cultures. His films explore identity, family, and desire with a remarkable visual sensibility.

Anggun is an Indonesian singer born in 1974 in Jakarta, who became a French citizen in 1998. An international pop star, she broke through in France with her hit 'Snow on the Sahara' (1997) and represented France at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012.

Italian actress (1908-1973), an iconic figure of Italian neorealism. Known for her intense and passionate performances, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1956 for The Rose Tattoo.

The first Chinese-American star of Hollywood, Anna May Wong (1905-1961) made her mark in both silent and sound cinema despite the industry's systemic racism. Throughout her career, she fought against stereotypes and anti-miscegenation laws that denied her leading roles.

Anna Netrebko is a Russian-Austrian soprano born in 1971, considered one of the greatest opera singers of her generation. Trained at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, she has conquered the world's most prestigious stages — the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala in Milan, and the Vienna State Opera.

British-American jazz singer and actress, a pioneer of vocalese. A member of the trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, she is famous for setting lyrics to instrumental solos, notably her standard “Twisted” (1952).

French actress born in 1932, Anouk Aimée established herself as one of the leading figures of European auteur cinema. Her role in *Un homme et une femme* by Claude Lelouch (1966) brought her international acclaim.

Antonin Artaud (1896-1948) was a French poet, actor, and theatre theorist. The inventor of the “Theatre of Cruelty,” he profoundly reshaped how the stage was conceived in the 20th century, all while leading a life marked by illness and psychiatric confinement.

Ariana Grande is an American singer, songwriter, and actress born in 1993 in Florida. She rose to fame through the TV series Victorious before becoming one of the most influential pop artists of her generation. Her response to the 2017 Manchester bombing earned her international recognition.

Arthur Miller (1915-2005) was a major American playwright of the 20th century. The author of *Death of a Salesman* and *The Crucible*, he turned theater into a critical mirror of American society and its excesses.

Italian conductor (1867–1957), considered one of the greatest in history. Music director of La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera, and the New York Philharmonic, he was renowned for his absolute rigor and prodigious memory.

Arundhati Roy is an Indian novelist, essayist, and activist born in 1961. Her novel The God of Small Things (1997) won the Booker Prize. She is a vocal advocate against nuclear weapons, dam construction, and social inequality in India.

Audrey Hepburn (1929–1993) was a British actress and model of Belgian origin, an icon of Hollywood cinema in the 1950s and 1960s. She won the Academy Award for Roman Holiday (1953) and became synonymous with elegance and grace on screen. In her later years, she devoted herself to humanitarian work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

Avril Lavigne is a Canadian singer and songwriter born in 1984 in Belleville, Ontario. She broke through in 2002 with her debut album 'Let Go', becoming an icon of alternative rock and pop-punk for an entire generation.

Ayumi Hamasaki is a Japanese singer, songwriter, and pop icon born in 1978 in Fukuoka. Nicknamed the "Empress of Pop" in Japan, she is one of the best-selling female artists in the history of Japanese music.

Barbara (1930–1997) was a French singer-songwriter, nicknamed “the Lady in Black.” A pianist and poet of song, she is known for intimate works such as “Nantes” and “The Black Eagle.”

American singer and actress born in 1942 in New York, Barbra Streisand is one of the most awarded artists in entertainment history. She has shaped American pop music and cinema across more than six decades of career.

Bernardo Bertolucci (1941-2018) was an Italian director and screenwriter, a major figure of European art-house cinema. He left his mark on the history of the seventh art with ambitious historical frescoes and a sumptuous visual style.

Bertolt Brecht was a 20th-century German playwright, director, and poet. A theorist of *epic theatre* and of the distancing effect, he profoundly renewed dramatic art and tied his work to a Marxist political commitment.

American actress (1908–1989), a towering figure of Hollywood cinema from the 1930s through the 1960s. Known for her roles as strong, complex women, she won two Academy Awards and established herself as one of the greatest stars of the studio system.

Beyoncé is an American singer, songwriter, and producer born in 1981 in Houston, Texas. A former member of Destiny's Child, she became one of the most influential solo artists of the 21st century, blending R&B, pop, and hip-hop.

An American director, screenwriter, and producer of Austro-Hungarian origin, Billy Wilder is one of the major figures of classic Hollywood cinema. A master of both comedy and film noir, he directed masterpieces such as *Sunset Boulevard*, *Some Like It Hot*, and *The Apartment*.

Swedish dramatic soprano (1918–2005), considered the greatest Wagnerian interpreter of the 20th century. Her voice, exceptional in both power and clarity, brought her triumphs at Bayreuth, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and the world's most prestigious concert halls.

Blossom Dearie (1924-2009) was an American jazz pianist and singer, recognizable by her light, delicate voice. A figure of intimate vocal jazz, she accompanied herself on piano in the clubs of New York and Paris.

Boby Lapointe (1922-1972) was a French singer and singer-songwriter famous for his virtuoso lyrics packed with wordplay, puns and spoonerisms. A native of **Pézenas**, he left his mark on French song through his humour and verbal inventiveness.

French actress, model, and singer, Brigitte Bardot became a global symbol of femininity and freedom during the 1950s and 1960s. An icon of the French New Wave and popular culture, she retired from cinema in 1973 to dedicate herself to animal rights activism.

Britney Spears (born 1981) is an American singer, actress, and pop icon. Launched in the late 1990s, she became one of the best-selling artists in the world. Her career illustrates the excesses of the entertainment industry and the challenges of fame in the media age.

Bruno Coquatrix (1910-1979) was the legendary director of the Olympia in Paris, which he bought in 1954 and transformed into the temple of French music hall. He launched or cemented the careers of major artists such as Édith Piaf, Jacques Brel, and Johnny Hallyday.

American actor, director, and stuntman, a major figure of silent slapstick cinema. Nicknamed “the man who never laughs,” he played a deadpan character confronting a mechanical and hostile world.

Argentine conductor and violinist of Italian origin (1915–2011), Carlo Felice Cillario made his mark in the operatic and symphonic repertoire. He conducted at the world's greatest opera houses, including the Royal Opera House in London and the Paris Opera.

Carlos Gardel was a singer, composer and actor, an iconic figure of Argentine tango. Regarded as the creator of sung tango (“tango canción”), he brought the genre to international fame in the 1920s and 1930s.

Cary Grant was an Anglo-American actor and an iconic figure of Hollywood's golden age. The embodiment of elegance and charm, he excelled in sophisticated comedy as well as in thrillers, notably working alongside Alfred Hitchcock.

British playwright born in 1938, a major figure of feminist and political theatre. Her plays such as “Top Girls” (1982) and “Cloud Nine” (1979) deconstruct gender, capitalism, and power relations. Associated with the Royal Court Theatre in London, she has profoundly renewed contemporary dramatic forms.

French actress born in 1943, Catherine Deneuve is one of the greatest stars in world cinema. She played iconic roles in films by Truffaut, Buñuel, and Demy, becoming a symbol of French elegance.

Belgian director and screenwriter (1950–2015), a major figure in feminist and experimental auteur cinema. Her magnum opus *Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles* (1975) was voted the greatest film of all time by Sight & Sound magazine in 2022.

Cheryl Crawford was an American theatre producer and a major figure of the 20th-century New York stage. A co-founder of the Group Theatre and later the Actors Studio, she helped spread the acting “Method” across the United States.

Christina Aguilera is an American singer, songwriter, and actress born in 1980. Breaking through in 1999, she established herself as one of the most powerful voices of her generation, blending pop, R&B, and soul. She became a symbol of female empowerment in the music industry at the turn of the 21st century.

Claude Chabrol (1930-2010) was a French director, screenwriter and producer, a major figure of the French New Wave. A critic at Cahiers du cinéma before moving into directing, he built a prolific body of work dissecting the hypocrisies and impulses of the provincial bourgeoisie.

Claude Sautet (1924-2000) was a French director and screenwriter, a major figure of the auteur cinema of the 1970s-1990s. He is famous for his intimate portraits of the bourgeoisie and his chronicles of human feelings, as in *The Things of Life* and *A Heart in Winter*.

Cleo Laine is a British jazz singer and actress, famous for her deep timbre and an exceptional vocal range of more than three octaves. The lifelong companion of saxophonist and bandleader John Dankworth, she became one of the major figures of 20th-century British vocal jazz.

William James Basie, known as Count Basie (1904-1984), was an American pianist, organist, and bandleader. A major figure in jazz, he led one of the most famous big bands in history, contributing to the rise of swing in the 1930s–1940s.

D. W. Griffith (1875-1948) was an American director regarded as one of the fathers of narrative film language. He popularized editing, the close-up, and cross-cutting, but remains a controversial figure because of the racism of his film “The Birth of a Nation” (1915).

David Lynch (1946-2025) was an American filmmaker, photographer, painter, and musician. A major figure in independent cinema, he is famous for his dreamlike, surreal universe blending strangeness and unease.

Deepika Padukone is an Indian actress and model born in 1986 in Copenhagen. The daughter of badminton champion Prakash Padukone, she has become one of Bollywood's most influential and highest-paid actresses. She is also known for her public advocacy for mental health awareness.

Dexter Gordon (1923-1990) was an African American jazz tenor saxophonist and a major figure of bebop. A pioneer of his instrument in this style, he enjoyed a long career between the United States and Europe, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1987.

American singer (1924-1963), nicknamed the “Queen of the Blues.” A major figure in jazz, blues, and rhythm and blues during the 1940s and 1950s, she left her mark on African American music through her incisive phrasing and expressive voice.

American singer, songwriter, and actress born in 1946, icon of country music. Author of classics like "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You", she is also a philanthropist, founder of a children's literacy program.

Doris Lessing (1919-2013) was a British novelist born in Persia and raised in Southern Rhodesia. A major figure of 20th-century literature, she is best known for The Golden Notebook. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2007.

The only active female director working within the major Hollywood studios of the 1920s–1940s, Dorothy Arzner made around twenty films. A pioneer of women's cinema, she was the first woman admitted to the Directors Guild of America.

An African-American actress, singer, and dancer, Dorothy Dandridge became in 1955 the first Black woman nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for Carmen Jones. An icon of Golden Age Hollywood, she broke racial barriers in a deeply segregated industry.

An American silent film actor, Douglas Fairbanks was one of Hollywood's first great stars. Known for his acrobatic hero roles in adventure films such as *The Mark of Zorro* and *Robin Hood*, he was also a co-founder of United Artists studio.

Born Édith Giovanna Gassion in 1915 in Paris, Édith Piaf became one of the most celebrated French singers of the 20th century. Nicknamed 'La Môme Piaf' (The Little Sparrow), she is the defining figure of French chanson réaliste and achieved worldwide fame.

Major American playwright of the 20th century, a leading figure of the theatre of the absurd in the United States. He made his mark in 1962 with *Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?* and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama three times.

Elizabeth Taylor (1932–2011) was a British-American actress widely regarded as one of Hollywood's greatest stars. A child prodigy who rose to fame early, she excelled in major roles of classic cinema and became a global symbol of glamour and the Hollywood star system. She was also a pioneering activist in the fight against AIDS from the 1980s onward.

Spanish coloratura soprano, one of the great bel canto voices of the early 20th century. Having become a teacher, she was Maria Callas's singing instructor in Athens, passing on to her the art of bel canto.

American singer and actor born in 1935, Elvis Presley is considered the “King of Rock and Roll.” He revolutionized popular music by blending country, gospel, and rhythm and blues, becoming a global icon of pop culture.

British actress born in 1990, who rose to fame as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series. She became an international feminist activist, notably as a UN Goodwill Ambassador and promoter of the HeForShe campaign.

Éric Rohmer, whose real name was Maurice Schérer, was a French filmmaker, critic, and screenwriter, and a major figure of the French New Wave. He is famous for his cycles of films with finely crafted dialogue exploring the emotional and moral hesitations of his characters.

Ethel Waters (1896-1977) was an African American singer and actress. A pioneer of jazz and vocal blues, she broke racial barriers on Broadway, in film, and on American television, becoming one of the most famous Black artists of the first half of the 20th century.

American playwright considered the father of modern theater in the United States. The first American dramatist to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1936, he brought realism and psychological tragedy to the American stage.

African-American jazz pianist, organist, composer and singer, major figure of stride piano. A virtuoso showman, he marked jazz in the 1920s-1930s with standards like "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Honeysuckle Rose."

Federico Fellini (1920-1993) was an Italian filmmaker and screenwriter, a major figure in world cinema. A master of a dreamlike, baroque style, he left his mark on the history of the seventh art with films such as La Dolce Vita and La Strada.

Spanish poet and playwright, a major figure of the Generation of '27. Author of the Romancero gitano and rural tragedies such as Blood Wedding, he was assassinated in 1936 at the start of the Spanish Civil War.

Iranian poet and filmmaker, a major figure of modern Persian poetry. Through intimate and bold writing about desire and the condition of women, she upended the literary conventions of her country. Her death in a car accident at the age of 32 made her an icon.

Francis Ford Coppola is an American director, screenwriter, and producer born in 1939, a major figure of New Hollywood. He is world-renowned for the Godfather trilogy and for Apocalypse Now, both of which have become cinema classics.

François Truffaut (1932–1984) was one of the pioneers of the French New Wave. A critic at *Cahiers du Cinéma*, he became an iconic filmmaker with movies such as *The 400 Blows* and *Jules and Jim*.

British impresario and theatre director (1866–1941), Fred Karno founded a music-hall troupe that revolutionized burlesque comedy. He trained Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel among others, helping to shape the rise of comic cinema worldwide.

Freddie Mercury (1946-1991) was a British singer, songwriter, and pianist, the iconic frontman of the rock band Queen. Renowned for his exceptional voice and showmanship, he left a profound mark on popular music worldwide.

Gala is an Italian pop and dance singer born in 1975 in Turin. She achieved international success in the late 1990s with hits such as “Freed from Desire” (1997), which have become classics of dance music.

Soviet ballerina considered one of the greatest classical dancers of the 20th century. Prima ballerina of the Bolshoi, she embodied Giselle and Juliet with incomparable expressiveness. The first dancer to receive the title of Hero of Socialist Labor twice.

Gary Cooper (1901-1961) was one of the leading actors of classical Hollywood cinema. The embodiment of the upright, taciturn American hero, he left his mark on the western and the melodrama before winning two Academy Awards for Best Actor.

George Balanchine (1904-1983) was a Georgian-born dancer and choreographer, trained in Saint Petersburg before emigrating to the United States. A co-founder of the New York City Ballet, he is considered the father of American neoclassical ballet.

American composer and pianist (1898–1937), George Gershwin revolutionized music by blending jazz, blues, and classical music. The creator of Rhapsody in Blue and the opera Porgy and Bess, he is one of the defining symbols of twentieth-century American culture.

Gérard Depardieu is one of the most famous and prolific French actors, with over 200 films to his name. Born in 1948 in Châteauroux, he established himself from the 1970s as a major figure in both French and international cinema.

French film director, producer and screenwriter

An Oscar-winning American actress of the 1950s, Grace Kelly left Hollywood at the height of her fame to marry Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1956. As princess consort, she embodied elegance and cultural prestige until her accidental death in 1982.

American Hollywood actress who became Princess of Monaco by marrying Rainier III in 1956. An Oscar-winning star, she gave up her film career for her royal role and devoted herself to cultural and charitable patronage until her death in 1982.

Swedish actress who became one of Hollywood's greatest stars of the 1920s–1930s. Famous for her air of mystery and restrained acting style, she voluntarily stepped away from the screen in 1941 at the age of 36.

American actress (1893-1952), Hattie McDaniel was the first African American woman to win an Academy Award, for her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939). Her career illustrates the tensions between artistic success and racial segregation in the United States.

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese director, screenwriter, and animator of animated films, born in 1941. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he is one of the world's masters of animated cinema, famous for works such as *Princess Mononoke* and *Spirited Away*.

Jazz pianist and singer of Trinidadian and American descent, a virtuoso known for her arrangements blending classical music and swing. A star of nightclubs and the silver screen, she was also a civil rights activist who refused to perform for segregated audiences.

Austrian-born American actress, producer, and scientist

Howard Hawks was an American director, producer, and screenwriter, a major figure of Hollywood's Golden Age. A jack-of-all-trades across genres (western, film noir, comedy, war film), he is regarded as one of the great auteurs of classic cinema.

Humphrey Bogart was an American actor and a major figure of Hollywood's Golden Age. He embodied the tough hero—cynical yet upright—in film noir and classics such as Casablanca. He is regarded as one of the greatest legends of American cinema.

Igor Stravinsky is one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. With his ballets for the Ballets Russes — *The Firebird*, *Petrushka*, and above all *The Rite of Spring* — he revolutionized musical language through bold rhythms and dissonances. Naturalized as a French then American citizen, he traversed all the major aesthetic movements of his time.

Imtiaz Ali is an Indian film director and screenwriter born in 1971 in Jamshedpur. He is known for his romantically charged, poetic films, including Jab We Met (2007) and Rockstar (2011). His work explores themes of love, freedom, and the search for identity.

Ina Ray Hutton (1916-1984) was an American bandleader, singer, and dancer of the swing era. Nicknamed “The Blonde Bombshell of Rhythm,” she led the Melodears in the 1930s, one of the first all-female big bands, before hosting her own musical television show in the 1950s.

Swedish actress (1915–1982), a towering figure of classic Hollywood cinema. Made famous by Casablanca (1942), she won three Academy Awards and established herself as one of the greatest actresses of the twentieth century.

French actress born in 1955, daughter of an Algerian father and a German mother. Launched to stardom by François Truffaut in *The Story of Adele H.* (1975), she portrays passionate and tormented women in *Possession*, *Camille Claudel*, and *Queen Margot*. Holder of a record five César Awards for Best Actress.

French actress born in 1953, considered one of the greatest performers in world cinema. A muse to directors such as Claude Chabrol and Michael Haneke, she brings an icy, deeply interior presence that redefines the art of acting.

American dancer (1877-1927)

Jack Nicholson is an American actor, director, and screenwriter born in 1937. A major figure of New Hollywood, he is one of the most awarded actors in American cinema, with three Oscars.

French filmmaker (1931–1990), a major figure of the French New Wave, celebrated for his poetic musicals blending vivid colors with melancholy. Director of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort.

Jacques Tati (1907-1982) was a French director, actor, and screenwriter. Creator of the character Monsieur Hulot, he developed a poetic comedic cinema founded on visual slapstick and sound rather than dialogue.

A French naval officer, oceanographer, and filmmaker, Jacques-Yves Cousteau was a pioneer of scuba diving and ocean exploration. Co-inventor of the self-contained underwater breathing apparatus, he popularized knowledge of the marine world through his films and his ship, the Calypso.

Canadian director born in 1954, James Cameron is the creator of iconic films such as Terminator, Titanic, and Avatar. A passionate deep-sea explorer, he dove to the depths of the Mariana Trench in 2012.

Iconic American actor of the 1950s, James Dean embodied youth rebellion in three cult films. Dying at 24 in a car crash, he became an immortal cultural icon.

James Stewart was one of the most popular actors of classic Hollywood cinema. An embodiment of the ordinary, upright American, he worked under the direction of Frank Capra and Alfred Hitchcock from the 1930s to the 1970s.

Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) was a French poet, novelist, playwright, illustrator, and filmmaker. An unclassifiable figure of the avant-garde, he worked across every art form and embodies the spirit of modern creativity in the early 20th century.

Jean Gabin (1904–1976) is one of the greatest French actors of the 20th century. He rose to fame in the 1930s with films such as La Bête humaine and La Grande Illusion, embodying the myth of the working-class man — tough yet sensitive.

French writer, poet, and playwright of the 20th century. Shaped by a childhood as an orphan, a thief, and a prisoner, he transformed marginality into provocative literary and theatrical work, celebrated by Sartre and Cocteau.

Jean Renoir was a French filmmaker and screenwriter, the son of the painter Auguste Renoir. A major figure of twentieth-century cinema, he left his mark on the history of the seventh art through his poetic realism and his humanism.

Franco-Swiss filmmaker (1930–2022) and a major figure of the French New Wave. He revolutionized the language of cinema with films such as Breathless (1960), challenging the conventions of traditional storytelling.

Jean-Pierre Melville, whose real name was Jean-Pierre Grumbach, was a French filmmaker and a major figure of film noir and the French crime film. Independent and ahead of his time, he had a profound influence on the French New Wave.

French actress, singer, and director (1928–2017), iconic figure of the French New Wave. Muse of François Truffaut and Louis Malle, she embodied a free and modern femininity in films that have become classics of world cinema.

Jennifer Lopez, born in 1969 in the Bronx, New York, is an American singer, actress, and dancer of Puerto Rican descent. She established herself in the 1990s as one of the most influential Latin artists in the world.

African-American soprano considered one of the greatest operatic voices of the 20th century. Born in 1945 in Georgia, she rose to prominence on the world's most prestigious stages (the Met Opera, Bayreuth, Covent Garden). A figure in the civil rights movement, she performed *La Marseillaise* on the Champs-Élysées during the bicentennial of the French Revolution in 1989.

A British actress born in 1917 in Japan and died in 2013, Joan Fontaine became a major Hollywood star in the 1940s. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1942 for Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion, cementing her place among the great stars of classic American cinema.

Joan Sutherland (1926-2010) was an Australian soprano regarded as one of the greatest lyric voices of the 20th century. Nicknamed “La Stupenda”, she was celebrated for her interpretations of the bel canto repertoire of Donizetti, Bellini, and Verdi.

John Ford (1894-1973) was an American director and producer, considered one of the masters of Hollywood cinema. An iconic figure of the western, he profoundly shaped the history of the seventh art and holds the record of four Academy Awards for Best Director.

John Wayne was an American actor, director and producer, an iconic figure of the Hollywood western. Nicknamed “Duke,” he embodied the ideal of the cowboy and the rugged American hero in more than 150 films over a five-decade career.

Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) was a major postwar German artist — sculptor, draughtsman, and performer. A theorist of “social sculpture,” he expanded the notion of art to encompass the transformation of society and was a central figure in European contemporary art.

French singer, dancer, and revue performer of American origin

Judi Dench is a British actress born in 1934, considered one of the greatest stage and screen performers of her country. Trained at the Royal Shakespeare Company, she achieved worldwide fame in cinema, notably in the role of M in the James Bond saga.

Judy Garland (1922-1969) was an American actress and singer, and one of Hollywood's most iconic figures. She rose to fame at 17 in The Wizard of Oz (1939), becoming the defining star of Hollywood's golden age of musical cinema. Her extraordinary voice and tragic life story made her a symbol of 20th-century popular culture.

A pioneering American filmmaker, Julie Dash is best known for *Daughters of the Dust* (1991), the first feature film by an African American woman director to receive a national theatrical release in the United States. Her work explores memory, identity, and the cultural heritage of the African American diaspora.

French actress born in 1964 in Paris, a leading figure in world arthouse cinema. She is the first actress to have won the César, the BAFTA, and the Academy Award in the same year (1997) for *The English Patient*, then the Best Actress prize at Cannes for *Certified Copy* (2010).

Indian director, producer, and screenwriter born in 1972, a major figure in Bollywood. He is known for his grand romantic and family films, most notably Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998).

Kareena Kapoor, born in 1980 in Mumbai, is one of Bollywood's most celebrated actresses. From the legendary Kapoor family of Indian cinema, she has left her mark on Hindi film through her versatile roles and iconic style since the 2000s.

Kate Winslet is a British actress born in 1975 in Reading, England. She rose to worldwide fame through James Cameron's Titanic in 1997 and is considered one of the greatest actresses of her generation. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2009 for her role in The Reader.

Katy Perry is an American singer-songwriter born in 1984 in Santa Barbara. She rose to prominence in the 2000s–2010s as one of the best-selling pop artists in the world, with global hits such as 'Roar' and 'Firework'.

Kim Novak is an American actress born in 1933, a major figure of 1950s Hollywood cinema. She is world-famous for her dual role in Alfred Hitchcock's 'Vertigo' in 1958.

Russian actor, director and theorist, co-founder of the Moscow Art Theatre in 1898. He developed an acting method grounded in emotional sincerity that revolutionized dramatic art worldwide.

Krzysztof Kieślowski (1941-1996) was a Polish filmmaker and a major figure in European cinema of the late twentieth century. Initially a documentarian, he made his name with the television series *The Decalogue* and then the *Three Colours: Blue, White, Red* trilogy.

Lana Del Rey, born Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, is an American singer-songwriter born in 1985. Known for her melancholic lyrics and retro aesthetic, she blends pop, indie, and cinematic elements across acclaimed albums such as 'Born to Die' (2012).

Nicknamed the “Nightingale of India”, Lata Mangeshkar (1929–2022) is the most celebrated playback singer in Indian cinema. Over a career spanning more than 70 years, she recorded over 30,000 songs in some thirty languages, becoming a national cultural icon.

American composer and conductor (1918–1990), Leonard Bernstein led the New York Philharmonic and composed major works blending classical music and jazz. He is world-renowned for the musical West Side Story (1957).

An African-American lyric soprano born in 1927, Leontyne Price was the first Black woman to achieve the rank of prima donna at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Celebrated for her interpretations of Verdi, she embodied both artistic excellence and triumph over racial segregation.

Italian director and screenwriter born in 1933. A figure of Italian auteur cinema, she is known for provocative works exploring power, memory, and Nazism, including “The Night Porter” (1974).

American playwright and screenwriter (1905–1984), Lillian Hellman made her mark on Broadway with politically engaged plays denouncing social injustice and fascism. She became an iconic figure of resistance to McCarthyism by refusing to name her colleagues before the HUAC committee.

Liv Ullmann is a Norwegian actress, director, and screenwriter born in 1938. The muse of filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, she established herself as one of the greatest actresses in European cinema of the 20th century. She also advocates for children's rights as a UNICEF ambassador.

American dancer (1862–1928), pioneer of modern dance and stage lighting design. Her serpentine dance with silk veils lit by colored electric lights made her famous at the Folies Bergère in Paris from 1892 onward, turning her into an icon of the Belle Époque and Art Nouveau.

Lois Weber (1879-1939) was one of the first great female directors in the history of American cinema. A Hollywood pioneer, she was one of the most influential and highest-paid filmmakers of the silent film era, tackling controversial social issues.

American playwright and author (1930–1965), Lorraine Hansberry was the first Black woman to have a play produced on Broadway with *A Raisin in the Sun* (1959). A civil rights activist, she wove art and political commitment together in her fight against racial segregation.

American jazz trumpeter and singer born in New Orleans, nicknamed “Satchmo.” A founding figure of jazz, he revolutionized the art form with his virtuoso trumpet playing and his “scat” singing. He became one of the most famous musicians of the 20th century.

Italian filmmaker and stage director, a count by birth and a Marxist by conviction. A pioneer of neorealism before crafting grand historical frescoes with sumptuous aesthetics, he was also a major director of theatre and opera.

An American comedic actress, producer, and businesswoman, she became a television icon thanks to the sitcom “I Love Lucy” (1951-1957). A pioneer, she was the first woman to head a major Hollywood production studio, Desilu.

American blues singer, known as the "Mother of the Blues." A pioneer of classic blues, she was one of the first African American artists to record records in the 1920s and influenced an entire generation of female singers.

Madhubala (1933-1969) is considered one of the greatest actresses of classic Hindi cinema. Nicknamed the "Venus of Bollywood," she embodied beauty and talent in films that became classics of the golden age of Indian cinema.

American singer, dancer, and businesswoman born in 1958, Madonna emerged in the 1980s as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Nicknamed the "Queen of Pop," she constantly pushes the boundaries of artistic creation and asserts her independence in a music industry dominated by men.

Marcel Carné was a French filmmaker and a major figure of the "poetic realism" movement of the 1930s and 1940s. With the poet-screenwriter Jacques Prévert, he made films that became classics of French cinema, including Children of Paradise.

Margot Fonteyn (1919–1991) is considered one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century. Prima ballerina assoluta of the Royal Ballet in London, she formed with Rudolf Nureyev one of the most celebrated partnerships in the history of classical dance.

Marguerite Monnot (1903-1961) was a French composer, classically trained pianist who became one of the great musical forces of French song. She wrote many hits for Édith Piaf as well as the musical "Irma la Douce."

La Divina, the most celebrated opera soprano of the 20th century

An American theoretical physicist of German origin, she developed the nuclear shell model of the atomic nucleus. In 1963, she became the second woman in history to receive the Nobel Prize in Physics, after Marie Curie.

British-American jazz pianist Marian McPartland made her mark on the New York scene from the 1950s onward. She is best known for hosting the radio show “Piano Jazz” for more than thirty years on the American public radio network NPR.

An American actress, model, and singer, Marilyn Monroe became one of the major cultural icons of the 20th century. A symbol of Hollywood glamour and American consumer society in the 1950s–1960s, her tragic life continues to fuel conversations about the treatment of women in the entertainment industry.

Marina Abramović is a Serbian artist born in 1946, a pioneer of performance art. Since the 1970s, she has explored the limits of the body, of endurance, and of the relationship between the artist and the audience, becoming one of the major figures of contemporary art.

Marlon Brando (1924-2004) was an American actor and director regarded as one of the most influential figures in twentieth-century cinema. A leading exponent of the Actors Studio's “Method,” he revolutionized acting through his naturalism and intensity.

French aristocrat, daughter of the Duke of Morny, known by the nickname “Missy.” A sculptor and music-hall performer, she lived openly dressed as a man and had a famous relationship with the writer Colette, sparking the Moulin Rouge scandal of 1907.

Martha Graham (1894-1991) was an American dancer and choreographer, founder of modern dance. She revolutionized the art of choreography by breaking away from classical ballet, developing a technique based on contraction and release of the body.

Martin Scorsese is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer born in 1942 in New York. A major figure of the New Hollywood movement, he is one of the most influential directors in contemporary cinema.

A Canadian-American actress nicknamed “America's Sweetheart,” she was one of the greatest stars of silent cinema. A pioneer of the Hollywood industry, she co-founded the United Artists studio in 1919.

Maurice Béjart was a Franco-Swiss dancer and choreographer, a major figure in 20th-century contemporary dance. Founder of the Ballet of the 20th Century and later the Béjart Ballet Lausanne, he brought dance to a wide audience with spectacular and accessible performances.

Maurice Pialat (1925-2003) was a major French filmmaker, trained as a painter, known for a realistic, blunt style of cinema exploring family and romantic relationships. His work, devoted to the truth of emotions, left a deep mark on French auteur cinema.

African-American poet, memoirist, and activist (1928–2014), Maya Angelou is best known for her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. A committed figure in the civil rights movement alongside Martin Luther King Jr., she became one of the most important voices in 20th-century American literature.

Maya Plisetskaya (1925-2015) is one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century. A Bolshoi prima ballerina for over fifty years, she brought extraordinary virtuosity to her roles in Carmen and Swan Lake, leaving a lasting mark on the history of classical dance worldwide.

Merce Cunningham (1919-2009) was an American dancer and choreographer, a major figure in modern and contemporary dance. A pioneer of abstract dance, he revolutionized choreography by detaching it from music and narrative.

Meryl Streep is an American actress born in 1949, considered one of the greatest performers in the history of cinema. The recipient of three Academy Awards, she has distinguished herself in roles of exceptional diversity, from historical drama to musical comedy.

Michael Jackson was an American singer, dancer and songwriter, nicknamed the “King of Pop.” A major figure in 20th-century popular music, he revolutionized the music video and live performance through his choreography. His album Thriller (1982) remains the best-selling album in history.

A major Italian filmmaker of the post-war era, Michelangelo Antonioni (1912-2007) reinvented the language of cinema by exploring the inability to communicate and the existential emptiness of modern life. His films break with classical storytelling in favor of dead time and visual composition.

Dancer and choreographer of Latvian origin, considered one of the greatest classical dancers of the 20th century. Trained at the Vaganova school in Leningrad, he defected to the West in 1974 and became a major figure in American ballet, before turning to contemporary dance, theater, and film.

Born in 1992 in the United States, Miley Cyrus is a versatile artist who has established herself as a singer-songwriter and actress. She first rose to fame through the Hannah Montana series (Disney Channel), before successfully transitioning to an independent and outspoken musical career.

Revue headliner and undisputed star of the French music hall, Mistinguett reigned over the stages of the Moulin Rouge, the Folies Bergère, and the Casino de Paris from the Belle Époque through the 1950s. Famous for her insured legs, her popular charm, and her song “Mon Homme”, she was the most popular French entertainer of the first half of the 20th century.

Momoko Kōchi (1932–1998) was a Japanese actress best known for her role in Ishirō Honda's original Godzilla (1954). She played Emiko Yamane, one of the main characters in this iconic film of postwar Japanese science fiction.

Russian painter, draughtswoman, and set designer, a major figure of the early 20th-century avant-garde. Co-founder of Rayonism with Mikhail Larionov, she also distinguished herself through her sets and costumes for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.

Natalia Oreiro is a Uruguayan actress and singer born in 1977 in Montevideo. She gained international fame through Argentine telenovelas of the 1990s and 2000s, and a music career that made her especially popular in Eastern Europe.

Natasha Henstridge is a Canadian actress and former model born in 1974. She rose to international fame in 1995 with the science-fiction film 'Species', in which she played Sil, an extraterrestrial creature. She went on to pursue a career in both film and television.

An Australian-American actress born in 1967, Nicole Kidman is one of Hollywood's greatest stars. She won the Academy Award in 2003 for The Hours, and has left her mark on world cinema through the range of her roles and her artistic commitment.

Soviet leader from 1953 to 1964, Khrushchev succeeded Stalin and launched a policy of de-Stalinization. A central figure of the Cold War, he confronted the United States during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

French actor born in 1892 and died in 1973, Noël Roquevert is best known for his roles as grumpy gendarmes, military figures, and authoritarian characters in film. He appeared in over 200 movies, leaving his mark on French cinema from the 1930s through the 1970s.

Nora Ephron (1941-2012) was an American journalist, screenwriter, director, and novelist. A major figure in Hollywood romantic comedy, she wrote and directed films that became cult classics, such as When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle.

Nusch Éluard, born Maria Benz (1906-1946), was an artist, model, and muse of the Surrealist movement. The companion and later wife of the poet Paul Éluard, she inspired poets and painters, and herself created Surrealist collages. Her sudden death in 1946 plunged Éluard into profound despair.

Olga Khokhlova was a Ukrainian dancer with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. She met Pablo Picasso during the creation of the ballet Parade in 1917 and became his first wife in 1918.

A British actress born in 1916 in Tokyo, Olivia de Havilland was one of Hollywood's greatest stars of the 1930s and 1940s. She won two Academy Awards for Best Actress and successfully fought against the Hollywood studio system, paving the way for actors' contractual freedom.

American director, actor, and screenwriter (1915–1985), Orson Welles revolutionized cinema with Citizen Kane (1941), widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever made. A towering figure in filmmaking, he also left a lasting mark on radio and theater.

Paul Newman was an American actor and a major figure of Hollywood cinema in the second half of the 20th century. Renowned for his charisma and the exceptional longevity of his career, he was also a racing driver and a committed philanthropist.

Spanish filmmaker, screenwriter and producer born in 1949, a major figure of contemporary European cinema. Brought to prominence by the “Movida madrileña” following Franco's death, he established himself as the author of a flamboyant cinema blending melodrama, humor and desire.

Peggy Lee (1920-2002) was an American jazz and pop singer, songwriter, and actress. Discovered with Benny Goodman's orchestra, she established herself as a soloist with hits like "Fever" and "Is That All There Is?".

Italian writer, poet and filmmaker, a major figure of the politically engaged post-war intelligentsia. A heterodox Marxist and critic of consumer society, he left his mark on literature as much as on cinema before his murder in 1975.

German dancer and choreographer

Preity Zinta is an Indian actress born on January 31, 1975, in Shimla. She rose to fame with the film Dil Se (1998) and became one of Bollywood's most popular actresses throughout the 2000s. She is also known for her humanitarian work and international career.

Priyanka Chopra is an Indian actress and singer born in 1982 in Jamshedpur. Crowned Miss World in 2000, she became one of Bollywood's most popular actresses before breaking into Hollywood. She embodies India's cultural influence on the world stage.

A pioneer of American female hip-hop, Queen Latifah made her mark from the late 1980s with politically engaged and feminist rap. She went on to build a dual career as a singer and actress, becoming one of the most influential women in the entertainment industry.

German filmmaker, playwright, and actor, a major figure of New German Cinema. Over a dazzling career spanning some fifteen years, he directed more than forty films that dissect postwar West German society.

Ray Charles was an American singer, pianist, and composer, blind since childhood. A pioneer of soul, he blended gospel, blues, jazz, and rhythm and blues, becoming one of the major figures of 20th-century popular music.

Renata Tebaldi (1922–2004) was one of the greatest Italian sopranos of the 20th century, celebrated for the purity and power of her voice. She dominated the world's opera stages, most notably La Scala in Milan and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and was the legendary rival of Maria Callas.

Rihanna is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman born in 1988. She rose to international fame in the 2000s and became one of the best-selling music artists in history. She is also the founder of the Fenty Beauty and Savage X Fenty brands.

Rita Hayworth (1918-1987) was an American actress and dancer, considered one of the greatest Hollywood stars of the 1940s. A glamour icon, she is best known for her role in Gilda (1946).

Robert Bresson (1901-1999) was a major French filmmaker of the 20th century. A theorist of pared-down cinema, he forged an aesthetic of austerity by using non-professional actors whom he called his “models.”

American actor considered one of the greatest of his generation and a major figure of New Hollywood. Renowned for his total immersion in his roles, he left his mark on film history through his collaboration with Martin Scorsese. He is also a producer and co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival.

Robert Redford was an American actor, director, and producer, a major figure in 1960s–1970s Hollywood cinema. In 1981 he founded the Sundance Film Festival, which became the world's leading showcase for independent film.

Roberto Rossellini (1906-1977) was an Italian director and a major figure of neorealism. With films like *Rome, Open City*, he revolutionized cinema by capturing the reality of postwar Italy, shooting with a handheld camera and non-professional actors.

Roman Polanski is a Franco-Polish director, producer, and screenwriter born in 1933. A survivor of the Kraków Ghetto during the Holocaust, he became one of the leading figures of international cinema, moving between psychological thrillers and historical dramas.

Franco-German actress (1938-1982), launched to fame by the Sissi trilogy, she went on to establish herself as one of the greatest European actresses under the direction of Visconti, Sautet, and Zurlini. An icon of auteur cinema, her career path illustrates the transformation of the European star system.

Ronald Reagan was the 40th President of the United States (1981-1989). A former Hollywood actor who became Governor of California, he embodied American conservatism and played a major role in the final years of the Cold War.

A principal dancer and choreographer of Soviet origin, Rudolf Nureyev (1938-1993) was one of the greatest classical dancers of the 20th century. After defecting to the West in 1961, he revolutionized the role of the male dancer and directed the Paris Opera Ballet.

Irish writer, playwright and poet who wrote in both French and English. A leading figure of the Theatre of the Absurd, he revolutionised dramatic writing with Waiting for Godot (1953). Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969.

A Polish-born Hollywood producer, Samuel Goldwyn was one of the founders of the American film industry. He co-founded several major studios and produced hundreds of films that shaped the golden age of Hollywood.

British playwright (1971-1999), Sarah Kane is one of the major figures of radical contemporary theatre. Her plays, marked by extreme violence, psychological suffering and the disintegration of language, shook the English-speaking stage in the 1990s.

Indian Bengali filmmaker, writer and composer

An American-Danish actress and singer born in 1984 in New York, Scarlett Johansson established herself in the 2000s as one of Hollywood's most influential actresses. She is also a producer and an advocate for feminist causes.

Selena Gomez is an American singer and actress born on July 22, 1992, in Grand Prairie, Texas. Rising to fame through a Disney Channel series, she became a global pop icon and influential entrepreneur. She is also an advocate for mental health awareness and Latino representation in the media.

French singer-songwriter, film director, and painter (1928–1991), a towering figure of French popular music. A provocateur and poet, he left his mark on popular culture with works blending humor, eroticism, and artistic boldness.

Soviet filmmaker and theorist, a pioneer of cinematic language. He revolutionized the art of film through his theory of the montage of attractions, illustrated in works such as Battleship Potemkin.

A Japanese actress considered one of the greatest in Japanese cinema, she is inseparable from the films of Yasujirō Ozu. Her radiant smile and restrained presence earned her the nickname “Eternal Goddess.” She mysteriously retired from cinema in 1963.

Shakira is a Colombian singer, songwriter, and actress born in 1977 in Barranquilla. A global icon of Latin pop, she blends Arabic, rock, and Afro-Caribbean influences. She was the first Latin American artist to surpass one billion views on YouTube.

French actress and writer (1921–1985), Simone Signoret was the first French actress to win the Academy Award for Best Actress for Room at the Top (1959). An icon of postwar cinema, she was equally recognized for her political activism and her memoirs.

Soni Razdan is an Indian actress born in 1958, known for her roles in Hindi cinema and Indian television series. She is also the mother of actress Alia Bhatt.

Norwegian figure skater, three-time consecutive Olympic champion (1928, 1932, 1936) and ten-time world champion. Reinventing herself as a Hollywood movie star, she revolutionized figure skating by bringing dance and showmanship into the sport.

Italian actress born in 1934, Sophia Loren is one of the greatest stars in world cinema. The first actress to win an Academy Award for a role performed in a foreign language, she embodies both glamour and Italian neorealism.

Spencer Tracy (1900-1967) was one of the most respected actors of Hollywood's golden age. Known for his natural, understated acting, he was the first performer to win two consecutive Academy Awards for Best Actor and formed a famous duo, both on screen and in real life, with Katharine Hepburn.

Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999) was an American director, screenwriter and producer. A former photographer, he became one of the most influential filmmakers of the 20th century, renowned for his perfectionism and the diversity of his genres, from war films to science fiction.

Steven Spielberg is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer born in 1946. A major figure of the New Hollywood movement, he invented the modern blockbuster while also directing critically acclaimed historical films. He ranks among the most influential and popular filmmakers of the late twentieth century.

Stevie Wonder is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, a major figure of soul music and Motown. Blind since birth, he became one of the most influential and award-winning artists in twentieth-century popular music.

Susan Sontag (1933-2004) was a major American intellectual of the 20th century — essayist, novelist, and activist. Known for her reflections on photography, illness, and war, she profoundly shaped contemporary critical thought.

Sylvie Guillem (born 1965) is a French ballet dancer considered one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century. Trained at the Paris Opéra Ballet, she revolutionized classical dance with her exceptional technique and expressiveness. She became an étoile at 19 before pursuing an international career at the Royal Ballet in London.

Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) was one of the greatest American playwrights of the 20th century. His plays, marked by psychological tension and the decline of the American South, profoundly reshaped modern theatre.

Born Anna Mae Bullock in 1939 in Tennessee, Tina Turner is one of the greatest rock and soul singers of the 20th century. After surviving an abusive marriage to Ike Turner, she made a triumphant solo comeback in the 1980s.

Zimbabwean novelist and filmmaker born in 1959, Tsitsi Dangarembga is the first Black woman from Zimbabwe to have published a novel in English. Her work explores colonization, the condition of women, and African identity in a postcolonial society.

Valaida Snow (1904-1956) was an African American jazz trumpeter, singer, and bandleader. Nicknamed “the Queen of the Trumpet,” she enjoyed an international career between the two World Wars before the Second World War shattered her trajectory.

Russian dancer and choreographer of Polish descent, a leading figure of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. His technical virtuosity and revolutionary choreographies (*The Rite of Spring*) profoundly reshaped dance in the early 20th century.

Vittorio De Sica (1901-1974) was an Italian director, screenwriter, and actor, a major figure of neorealism. His film *Bicycle Thieves* (1948) is regarded as a masterpiece of world cinema.

British actress born in 1913, Vivien Leigh is world-famous for her role as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939). A two-time Oscar winner, she embodied Hollywood glamour while also pursuing a demanding stage career in London.

Werner Herzog is a German filmmaker, screenwriter, and actor born in 1942, a leading figure of the New German Cinema. Both his fiction films and his documentaries explore boundless dreams, hostile nature, and the fringes of humanity.

Whitney Houston (1963-2012) is one of the greatest American singers of all time, celebrated for her exceptional voice. She dominated global charts throughout the 1980s and 1990s and starred in the blockbuster film The Bodyguard (1992).

Wim Wenders, born in 1945 in Düsseldorf, is a German director, screenwriter and photographer. A major figure of New German Cinema, he is famous for his films about wandering, memory and the act of looking, as well as for his photographic work.

Wole Soyinka is a Nigerian writer, playwright, and poet born in 1934. The first African author to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986, he is a major figure in the defense of human rights and freedom in Africa.

Wong Kar-wai is a Hong Kong director, screenwriter, and producer born in 1958 in Shanghai. A major figure of Asian auteur cinema, he is celebrated for his mesmerizing visual style and his melancholic stories about love and the passage of time.

Yasujirō Ozu (1903-1963) was a Japanese filmmaker, one of the greatest masters of world cinema. His intimate films delicately portray the Japanese family and the passage of time, in a spare, contemplative style.

Yoko Ono is a Japanese artist born in 1933 in Tokyo, a major figure in conceptual art and the Fluxus movement. A peace activist, she is also known for her artistic and political commitment alongside John Lennon. Her work explores audience participation, peace, and memory.

Youki Desnos (née Lucie Badoul, 1903–1962) was one of the iconic figures of the Parisian bohemian scene between the two World Wars. A model and muse for the painter Foujita, then partner of the Surrealist poet Robert Desnos, she was a central presence in the artistic circles of Montparnasse before becoming a gallerist.

A Tribe Called Quest is an American hip-hop group formed in 1985 in the Queens borough of New York City. Pioneers of jazz rap, its members left their mark on the golden age of rap with their jazz samples and conscious lyrics.

American singer and actress (1979–2001), nicknamed the "Princess of R&B." A revelation at 15 with her debut album, she profoundly influenced pop and R&B music of the 1990s–2000s before dying tragically in a plane crash.

American composer (1900–1990) and a defining figure of 20th-century classical music. He sought to forge a distinctly American musical style by weaving together elements of jazz, folk music, and popular traditions.

American jazz singer, songwriter, and actress, a major figure of artistic commitment to the civil rights movement. Her expressive voice and her lyrics make her an emblematic artist of 20th-century jazz.

Adelaide Hall was an American jazz singer, later a naturalized British citizen, with an exceptionally long career. A pioneer of wordless singing, she rose to prominence in 1927 alongside **Duke Ellington** before becoming a star of the European stage.

Adele is a British singer-songwriter born in 1988 in London. She broke through to mainstream audiences with her album '19' in 2008, and has since established herself as one of the best-selling artists of the 21st century, known for her powerful voice and introspective lyrics.

Agnez Mo is an Indonesian-American singer-songwriter and actress born in 1986 in Jakarta. A pop star in Indonesia from childhood, she broke onto the international scene in the 2010s.

Albert Roussel was a French composer, one of the major figures of French music in the early 20th century. A former naval officer who became a musician, he developed a personal style blending impressionism and neoclassicism.

Alberto Gentili (1873–1954) was an Italian composer and musicologist. He is best known for rediscovering and cataloguing a vast collection of Vivaldi manuscript scores, playing a key role in the revival of the Baroque composer's work.

Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) was a Russian pianist and composer. A figure of late post-Romanticism and Symbolism, he evolved toward a daring harmonic language and a synesthetic mysticism, associating sounds with colors.

Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) was a Soviet, later Russian, composer and a major figure of 20th-century music. A theorist and practitioner of “polystylism,” he blended Baroque and Romantic quotations with modern techniques in a dense, expressive body of work.

Ali Farka Touré was a Malian guitarist and singer, a major figure in African music. Nicknamed the "African John Lee Hooker," he revealed to the world the African roots of the blues by fusing Malian traditions with American blues.

Alia Bhatt is an Indian actress and singer born on March 15, 1993, in Mumbai. The daughter of filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, she has established herself as one of Bollywood's most influential actresses, balancing blockbuster hits with demanding dramatic roles.

American jazz pianist, harpist, organist and composer, a major figure of spiritual jazz. The wife of John Coltrane, she pursued a body of work blending modal jazz, Indian music and a mystical quest.

Alla Pugacheva (born 1949) is the most famous pop singer of the Soviet Union and Russia. Nicknamed "the Primadonna," she dominated the Soviet and then Russian music scene for over forty years. Her career illustrates mass culture and the entertainment industry under a communist regime.

Amina Annabi is a French-Tunisian singer and actress born in 1962. A figure of world music blending Arab-Andalusian influences with Western pop, she represented France at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1991 while also pursuing a parallel career in film.

Amy Beach (1867-1944) was the first American female composer to have a symphony performed by a major professional orchestra. A pioneering figure in American classical music, she composed more than 150 works, including the celebrated Gaelic Symphony (1896).

Anggun is an Indonesian singer born in 1974 in Jakarta, who became a French citizen in 1998. An international pop star, she broke through in France with her hit 'Snow on the Sahara' (1997) and represented France at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012.

American jazz singer (1919-2006), a major figure of swing and later bebop vocals. She rose to fame as the vocalist of the big bands of Gene Krupa and Stan Kenton, distinguishing herself through her rhythmic, percussive phrasing and her mastery of scat singing.

British-American jazz singer and actress, a pioneer of vocalese. A member of the trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, she is famous for setting lyrics to instrumental solos, notably her standard “Twisted” (1952).

Antônio Carlos Jobim, known as Tom Jobim, was a Brazilian composer, pianist, and guitarist. A co-founder of bossa nova in the late 1950s, he helped spread Brazilian music throughout the world.

American singer nicknamed the “Queen of Soul,” Aretha Franklin is one of the most powerful voices of the 20th century. A committed artist, she contributed to the civil rights movement and left her mark on world music with songs that became anthems.

Ariana Grande is an American singer, songwriter, and actress born in 1993 in Florida. She rose to fame through the TV series Victorious before becoming one of the most influential pop artists of her generation. Her response to the 2017 Manchester bombing earned her international recognition.

American jazz drummer and a major figure of hard bop. For over thirty years he founded and led the Jazz Messengers, a band that launched many young musicians who went on to become some of the biggest names in jazz.

Arthur "Art" Tatum (1909-1956) was an American jazz pianist, regarded as one of the greatest virtuosos in the history of the piano. Nearly blind from birth, he revolutionized piano technique through his velocity, his daring harmonies, and his reharmonizations.

Franco-Swiss composer (1892–1955), member of Les Six, Arthur Honegger is the creator of *Pacific 231* and *King David*. His work blends modernism and spirituality.

Italian conductor (1867–1957), considered one of the greatest in history. Music director of La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera, and the New York Philharmonic, he was renowned for his absolute rigor and prodigious memory.

Arvo Pärt is an Estonian composer born in 1935, one of the major figures of contemporary music. After an avant-garde period, he invented the “tintinnabuli” style, founded on simplicity, resonance, and sacred inspiration. He is one of the most frequently performed living composers in the world.

Argentine composer and bandoneon player (1921–1992), Astor Piazzolla revolutionized traditional tango by creating "tango nuevo," a fusion of tango, jazz, and classical music. He is considered one of the most influential musicians in 20th-century Latin America.

Brazilian-American singer born in 1940 and died in 2023, iconic figure of bossa nova. Her soft, understated voice on "The Girl from Ipanema" (1964) introduced this Brazilian style to the world.

Avril Lavigne is a Canadian singer and songwriter born in 1984 in Belleville, Ontario. She broke through in 2002 with her debut album 'Let Go', becoming an icon of alternative rock and pop-punk for an entire generation.

Barbara (1930–1997) was a French singer-songwriter, nicknamed “the Lady in Black.” A pianist and poet of song, she is known for intimate works such as “Nantes” and “The Black Eagle.”

Barbara Carroll (1925-2017) was an American jazz pianist and singer, regarded as one of the first women to play bebop on the piano. She enjoyed a long career in the clubs of New York.

American singer and actress born in 1942 in New York, Barbra Streisand is one of the most awarded artists in entertainment history. She has shaped American pop music and cinema across more than six decades of career.

Béla Bartók was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and musicologist, one of the most important of the 20th century. A pioneer of ethnomusicology, he collected and studied the folk music of Central and Eastern Europe to incorporate it into a modern musical language.

Ben Webster (1909–1973) was an American tenor saxophonist and a towering figure in jazz. He rose to prominence as a member of Duke Ellington's orchestra in the 1940s, developing a warm and expressive style that established him as one of the greatest soloists in jazz history.

American clarinetist and bandleader (1909-1986), nicknamed “the King of Swing”. He helped bring jazz to mainstream white audiences and racially integrated his bands during the 1930s and 1940s.

Bessie Smith (1894–1937) was an American singer nicknamed the “Empress of the Blues.” A towering figure of classic blues in the 1920s, she helped popularize the genre and paved the way for Black American artists.

Betty Carter was an American jazz singer, famous for her art of vocal improvisation and scat. A major figure of bebop, she left her mark on vocal jazz in the second half of the 20th century with her rhythmic and melodic freedom.

Bill Evans (1929-1980) was an American jazz pianist, one of the most influential of the 20th century. His lyrical playing with its impressionistic harmonies and his approach to the trio make him a major figure in modern jazz, notably through his contribution to Miles Davis's album *Kind of Blue*.

African-American jazz singer

Swedish dramatic soprano (1918–2005), considered the greatest Wagnerian interpreter of the 20th century. Her voice, exceptional in both power and clarity, brought her triumphs at Bayreuth, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and the world's most prestigious concert halls.

Blossom Dearie (1924-2009) was an American jazz pianist and singer, recognizable by her light, delicate voice. A figure of intimate vocal jazz, she accompanied herself on piano in the clubs of New York and Paris.

American singer-songwriter born in 1941, a major figure in 20th-century folk and rock music. His socially engaged songs became anthems of the civil rights and anti-war movements. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016.

Bob Marley was a Jamaican singer, guitarist, and songwriter, and a major figure of reggae. As a spokesman for the Rastafari movement, he brought Jamaican music to audiences around the world and embodied a message of peace and resistance.

Boby Lapointe (1922-1972) was a French singer and singer-songwriter famous for his virtuoso lyrics packed with wordplay, puns and spoonerisms. A native of **Pézenas**, he left his mark on French song through his humour and verbal inventiveness.

French writer, musician, and artist (1920–1959), an iconic figure of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Author of Froth on the Daydream, he embodied the spirit of the postwar generation, blending jazz, literature, and provocation.

Brian Eno is a British musician, producer, and theorist born in 1948, regarded as the pioneer of ambient music. Originally a member of Roxy Music, he revolutionized music production by collaborating with David Bowie, U2, and Talking Heads.

French actress, model, and singer, Brigitte Bardot became a global symbol of femininity and freedom during the 1950s and 1960s. An icon of the French New Wave and popular culture, she retired from cinema in 1973 to dedicate herself to animal rights activism.

Britney Spears (born 1981) is an American singer, actress, and pop icon. Launched in the late 1990s, she became one of the best-selling artists in the world. Her career illustrates the excesses of the entertainment industry and the challenges of fame in the media age.

Bruno Coquatrix (1910-1979) was the legendary director of the Olympia in Paris, which he bought in 1954 and transformed into the temple of French music hall. He launched or cemented the careers of major artists such as Édith Piaf, Jacques Brel, and Johnny Hallyday.

Bud Powell was an American jazz pianist and composer, regarded as one of the greatest pianists of bebop. He transposed to the piano the harmonic and rhythmic language invented by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, leaving a lasting influence on the piano playing of modern jazz.

Caetano Veloso (born 1942) is a Brazilian singer, songwriter, and musician, a central figure of the Tropicália movement in the 1960s. Blending Brazilian popular music, rock, and avant-garde, he was exiled by the Brazilian military dictatorship.

American jazz alto saxophonist, a major figure of hard bop and soul jazz. A member of the Miles Davis sextet on the album *Kind of Blue* (1959), he went on to lead his own quintet with his brother, cornetist Nat Adderley.

Carl Nielsen was a Danish composer, conductor, and violinist, regarded as the leading figure of Danish classical music. His work, particularly his six symphonies, marks the transition between late Romanticism and modernity.

Carla Bley (1936-2023) was an American jazz composer, pianist, and bandleader. A leading figure of the avant-garde, she left her mark on free jazz and large-ensemble composition, notably with her jazz opera *Escalator over the Hill*.

Argentine conductor and violinist of Italian origin (1915–2011), Carlo Felice Cillario made his mark in the operatic and symphonic repertoire. He conducted at the world's greatest opera houses, including the Royal Opera House in London and the Paris Opera.

Carlos Gardel was a singer, composer and actor, an iconic figure of Argentine tango. Regarded as the creator of sung tango (“tango canción”), he brought the genre to international fame in the 1920s and 1930s.

Carmen McRae (1922-1994) was an American jazz singer and pianist, regarded as one of the greatest vocal jazz voices of the 20th century. Known for her phrasing that lagged behind the beat and her subtle, ironic interpretation of lyrics, she stands in the lineage of Billie Holiday.

American singer-songwriter born in 1942, Carole King is one of the defining figures of rock and pop from the 1960s–1970s. Her album *Tapestry* (1971) remains one of the best-selling records in history.

Céline Dion is a Quebec singer born on March 30, 1968, in Charlemagne, Canada. Discovered by the public as a teenager, she became one of the best-selling artists in the history of pop music. Her international career symbolizes the global reach of the French-speaking world and the influence of Quebec culture on the world stage.

Nicknamed the “Barefoot Diva,” Cesária Évora is the iconic voice of morna, Cape Verde's melancholic musical genre. Discovered late on the international stage in the 1990s, she brought Cape Verdean Lusophone culture to every corner of the world.

Charles Mingus (1922-1979) was an American jazz double bassist, composer, and bandleader. A major figure in modern jazz, he is renowned for his virtuoso playing and his ambitious compositions blending gospel, blues, and collective improvisation.

Charlie Parker, nicknamed “Bird,” was an American alto saxophonist and composer. With Dizzy Gillespie, he founded bebop in the late 1940s, revolutionizing jazz through his virtuosity and harmonic sense. His dazzling career was cut short by addiction.

A British actress born in 1946, Charlotte Rampling established herself as one of the most distinctive figures in European cinema. Based in France, she collaborated with the greatest directors and embodied a certain idea of rebellious elegance.

Chet Baker (1929-1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and singer, a major figure of West Coast cool jazz. His soft, lyrical trumpet tone and his fragile voice made him an icon, despite a life marked by addiction.

Christina Aguilera is an American singer, songwriter, and actress born in 1980. Breaking through in 1999, she established herself as one of the most powerful voices of her generation, blending pop, R&B, and soul. She became a symbol of female empowerment in the music industry at the turn of the 21st century.

Cleo Laine is a British jazz singer and actress, famous for her deep timbre and an exceptional vocal range of more than three octaves. The lifelong companion of saxophonist and bandleader John Dankworth, she became one of the major figures of 20th-century British vocal jazz.

Clora Bryant (1927-2019) was an American jazz trumpeter, one of the very few women to establish herself as a soloist in bebop. A key figure on the Central Avenue scene in Los Angeles, she rubbed shoulders with the greatest musicians of her time.

Coleman Hawkins (1904-1969) was an American tenor saxophonist widely regarded as the father of the jazz saxophone. He was one of the first to establish the saxophone as a jazz solo instrument and influenced generations of musicians.

William James Basie, known as Count Basie (1904-1984), was an American pianist, organist, and bandleader. A major figure in jazz, he led one of the most famous big bands in history, contributing to the rise of swing in the 1930s–1940s.

Dakota Staton (1930-2007) was an American jazz and blues singer. She rose to fame in the late 1950s and enjoyed huge success with her album The Late, Late Show in 1957.

Pianist and conductor born in Buenos Aires in 1942, Daniel Barenboim is one of the leading figures in classical music worldwide. Music Director of the Berlin Opera and co-founder of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, he is also an advocate for peace in the Middle East.

French composer born in Aix-en-Provence in 1892, member of the Groupe des Six. He developed polytonality and drew inspiration from American jazz and Latin American music to create a prolific body of work of more than 400 opus.

David Lynch (1946-2025) was an American filmmaker, photographer, painter, and musician. A major figure in independent cinema, he is famous for his dreamlike, surreal universe blending strangeness and unease.

Dexter Gordon (1923-1990) was an African American jazz tenor saxophonist and a major figure of bebop. A pioneer of his instrument in this style, he enjoyed a long career between the United States and Europe, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1987.

American singer (1924-1963), nicknamed the “Queen of the Blues.” A major figure in jazz, blues, and rhythm and blues during the 1940s and 1950s, she left her mark on African American music through her incisive phrasing and expressive voice.

An American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader, Dizzy Gillespie was, alongside Charlie Parker, one of the principal founders of bebop in the 1940s. A trumpet virtuoso recognizable by his bent-bell horn and his puffed-out cheeks, he was also a pioneer of Afro-Cuban jazz.

French jazz guitarist

Soviet Russian composer, one of the greatest symphonists of the 20th century. His work, marked by a conflicted relationship with the Stalinist regime, swings between apparent conformity and a tragic expression of the human condition.

American singer, songwriter, and actress born in 1946, icon of country music. Author of classics like "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You", she is also a philanthropist, founder of a children's literacy program.

Dorothy Ashby was an American jazz harpist and composer, considered one of the pioneers who established the harp as a fully-fledged solo instrument in jazz. Active from the 1950s to the 1980s, she blended jazz, world music, and soul.

An African-American actress, singer, and dancer, Dorothy Dandridge became in 1955 the first Black woman nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for Carmen Jones. An icon of Golden Age Hollywood, she broke racial barriers in a deeply segregated industry.

Duke Ellington (1899-1974) was an American pianist, composer, and bandleader, a central figure in jazz. For nearly half a century, he led his big band and composed thousands of works that elevated jazz to the status of a major art form.

Born Édith Giovanna Gassion in 1915 in Paris, Édith Piaf became one of the most celebrated French singers of the 20th century. Nicknamed 'La Môme Piaf' (The Little Sparrow), she is the defining figure of French chanson réaliste and achieved worldwide fame.

Ella Fitzgerald (1917–1996) is considered one of the greatest jazz singers of all time. Nicknamed the “First Lady of Song,” she revolutionized jazz singing through her mastery of scat and the exceptional range of her voice.

Spanish coloratura soprano, one of the great bel canto voices of the early 20th century. Having become a teacher, she was Maria Callas's singing instructor in Athens, passing on to her the art of bel canto.

American singer and actor born in 1935, Elvis Presley is considered the “King of Rock and Roll.” He revolutionized popular music by blending country, gospel, and rhythm and blues, becoming a global icon of pop culture.

Eric Dolphy (1928-1964) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, a virtuoso of the alto saxophone, the flute, and the bass clarinet. A major figure of avant-garde jazz and free jazz, he collaborated with Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, and Ornette Coleman before dying prematurely at the age of 36.

French composer and pianist, a singular figure in music of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A pioneer through his bareness and his humor, he influenced Debussy, Ravel, and the 20th-century avant-gardes.

A pioneering British composer (1858–1944), Ethel Smyth was the first woman to have an opera performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. A suffragist activist, she composed the suffragette anthem 'The March of the Women' (1911).

Ethel Waters (1896-1977) was an African American singer and actress. A pioneer of jazz and vocal blues, she broke racial barriers on Broadway, in film, and on American television, becoming one of the most famous Black artists of the first half of the 20th century.

A Lebanese singer born in 1934, Fairuz is considered one of the most iconic voices in the Arab world. A symbol of national unity, she refused to perform for either side during the Lebanese Civil War. Her repertoire, shaped alongside the Rahbani Brothers, blends classical Arab music, Levantine folk traditions, and modern compositions.

African-American jazz pianist, organist, composer and singer, major figure of stride piano. A virtuoso showman, he marked jazz in the 1920s-1930s with standards like "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Honeysuckle Rose."

Nigerian musician and activist

Flora Purim is a Brazilian jazz singer born in 1942 in Rio de Janeiro. A major figure in jazz fusion, she is celebrated for her remarkably wide vocal range and her pioneering role in bringing together Brazilian music and American jazz.

Florence Price (1887-1953) was an American composer and pianist, the first African American woman to have a symphony performed by a major American orchestra. Her work blends European classical influences with African American spirituals.

François Truffaut (1932–1984) was one of the pioneers of the French New Wave. A critic at *Cahiers du Cinéma*, he became an iconic filmmaker with movies such as *The 400 Blows* and *Jules and Jim*.

An American avant-garde composer and guitarist, Frank Zappa is one of the most original figures in rock and experimental music of the 20th century. Founder of the band The Mothers of Invention, he blended rock, jazz, contemporary classical music, and satirical humor.

Freddie Hubbard (1938-2008) was an American jazz trumpeter, one of the major figures of hard bop. Blessed with a brilliant technique and a dazzling sound, he left his mark on the 1960s and 1970s before broadening his style toward jazz fusion.

Freddie Mercury (1946-1991) was a British singer, songwriter, and pianist, the iconic frontman of the rock band Queen. Renowned for his exceptional voice and showmanship, he left a profound mark on popular music worldwide.

Gala is an Italian pop and dance singer born in 1975 in Turin. She achieved international success in the late 1990s with hits such as “Freed from Desire” (1997), which have become classics of dance music.

American composer and pianist (1898–1937), George Gershwin revolutionized music by blending jazz, blues, and classical music. The creator of Rhapsody in Blue and the opera Porgy and Bess, he is one of the defining symbols of twentieth-century American culture.

Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983) was the only woman in the famous French musical collective known as 'Les Six'. A prolific composer, she created works for piano, orchestra, and opera, maintaining an elegant neoclassical style throughout a career spanning nearly seven decades.

Gerry Mulligan (1927-1996) was an American baritone saxophonist, composer, and arranger, a major figure of cool jazz. He made his mark with his pianoless quartet formed with trumpeter Chet Baker and with his participation in the founding sessions of “cool” jazz.

Giacomo Puccini was an Italian composer, one of the greatest masters of opera of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. An heir to Verdi, he left his mark on the verismo movement with works of exceptional dramatic and melodic intensity.

Gilberto Gil is a Brazilian singer, guitarist, and composer, a major figure of the Tropicália movement of the 1960s. Having become Brazil's Minister of Culture under President Lula (2003-2008), he embodies the link between artistic engagement and public service.

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) was an Austrian composer and conductor, a major figure of post-Romanticism. His vast symphonies and song cycles bridge the Romantic tradition of the 19th century and the musical modernism of the 20th century.

Hungarian-born composer who became a naturalized Austrian citizen, a major figure of 20th-century contemporary music. The inventor of micropolyphony, he left his mark on the avant-garde through his dense sound textures and his rejection of serialist dogmas.

Jazz pianist and singer of Trinidadian and American descent, a virtuoso known for her arrangements blending classical music and swing. A star of nightclubs and the silver screen, she was also a civil rights activist who refused to perform for segregated audiences.

Hebe Camargo (1929-2012) was an icon of Brazilian television, a singer and TV host who shaped Brazil's popular culture for more than six decades. She began her career in radio in the 1940s before becoming a fixture on Brazilian television from its earliest days.

Helen Merrill (born Jelena Ana Milčetić, 1929-2025) was an American jazz singer of Croatian descent. Known for her intimate, hushed voice, she established herself from the 1950s onward as a leading interpreter of standards and vocal jazz.

Henryk Górecki was a Polish composer and a major figure in contemporary music during the second half of the 20th century. Initially tied to the serialist avant-garde, he evolved toward a more stripped-down and spiritual style, achieving worldwide fame with his Third Symphony.

Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989) was an Austrian conductor, one of the most famous of the 20th century. Music director of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for more than thirty years, he left his mark on the history of orchestral conducting and the classical recording.

American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer born in 1940. He rose to prominence in Miles Davis's quintet during the 1960s, becoming one of the leading figures of modal jazz and later of jazz-funk fusion, while never ceasing to explore new electronic sounds.

French-Greek composer, mathematician and architect, a pioneer of algorithmic and stochastic music. He applied mathematics and probability theory to musical composition, revolutionizing the music of the 20th century.

Igor Stravinsky is one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. With his ballets for the Ballets Russes — *The Firebird*, *Petrushka*, and above all *The Rite of Spring* — he revolutionized musical language through bold rhythms and dissonances. Naturalized as a French then American citizen, he traversed all the major aesthetic movements of his time.

Ina Ray Hutton (1916-1984) was an American bandleader, singer, and dancer of the swing era. Nicknamed “The Blonde Bombshell of Rhythm,” she led the Melodears in the 1930s, one of the first all-female big bands, before hosting her own musical television show in the 1950s.

Jaco Pastorius was an American bassist regarded as one of the greatest electric bass virtuosos in history. A member of the jazz fusion band Weather Report, he revolutionized fretless bass playing and the instrument's melodic role within jazz.

James Brown (1933-2006) was an American singer, songwriter, and producer, nicknamed the "Godfather of Funk." A pioneer of soul and then funk, he profoundly shaped African American popular music and influenced hip-hop, disco, and pop worldwide.

American rock and blues singer, icon of the countercultural movement of the 1960s. Known for her powerful voice and psychedelic style, she remains one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.

Finnish composer, a major figure of late Romanticism and musical nationalism. His work, marked by seven symphonies and the symphonic poem Finlandia, became a symbol of Finnish national identity in the face of Russian domination.

Franco-Swiss filmmaker (1930–2022) and a major figure of the French New Wave. He revolutionized the language of cinema with films such as Breathless (1960), challenging the conventions of traditional storytelling.

Jeanne Lee (1939-2000) was an American avant-garde jazz singer, poet, and composer. A pioneer of free vocal improvisation, she explored extended vocal techniques and the fusion of voice, poetry, and free jazz.

American pianist, composer, and bandleader, a major figure in the early days of jazz in New Orleans. He proclaimed himself “the inventor of jazz” and was one of the first to set his compositions down in writing, bridging ragtime and orchestrated jazz.

Jennifer Lopez, born in 1969 in the Bronx, New York, is an American singer, actress, and dancer of Puerto Rican descent. She established herself in the 1990s as one of the most influential Latin artists in the world.

African-American soprano considered one of the greatest operatic voices of the 20th century. Born in 1945 in Georgia, she rose to prominence on the world's most prestigious stages (the Met Opera, Bayreuth, Covent Garden). A figure in the civil rights movement, she performed *La Marseillaise* on the Champs-Élysées during the bicentennial of the French Revolution in 1989.

American guitarist, singer-songwriter, and singer, regarded as one of the most influential in the history of rock. Over just a few years of his career, he revolutionized electric guitar playing before his untimely death at the age of 27.

Joan Sutherland (1926-2010) was an Australian soprano regarded as one of the greatest lyric voices of the 20th century. Nicknamed “La Stupenda”, she was celebrated for her interpretations of the bel canto repertoire of Donizetti, Bellini, and Verdi.

João Gilberto was a Brazilian musician, singer, and guitarist, considered one of the fathers of bossa nova. His syncopated guitar style and whispered voice revolutionized Brazilian popular music in the late 1950s.

Joe Henderson (1937-2001) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and composer. A major figure of hard bop and post-bop, he made his name in the 1960s at Blue Note before achieving belated recognition and numerous awards in the 1990s.

John Cage (1912-1992) was an American composer, theorist, and visual artist, a major figure of the 20th-century musical avant-garde. A pioneer of chance music and of silence as sonic material, he profoundly reshaped the very conception of the musical work.

John Coltrane (1926-1967) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and composer. A major figure of modal jazz and free jazz, he profoundly renewed the language of improvisation and gave his music a spiritual dimension.

Canadian singer-songwriter and painter born in 1943, Joni Mitchell is one of the central figures of folk-rock and jazz fusion. Her album *Blue* (1971) is considered one of the greatest albums in the history of popular music.

Judy Garland (1922-1969) was an American actress and singer, and one of Hollywood's most iconic figures. She rose to fame at 17 in The Wizard of Oz (1939), becoming the defining star of Hollywood's golden age of musical cinema. Her extraordinary voice and tragic life story made her a symbol of 20th-century popular culture.

June Christy (1925-1990) was an American jazz singer and a major figure of the cool jazz movement. After rising to fame within Stan Kenton's big band in the 1940s, she went on to establish a successful solo career with her soft, velvety voice.

Jutta Hipp (1925-2003) was a German jazz pianist, one of the few female instrumentalists in post-war European jazz. After emigrating to the United States in 1955, she recorded for the prestigious Blue Note label before abruptly abandoning music to become a seamstress and painter.

Born in 1959 in Mali, Kandia Kouyaté is a Mandinka griot singer nicknamed "the Diva of the Mande." From the renowned Kouyaté griot lineage, she is one of the greatest voices of the oral griot tradition, transmitting epic songs and the collective memory of the Mali Empire.

German composer, a major figure of electronic music and the 20th-century avant-garde. A pioneer of serial and then electroacoustic music, he profoundly renewed musical language after 1945.

British singer, pianist, and composer born in 1958, Kate Bush burst onto the scene in 1978 with “Wuthering Heights”. A pioneer of experimental pop, she blends rock, classical music, and electronics with rare creativity and artistic independence.

Kate Winslet is a British actress born in 1975 in Reading, England. She rose to worldwide fame through James Cameron's Titanic in 1997 and is considered one of the greatest actresses of her generation. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2009 for her role in The Reader.

Katy Perry is an American singer-songwriter born in 1984 in Santa Barbara. She rose to prominence in the 2000s–2010s as one of the best-selling pop artists in the world, with global hits such as 'Roar' and 'Firework'.

Keith Jarrett is an American jazz pianist and composer born in 1945. Famous for his fully improvised solo concerts, he created the Köln Concert (1975), one of the best-selling solo piano albums in history.

Kraftwerk is a German band founded in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Pioneers of electronic music, they popularized the use of synthesizers, drum machines and robotic sounds, leaving a lasting influence on techno, synth-pop and hip-hop.

Kurt Cobain (1967-1994) was an American musician, singer, guitarist, and songwriter for the band Nirvana. A major figure of the grunge movement, he became one of the icons of the 1990s alternative rock scene before his untimely death at the age of 27.

Born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta in 1986 in New York, Lady Gaga is an American singer-songwriter and actress. A multi-faceted artist, she has established herself as one of the defining figures of global pop music in the 21st century.

Lana Del Rey, born Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, is an American singer-songwriter born in 1985. Known for her melancholic lyrics and retro aesthetic, she blends pop, indie, and cinematic elements across acclaimed albums such as 'Born to Die' (2012).

Nicknamed the “Nightingale of India”, Lata Mangeshkar (1929–2022) is the most celebrated playback singer in Indian cinema. Over a career spanning more than 70 years, she recorded over 30,000 songs in some thirty languages, becoming a national cultural icon.

American composer and conductor (1918–1990), Leonard Bernstein led the New York Philharmonic and composed major works blending classical music and jazz. He is world-renowned for the musical West Side Story (1957).

Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, and novelist. First recognized as a writer, he became one of the great figures of folk music, blending poetry, spirituality, and melancholy. His song *Hallelujah* became a worldwide classic.

An African-American lyric soprano born in 1927, Leontyne Price was the first Black woman to achieve the rank of prima donna at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Celebrated for her interpretations of Verdi, she embodied both artistic excellence and triumph over racial segregation.

Major Czech (Moravian) composer at the turn of the twentieth century. First a teacher and folklorist, he achieved late recognition with the opera Jenůfa and forged a musical language rooted in the inflections of spoken speech.

Lester Young (1909-1959) was an American tenor saxophonist considered one of the fathers of cool jazz. His lyrical, airy style influenced generations of musicians, most notably Charlie Parker.

American pianist, composer, and bandleader, one of the first major female figures in jazz. A member of King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band and then a mainstay of Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven, she was also his wife.

French composer (1893–1918), Lili Boulanger was the first woman to win the Prix de Rome in 1913. Despite a brief life, she left a remarkable body of work marked by a personal and expressive harmonic language.

American singer-songwriter, Loretta Lynn is one of the founding figures of country music. Born into a poor family in the Appalachians, she authentically sang about the lives of rural American women, their joys and struggles.

American jazz trumpeter and singer born in New Orleans, nicknamed “Satchmo.” A founding figure of jazz, he revolutionized the art form with his virtuoso trumpet playing and his “scat” singing. He became one of the most famous musicians of the 20th century.

Luciano Berio (1925-2003) was an Italian composer, a major figure in contemporary music and the postwar avant-garde. A pioneer of electroacoustic music, he is known for his explorations of the human voice and his virtuosic instrumental writing.

American blues singer, known as the "Mother of the Blues." A pioneer of classic blues, she was one of the first African American artists to record records in the 1920s and influenced an entire generation of female singers.

American singer, dancer, and businesswoman born in 1958, Madonna emerged in the 1980s as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Nicknamed the "Queen of Pop," she constantly pushes the boundaries of artistic creation and asserts her independence in a music industry dominated by men.

Mahalia Jackson (1911-1972) was the greatest American gospel singer of all time. A powerful voice of Black Christian faith, she was also a major figure in the civil rights movement alongside Martin Luther King.

African American pianist and composer (1913–1972), Margaret Bonds was one of the first Black women to make her mark in American classical music. She blended gospel, blues, and European classical influences, and collaborated closely with Langston Hughes.

Marguerite Monnot (1903-1961) was a French composer, classically trained pianist who became one of the great musical forces of French song. She wrote many hits for Édith Piaf as well as the musical "Irma la Douce."

La Divina, the most celebrated opera soprano of the 20th century

An African-American contralto (1897–1993), Marian Anderson was one of the greatest operatic voices of her era. In 1939, barred from Constitution Hall because of her race, she sang before 75,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial. In 1955, she became the first African-American woman to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

British-American jazz pianist Marian McPartland made her mark on the New York scene from the 1950s onward. She is best known for hosting the radio show “Piano Jazz” for more than thirty years on the American public radio network NPR.

An American actress, model, and singer, Marilyn Monroe became one of the major cultural icons of the 20th century. A symbol of Hollywood glamour and American consumer society in the 1950s–1960s, her tragic life continues to fuel conversations about the treatment of women in the entertainment industry.

A German-American actress and singer, Marlene Dietrich established herself as an icon of Hollywood cinema in the 1930s. Refusing to collaborate with the Nazi regime, she committed herself to the Allied cause during the Second World War.

Marvin Gaye (1939-1984) was an American singer, songwriter, and producer, a major figure in soul music and Motown. With the album *What's Going On* (1971), he transformed soul into a vehicle for social and political engagement.

Mary Lou Williams (1910-1981) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. A major and influential figure across several decades, she moved through all the great jazz styles, from swing to bebop, and was a mentor to many musicians.

Mary Osborne (1921-1992) was an American jazz guitarist, one of the few women instrumentalists to make a name for herself in the swing and bebop eras. Inspired after hearing Charlie Christian, she became a much-sought-after studio musician in New York.

Maurice Ravel was a French composer and one of the great figures of early 20th-century music. A master of orchestration, he is famous for the Boléro and associated with the impressionist movement alongside Claude Debussy.

Maxwell Lemuel Roach (1924-2007) was an American jazz drummer, percussionist, and composer. A pioneer of bebop alongside Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, he was also a committed activist for civil rights.

American jazz pianist, one of the most influential of the post-war era. A member of John Coltrane's historic quartet, he developed a recognizable piano style built on quartal chords and a powerful left-hand technique.

Melba Liston (1926-1999) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, and arranger. A pioneer as a woman instrumentalist in the big bands of the bebop era, she collaborated with Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, and above all the pianist Randy Weston.

Nicknamed “La Negra,” Mercedes Sosa (1935–2009) was one of the greatest voices in Latin America. An iconic figure of the Nueva Canción movement, she channeled through her music the struggle for social justice and the dignity of oppressed peoples.

Michael Jackson was an American singer, dancer and songwriter, nicknamed the “King of Pop.” A major figure in 20th-century popular music, he revolutionized the music video and live performance through his choreography. His album Thriller (1982) remains the best-selling album in history.

Michel Petrucciani (1962-1999) was a French jazz pianist and composer, one of the greatest European virtuosos of his instrument. Affected by a rare bone disease, he led a dazzling international career before dying at the age of 36.

Miles Davis (1926-1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader. A major figure of the musical 20th century, he relentlessly reinvented jazz, from cool jazz to modal jazz and on to electric fusion.

Born in 1992 in the United States, Miley Cyrus is a versatile artist who has established herself as a singer-songwriter and actress. She first rose to fame through the Hannah Montana series (Disney Channel), before successfully transitioning to an independent and outspoken musical career.

South African jazz singer and political activist

Revue headliner and undisputed star of the French music hall, Mistinguett reigned over the stages of the Moulin Rouge, the Folies Bergère, and the Casino de Paris from the Belle Époque through the 1950s. Famous for her insured legs, her popular charm, and her song “Mon Homme”, she was the most popular French entertainer of the first half of the 20th century.

French pedagogue, pianist, organist, choral conductor, orchestral conductor, and composer

Natalia Oreiro is a Uruguayan actress and singer born in 1977 in Montevideo. She gained international fame through Argentine telenovelas of the 1990s and 2000s, and a music career that made her especially popular in Eastern Europe.

An Australian-American actress born in 1967, Nicole Kidman is one of Hollywood's greatest stars. She won the Academy Award in 2003 for The Hours, and has left her mark on world cinema through the range of her roles and her artistic commitment.

Soviet leader from 1953 to 1964, Khrushchev succeeded Stalin and launched a policy of de-Stalinization. A central figure of the Cold War, he confronted the United States during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

American jazz singer, pianist, composer, and civil rights activist for Black people

Norma Winstone is a British jazz singer born in 1941, a major figure in European vocal jazz. Famous for her wordless vocalises and her art of writing lyrics for instrumental themes, she has profoundly shaped contemporary jazz.

American rapper born in Brooklyn, a major figure of 1990s East Coast hip-hop. His flow and storytelling made him one of the most influential artists in rap, before his murder at the age of 24.

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) was a French composer, organist and teacher, one of the major figures of 20th-century music. A deeply devout Catholic and a passionate ornithologist, he renewed musical language through his research into rhythm, sound color and birdsong.

Ornette Coleman (1930-2015) was an American saxophonist, composer, and theorist. A major figure of avant-garde jazz, he was the leading pioneer of free jazz, a movement that freed improvisation from traditional harmonic frameworks.

Canadian jazz pianist and composer (1925-2007), regarded as one of the greatest virtuosos of jazz piano. Renowned for his dazzling technique, his swing, and his feel for the blues, he recorded more than 200 albums.

Otis Redding (1941-1967) was an American singer and songwriter, a major figure in 1960s soul music. An iconic voice on the Stax label in Memphis, he died prematurely in a plane crash at age 26, shortly after recording his greatest hit.

Umm Kulthum was an Egyptian singer and actress, one of the greatest voices of the Arab world in the 20th century. Nicknamed “the Star of the East,” she shaped generations through her radio-broadcast concerts and a repertoire blending love, patriotism, and classical poetry.

Patsy Cline (1932–1963) was a pioneering American country singer celebrated for her powerful, expressive voice. She was one of the first country artists to cross over to mainstream pop audiences with songs like 'Crazy' and 'I Fall to Pieces'. Her career was abruptly cut short when she died in a plane crash at the age of 30.

American singer, poet, and artist born in 1946, a pioneer of New York's punk rock movement in the 1970s. Her album *Horses* (1975) blends beat poetry with raw rock, making her an icon of the counterculture.

Peggy Lee (1920-2002) was an American jazz and pop singer, songwriter, and actress. Discovered with Benny Goodman's orchestra, she established herself as a soloist with hits like "Fever" and "Is That All There Is?".

American jazz saxophonist (1940-2022), a major figure of free jazz and spiritual jazz. A collaborator of John Coltrane in the 1960s, he developed an intense style blending powerful breath, ecstatic sonorities, and African and Eastern inspirations.

Philip Glass is an American composer born in 1937, a major figure of minimalist music. He made his name with operas and film scores built on repetitive, hypnotic structures.

260th pope of the Catholic Church (1939–1958), Pius XII led the Church through the Second World War and the Cold War. His attitude toward the Holocaust remains controversial to this day.

Priyanka Chopra is an Indian actress and singer born in 1982 in Jamshedpur. Crowned Miss World in 2000, she became one of Bollywood's most popular actresses before breaking into Hollywood. She embodies India's cultural influence on the world stage.

Chuck D is the leader and main lyricist of the American hip-hop group Public Enemy, founded in 1985. A major figure of political rap, he turned hip-hop into a platform for denouncing racism and social injustice in the United States.

A pioneer of American female hip-hop, Queen Latifah made her mark from the late 1980s with politically engaged and feminist rap. She went on to build a dual career as a singer and actress, becoming one of the most influential women in the entertainment industry.

Quincy Jones (1933-2024) is one of the most influential musicians and producers of the 20th century. A jazz composer, arranger, and bandleader, he is also the producer of Michael Jackson's best-selling albums, including Thriller.

Indian (Bengali) poet, novelist, composer, and philosopher, a leading figure of the Bengal Renaissance. The first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1913, for his collection Gitanjali. A humanist thinker and educator, he founded the university at Santiniketan.

Indian sitarist and composer

Ray Charles was an American singer, pianist, and composer, blind since childhood. A pioneer of soul, he blended gospel, blues, jazz, and rhythm and blues, becoming one of the major figures of 20th-century popular music.

Renata Tebaldi (1922–2004) was one of the greatest Italian sopranos of the 20th century, celebrated for the purity and power of her voice. She dominated the world's opera stages, most notably La Scala in Milan and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and was the legendary rival of Maria Callas.

Rihanna is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman born in 1988. She rose to international fame in the 2000s and became one of the best-selling music artists in history. She is also the founder of the Fenty Beauty and Savage X Fenty brands.

Run-DMC is an American hip-hop group from Queens (New York), formed in 1983. Made up of Joseph "Run" Simmons, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels, and DJ Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell, it is considered one of the major pioneers of rap.

Salif Keïta is a Malian singer and songwriter born in 1949, nicknamed “the golden voice of Africa.” An albino descendant of Mali's royal dynasty, he established himself as a major figure in modern African music by blending Mandinka traditions with Western sounds.

Sam Cooke (1931-1964) was an American singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur, considered one of the founding fathers of soul music. Coming from gospel, he managed to unite spirituality and popular music and became a figure in the fight for civil rights.

Japanese politician born in 1961, member of the Liberal Democratic Party. She has held several ministerial positions in Japan, including Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications. Known for her conservative views and interest in Japanese pop culture.

American jazz singer (1924–1990), nicknamed “The Divine One” or “Sassy,” Sarah Vaughan is considered one of the greatest voices of the 20th century. Her exceptional timbre, vibrato, and technical mastery earned her international recognition.

An American-Danish actress and singer born in 1984 in New York, Scarlett Johansson established herself in the 2000s as one of Hollywood's most influential actresses. She is also a producer and an advocate for feminist causes.

Selena Gomez is an American singer and actress born on July 22, 1992, in Grand Prairie, Texas. Rising to fame through a Disney Channel series, she became a global pop icon and influential entrepreneur. She is also an advocate for mental health awareness and Latino representation in the media.

American singer of Mexican descent, nicknamed the “Queen of Tejano music.” A rising star of Latin pop, she was murdered at age 23 in 1995 by the president of her fan club, becoming a posthumous cultural icon.

Russian impresario and patron of the arts, Diaghilev founded the Ballets Russes in 1909, revolutionizing choreographic art by bringing together the greatest artists of his era. He collaborated with Stravinsky, Picasso, Matisse, and Nijinsky to create total spectacles blending dance, music, and the visual arts.

French singer-songwriter, film director, and painter (1928–1991), a towering figure of French popular music. A provocateur and poet, he left his mark on popular culture with works blending humor, eroticism, and artistic boldness.

Russian, then Soviet, composer, pianist and conductor, one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century. His work, marked by a biting lyricism and great rhythmic inventiveness, spans symphonies, operas, ballets and film scores.

Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor, one of the last great representatives of late Romanticism. After emigrating in the wake of the 1917 revolution, he continued his career in the United States, where he became one of the most famous pianists of his time.

Shakira is a Colombian singer, songwriter, and actress born in 1977 in Barranquilla. A global icon of Latin pop, she blends Arabic, rock, and Afro-Caribbean influences. She was the first Latin American artist to surpass one billion views on YouTube.

Sheila Jordan, born in 1928 in Detroit, is an American jazz singer. Shaped by bebop and the music of Charlie Parker, she is celebrated for her inventive phrasing and for having popularized the voice-and-double-bass duo.

Shirley Horn (1934-2005) was an American jazz pianist and singer. Famous for her intimate phrasing and very slow tempos, she accompanied herself on the piano and achieved late but dazzling recognition in the 1990s.

Sidney Bechet was an American clarinetist and soprano saxophonist, one of the first great jazz soloists. Born in New Orleans, he was a major figure of traditional jazz and ended his life famous in France.

Siramori Diabaté (c. 1920–1989) was a renowned Malian griot woman from the village of Kéla, Mali, belonging to the Mandinka people. A keeper of the Sundiata Keita epic, she was one of the most celebrated transmitters of the griot oral tradition in the 20th century.

A Russian-Tatar composer born in 1931, Sofia Gubaidulina is one of the leading figures of contemporary music. Her deeply spiritual work blends Eastern and Western influences, and was long marginalized in the USSR.

Sonny Rollins, born Theodore Walter Rollins, was one of the most influential tenor saxophonists in jazz history. A major figure of the post-bebop era, he left his mark on the genre with albums like *Saxophone Colossus* (1956) and composed standards played worldwide, such as "Oleo" and "St. Thomas." He passed away on May 25, 2026, in Woodstock at the age of 95.

American tenor saxophonist and a leading figure of 1950s “cool” jazz. Nicknamed “The Sound” for the warm, lyrical tone of his instrument, he popularized bossa nova in the United States in the early 1960s.

Stéphane Grappelli (1908-1997) was a French jazz violinist who co-founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt. A leading figure of gypsy jazz, he raised the violin to the status of a jazz solo instrument over a career spanning nearly sixty years.

Steve Reich is an American composer born in 1936, a major figure of minimalist music. With his techniques of phasing and repetition, he profoundly renewed Western art music in the second half of the 20th century.

Stevie Wonder is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, a major figure of soul music and Motown. Blind since birth, he became one of the most influential and award-winning artists in twentieth-century popular music.

Sun Ra (1914-1993) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader. A pioneer of the avant-garde, he founded the Sun Ra Arkestra and developed a “cosmic” aesthetic blending free jazz, Egyptian mysticism, and the imagery of outer space.

Taylor Swift is an American singer-songwriter born in 1989 in Pennsylvania. She began her career in country music before becoming one of the most influential pop artists of her generation. Her work explores universal themes such as love, identity, and female empowerment.

Terry Riley is an American composer born in 1935, a pioneering figure of minimalist music. His work In C (1964) is considered one of the founding acts of this movement that transformed twentieth-century music.

John Lennon was a British musician, singer, and songwriter, a founding member of the Beatles, the most influential rock band of the 20th century. After the band's breakup in 1970, he pursued a solo career and became a figure of pacifism before his assassination in 1980.

Paul McCartney is a British songwriter, singer and bassist, co-founder of the Beatles. With John Lennon, he formed one of the most influential songwriting duos of the 20th century, before pursuing a solo career and going on with the band Wings.

Thelonious Monk (1917-1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer, a major figure of bebop. His distinctive harmonic and rhythmic style, built on dissonance and silence, profoundly renewed the language of modern jazz.

German philosopher, sociologist, and musicologist, a major figure of the Frankfurt School and of Critical Theory. Together with Max Horkheimer, he analyzed the mechanisms of domination in modern societies and put forward a radical critique of mass culture.

Born Anna Mae Bullock in 1939 in Tennessee, Tina Turner is one of the greatest rock and soul singers of the 20th century. After surviving an abusive marriage to Ike Turner, she made a triumphant solo comeback in the 1980s.

Thom Yorke, born in 1968, is a British musician, singer, guitarist and main songwriter of the rock band Radiohead, formed in 1985. His distinctive voice and experimental songwriting deeply shaped the alternative rock of the 1990s and 2000s.

Toshiko Akiyoshi is a Japanese American jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader born in 1929. The first Japanese student at the Berklee College of Music, she has led a celebrated big band since 1973, blending American jazz with elements of traditional Japanese music.

An American rapper, songwriter, and actor, Tupac Shakur is one of the major figures of West Coast hip-hop. His socially conscious lyrics about racial inequality and urban violence left a lasting mark on popular culture. He was shot and killed in Las Vegas in 1996, at the age of 25.

Valaida Snow (1904-1956) was an African American jazz trumpeter, singer, and bandleader. Nicknamed “the Queen of the Trumpet,” she enjoyed an international career between the two World Wars before the Second World War shattered her trajectory.

Vi Redd (1928-2022) was an American jazz alto saxophonist and singer, one of the few recognized women instrumentalists on the postwar jazz scene. An heir to Charlie Parker's bebop style, she pursued a dual career as a musician and a teacher.

American jazz saxophonist (tenor and soprano) and composer, a major figure of modern jazz. He made his name with the Jazz Messengers, Miles Davis's second great quintet, and then the jazz-fusion band Weather Report, which he co-founded.

Wes Montgomery (1923-1968) was an American jazz guitarist, one of the most influential in the instrument's history. Recognizable by his thumb-picking technique and his melodies played in octaves, he left his mark on hard bop before achieving great popular success in the 1960s.

Whitney Houston (1963-2012) is one of the greatest American singers of all time, celebrated for her exceptional voice. She dominated global charts throughout the 1980s and 1990s and starred in the blockbuster film The Bodyguard (1992).

Wilhelm Furtwängler was a German conductor and composer, considered one of the greatest musical directors of the 20th century. He notably led the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and remains famous for his interpretations of Beethoven, Brahms, and Wagner. His career under the Third Reich still sparks debate about his relationship with the Nazi regime.

Yoko Ono is a Japanese artist born in 1933 in Tokyo, a major figure in conceptual art and the Fluxus movement. A peace activist, she is also known for her artistic and political commitment alongside John Lennon. Her work explores audience participation, peace, and memory.

Youssou N'Dour is a Senegalese singer and composer born in 1959, a major figure in African music and a popularizer of mbalax. Having become a global star, he also entered politics, holding several ministerial positions in Senegal.

Israeli crystallographer and molecular biologist, Ada Yonath elucidated the three-dimensional structure of the ribosome, the cellular machinery responsible for protein synthesis. She received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009, the first woman to do so in 45 years.

American computer scientist born in 1945, Adele Goldberg worked at Xerox PARC where she contributed to the development of the Smalltalk programming language. She played a pioneering role in the design of graphical user interfaces and object-oriented programming.

Egyptian-American chemist and pioneer of femtochemistry, he revolutionized the observation of chemical reactions by filming the movement of atoms at the femtosecond timescale. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1999, he is regarded as the father of ultrafast chemistry.

A French doctor and biologist, Alain Bombard crossed the Atlantic in 1952 aboard an inflatable dinghy without provisions or water, to prove that a castaway could survive at sea. Having become a popular hero, he also served as a Member of the European Parliament and Secretary of State for the Environment.

A pioneering American computer scientist in object-oriented programming, Alan Kay designed the Smalltalk language and envisioned the concept of a portable personal computer (the Dynabook) in the 1970s. His work at the Xerox PARC laboratories transformed modern computing.

Alan Shepard was the first American to travel in space, on May 5, 1961, during the suborbital flight of Freedom 7. A Navy pilot turned NASA astronaut, he also walked on the Moon in 1971 during the Apollo 14 mission.

British mathematician and cryptologist (1912-1954), Alan Turing is the founder of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. He contributed to the decryption of the Enigma machine during the Second World War and formalized the concepts of computability and algorithm.

American physician and virologist of Polish origin. In the 1950s he developed the live attenuated oral vaccine against poliomyelitis, administered on a sugar cube, which made possible mass vaccination campaigns around the world.

An Alsatian theologian, philosopher, musicologist, and physician, he founded a hospital at Lambaréné in Gabon, where he devoted his life to caring for African populations. A thinker of “reverence for life,” he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952.

Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov was the first person to perform a spacewalk on March 18, 1965, during the Voskhod 2 mission. A trained military pilot, he embodies the boldness of the Soviet space program.

Alice Ball was an African American chemist known for developing an injectable treatment for leprosy made from chaulmoogra oil. She died at just 24, and her pioneering work was not recognized until decades later.

French poet and writer (1896–1966), co-founder and theorist of Surrealism. He authored the Manifestoes of Surrealism and gathered around him a generation of revolutionary artists and writers.

British mathematician born in 1953, famous for proving Fermat's Last Theorem in 1994 after seven years of secret work. His proof, published in 1995, solved a problem that had been open for 358 years.

Austrian-British psychoanalyst (1895–1982), daughter of Sigmund Freud. A pioneer of child psychoanalysis, she theorized the ego's defense mechanisms and founded child therapy in London.

Anna Mani (1918-2001) was an Indian physicist and meteorologist. A pioneer of meteorology in India, she designed instruments to measure solar radiation, ozone, and wind, contributing to her country's scientific growth after independence.

An African American mathematician and computer scientist at NASA, Annie Easley contributed to the development of Centaur rockets and early solar energy technologies. A pioneer in a field dominated by white men, she also advocated for equal access to education.

A pioneering American astronomer, Annie Jump Cannon revolutionized astronomy by classifying the spectra of more than 350,000 stars. Her spectral classification system (OBAFGKM) is still in use today.

Antony Hewish (1924-2021) was a British radio astronomer. He led the work that resulted in the discovery of pulsars in 1967 and received the Nobel Prize in Physics for it in 1974, shared with Martin Ryle.

Asima Chatterjee (1917-2006) was a pioneering Indian chemist who specialized in the chemistry of natural products and medicinal plants. She was the first woman to receive a Doctor of Science degree from an Indian university.

Swiss physicist (1884–1962), he was the first person to reach the stratosphere by balloon (1931), then designed the bathyscaphe to explore the ocean depths. A pioneer of extreme exploration, he pushed the boundaries of scientific knowledge in both vertical directions.

Barbara McClintock is a pioneering American geneticist who discovered transposable elements, known as "jumping genes," in maize as early as the 1940s. Long overlooked by the scientific community, she received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1983, the only woman to have received it unshared in that discipline.

Beatrice Shilling (1909-1990) was a British aeronautical engineer. She is famous for solving a serious flaw in the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines that powered RAF fighters during the Second World War.

Beatrice Tinsley is a New Zealand astronomer and cosmologist of British origin, a pioneer in the study of galaxy evolution. Her work transformed our understanding of how galaxies form and age over the course of the Universe's history.

An American inventor nicknamed "Lady Edison," Beulah Henry filed more than 110 patents between 1912 and 1970, covering household appliances, bobbinless sewing machines, and various practical tools. A pioneer in a field almost exclusively dominated by men, she founded several companies to bring her inventions to market.

Bibha Chowdhuri (1913-1991) was an Indian physicist and a pioneer in the study of cosmic rays and particle physics. Working with Debendra Mohan Bose, she used photographic plates to detect subatomic particles, coming close to discovering the meson.

Danish computer scientist born in 1950, Bjarne Stroustrup is the creator of the C++ programming language, developed in the 1980s at Bell Labs. He is also a professor and author of numerous reference works in computer science.

American computer scientist who co-invented the TCP/IP protocol with Vint Cerf, the technical foundation of the Internet. His work made universal communication between computers possible on a global scale.

French neuropsychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and ethologist born in 1937. A Holocaust survivor, he popularized in France the concept of resilience — the ability to rebuild oneself after trauma.

Bruce Heezen was an American marine geologist. Together with Marie Tharp, he mapped the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, revealing the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and its central rift valley — major contributions to the theory of plate tectonics.

Bruno Bettelheim (1903-1990) was an American psychoanalyst and educator of Austrian origin, specializing in childhood. A survivor of the Dachau and Buchenwald camps, he ran a school for troubled children in Chicago and left his mark on thinking about education and child psychology.

Bryan Sykes (1947-2020) was a British geneticist and professor of human genetics at the University of Oxford. A pioneer in the study of ancient DNA and mitochondrial DNA, he popularized the use of genetics to trace the origins of human populations.

An American astronaut, he was the second man to walk on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969. A former combat pilot in Korea and holder of a doctorate in orbital mechanics, he contributed to the development of space rendezvous techniques.

Italian physician and biologist, a pioneer in the study of the nervous system. In 1873 he developed a method for staining nerve cells (the “black reaction”) that revolutionized neuroanatomy. He received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1906.

A German botanist and geneticist, he was one of three researchers who, in 1900, rediscovered Gregor Mendel's laws of heredity, which had been forgotten since 1865. His work on plants helped to found modern genetics.

Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, founder of analytical psychology. Initially close to Freud, he distanced himself to develop his own concepts such as the collective unconscious and archetypes. His work has profoundly influenced psychology, spirituality, and the study of myths.

American astronomer and astrophysicist (1934–1996), Carl Sagan is celebrated for bringing science to the general public. His television series *Cosmos* (1980) reached hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide.

British-born American astronomer (1900–1979), she discovered that stars are composed primarily of hydrogen and helium. Her 1925 doctoral thesis revolutionized astrophysics, even though her conclusions were initially rejected by her peers.

Senegalese historian, anthropologist, and physicist (1923-1986). He championed the precedence of Black African civilizations and the African origin of ancient Egypt, leaving a lasting mark on historiography and Pan-Africanism.

Sino-American theoretical physicist born in 1922, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1957 alongside T.D. Lee for the discovery of parity violation in weak interactions. Co-author of Yang-Mills theory, a cornerstone of the standard model of particle physics.

Chien-Shiung Wu was a Chinese-American experimental physicist, nicknamed "the First Lady of Physics." Her 1956 experiment disproved the law of conservation of parity, upending particle physics. Unjustly passed over for the Nobel Prize awarded to Lee and Yang for that discovery, she remains one of the most important figures in twentieth-century physics.

Chika Kuroda (1884-1968) was a pioneering Japanese chemist, one of the first women in Japan to earn a university degree in science. She made her mark with her research into the structure of natural pigments.

An American teacher selected for NASA's Teacher in Space program, she was set to become the first civilian in space. She perished in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986.

Christiaan Barnard was a South African cardiac surgeon. On December 3, 1967, in Cape Town, he performed the first human heart transplant in history, becoming a worldwide figure of modern surgery.

Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard is a German biologist born in 1942, a specialist in developmental genetics. Her work on the fruit fly (Drosophila) revealed how genes control the formation of the embryo. She received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1995.

French anthropologist and ethnologist (1908-2009), founder of structural anthropology. He revolutionized the study of human societies by applying structuralist methods to myths, kinship systems, and cultural practices. His major work, Tristes Tropiques, combines ethnographic narrative with philosophical reflection.

American mathematician and engineer (1916-2001), founder of information theory. His 1948 paper laid the mathematical foundations of digital communication and data encoding.

Colin MacLeod is an Australian researcher in cognitive psychology. He is recognized for his work on attention, memory, and cognitive control, in particular the study of attentional biases linked to anxiety.

Daniel Kahneman was an Israeli-American psychologist and economist, a pioneer of behavioral economics. His work on cognitive biases and decision-making under uncertainty earned him the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002.

Daniel Lagache (1903-1972) was a French psychiatrist, psychologist, and psychoanalyst. A graduate of the École normale supérieure with an agrégation in philosophy, he sought to unify psychoanalysis and clinical psychology and was a major figure in the French psychoanalytic movement.

German mathematician (1862–1943), one of the most influential of his era. In 1900, he formulated the 23 problems that would guide mathematical research throughout the 20th century, and sought to establish mathematics on rigorous formal foundations.

An American computer scientist, Dennis Ritchie is the creator of the C programming language and co-creator of the Unix operating system. His work at Bell Labs in the 1970s laid the foundations of modern computing.

Donna Haraway is an American academic, feminist theorist, and historian of science. Known for her “Cyborg Manifesto” (1985), she questions the boundaries between human, animal, and machine, and rethinks the relationships between nature, technology, and feminism.

Donna Strickland is a Canadian physicist and pioneer in the field of ultra-intense lasers. In 1985, she co-developed with Gérard Mourou the technique of chirped pulse amplification (CPA), revolutionizing laser physics. In 2018, she received the Nobel Prize in Physics, becoming only the third woman ever to receive this distinction.

British chemist (1910-1994)

An African-American mathematician, Dorothy Vaughan joined the NACA in 1943 as a "human computer." She became the agency's first Black supervisor in 1949, leading the West Area Computing unit. A computing pioneer, she taught herself FORTRAN and prepared her teams for the era of electronic computers.

An American NASA astronaut, Edgar Mitchell was the sixth man to walk on the Moon during the Apollo 14 mission in February 1971. Holding a doctorate in aeronautics from MIT, he devoted his life after the space conquest to the study of human consciousness.

First woman to earn an electrical engineering degree from MIT (1919) and the first professionally employed female electrical engineer in the United States. She invented the Clarke graphical calculator, which greatly simplified electrical power transmission calculations.

Edith Flanigen is an American chemist born in 1929, a pioneer in the chemistry of zeolites (molecular sieves). Her work revolutionized oil refining and industrial purification. She is one of the most prolific inventors of the 20th century.

American astronomer (1889–1953), Edwin Hubble demonstrated that spiral nebulae are galaxies beyond the Milky Way. He established that the Universe is expanding, revolutionizing our understanding of the cosmos.

An American astronaut and military pilot, Eileen Collins was the first woman to pilot and then command an American Space Shuttle. She completed four missions with NASA between 1995 and 2005.

A Danish astronomer, he co-discovered the relationship between the brightness and temperature of stars. His work gave rise to the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, a fundamental tool of modern astrophysics.

Elizabeth Blackburn is an Australian-American molecular biologist born in 1948 in Tasmania. She discovered telomerase, the enzyme that protects the ends of chromosomes, which earned her the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2009.

Elsdon Best (1856-1931) was a New Zealand ethnographer and historian, a pioneer in the study of the Māori people. He recorded the traditions, beliefs, and knowledge of the Māori in landmark reference works.

Emil Fischer (1852-1919) was a German chemist regarded as one of the founders of modern organic chemistry. His work on sugars, purines, and proteins earned him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1902.

Italian physicist (1901–1954), Nobel Prize in Physics in 1938. He achieved the first controlled nuclear chain reaction in 1942 and was one of the fathers of the atomic bomb as part of the Manhattan Project.

Erich von Tschermak-Seysenegg was an Austrian agronomist and botanist. He was one of three scientists who, in 1900, independently rediscovered the laws of heredity set out by Gregor Mendel, contributing to the birth of modern genetics.

Erna Schneider Hoover (1926-2025) was an American mathematician and computer scientist. In the 1960s she invented a computerized stored-program-controlled telephone switching system, revolutionizing the way calls were handled in telephone exchanges.

Ernest Beaux (1881–1961) was a Franco-Russian perfumer who created the legendary Chanel N°5 in 1921, revolutionizing the art of perfumery with his innovative use of aldehydes. He is considered one of the greatest noses of the twentieth century.

American physicist (1901–1958), inventor of the cyclotron, the first circular particle accelerator. Winner of the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics, he paved the way for modern nuclear physics and contributed to the Manhattan Project.

English–New Zealand physicist and collaborator of Ernest Rutherford. In 1909, together with Hans Geiger, he carried out the famous experiment scattering alpha particles off a gold foil, which revealed the existence of the atomic nucleus.

An Austrian-American biochemist of Jewish origin, in the 1950s he established the rules governing the composition of DNA bases. His work provided a decisive clue for the discovery of the double helix structure by Watson and Crick.

Austrian physicist (1887–1961), Nobel Prize in Physics 1933. He formulated the wave equation that bears his name, a cornerstone of quantum mechanics, and devised the famous Schrödinger's cat thought experiment.

Esther Lederberg (1922-2006) was an American microbiologist who pioneered bacterial genetics. She discovered the lambda bacteriophage and developed the replica plating technique, long overshadowed by her husband Joshua Lederberg.

Eugenie Clark (1922-2015) was an American ichthyologist, a pioneer of scientific diving and a world-renowned shark expert. Nicknamed “the Shark Lady,” she transformed the image of these predators and advanced the study of fishes.

Evelyn Berezin (1925-2018) was an American engineer and computer scientist, a pioneer of computing. In 1971 she designed the first computerized word processor, the Data Secretary, and founded the company Redactron to bring it to market.

Evelyn Boyd Granville was an American mathematician, one of the first African American women to earn a doctorate in mathematics in the United States (Yale, 1949). She contributed to the American space programs by developing trajectory analyses for the Vanguard, Mercury, and Apollo missions.

Florence Bascom (1862-1945) was an American geologist and a pioneer of the Earth sciences. The first woman to earn a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University (1893) and the first woman hired by the US Geological Survey, she was a recognized specialist in mineralogy and petrography.

Florence Sabin (1871-1953) was an American physician and anatomist, a pioneer of medical research. She was the first woman to become a full professor at the Johns Hopkins Medical School and the first woman elected to the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.

American computer scientist and pioneer in compiler optimization at IBM. The first woman to win the Turing Award in 2006, she laid the theoretical foundations of modern compilation and parallel programming.

American psychologist and partner of the African American poet and activist Audre Lorde for nearly twenty years. The couple raised Lorde's two children together on Staten Island, a figure in 20th-century lesbian and feminist history.

François Jacob (1920-2013) was a French biologist and geneticist. Together with Jacques Monod, he uncovered the mechanism of gene regulation, which earned him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1965.

French pediatrician and psychoanalyst (1908–1988), Françoise Dolto revolutionized the understanding of children and their psychological development. She brought psychoanalysis to a wide public audience and championed children's rights.

Franklin Stahl is an American molecular biologist and geneticist. With Matthew Meselson, in 1958 he carried out a decisive experiment demonstrating that DNA replication is semiconservative, confirming the model proposed by Watson and Crick.

Franz Boas (1858-1942) was a German-born American anthropologist, considered the father of modern cultural anthropology. He fought scientific racism by demonstrating that the differences between peoples stem from culture and not from biology.

Archduke and heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, his assassination in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, by Gavrilo Princip triggered the First World War. A central figure in the nationalism and European tensions of the early twentieth century.

British astrophysicist (1915–2001), Fred Hoyle is famous for his work on stellar nucleosynthesis and for ironically coining the term "Big Bang" for the theory he rejected. He championed the steady-state theory of the Universe.

Frederick Sanger (1918-2013) was a British biochemist, one of the very few scientists to have received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry twice. He developed fundamental methods for determining the sequence of proteins and then of DNA.

Frederick Soddy (1877-1956) was a British radiochemist and a pioneer in the study of radioactivity. He formulated the concept of the isotope and studied radioactive decay with Ernest Rutherford. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1921.

Norwegian polar explorer who crossed Greenland on skis in 1888 and attempted to reach the North Pole in 1893–1896 aboard the Fram. Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 1922, he created the Nansen passport for stateless refugees.

Fritz Strassmann was a German chemist who, together with Otto Hahn, carried out in 1938 the experiment demonstrating the fission of the uranium nucleus. This discovery, interpreted by Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch, paved the way for nuclear energy and nuclear weapons.

British mathematician, a leading figure in number theory and analysis in the early 20th century. He is famous for his collaboration with John Littlewood and for revealing to the world the self-taught Indian genius Srinivasa Ramanujan.

American economist of the Chicago school, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1992. He extended economic analysis to fields previously reserved for sociology, such as the family, education, crime, and discrimination.

Indian-American theoretical physicist, a major figure in 20th-century physics. He contributed to the theory of the weak interaction and to quantum optics, but never received the Nobel Prize despite several nominations.

A French ethnologist specializing in the Berber societies of Algeria, Germaine Tillion joined the Resistance in 1940 before being deported to Ravensbrück. A survivor and tireless witness, she dedicated her entire life to human rights and understanding between peoples.

Gertrude B. Elion (1918-1999) was an American biochemist and pharmacologist, a pioneer of rational drug design. Her research led to the development of treatments for leukemia, gout, transplant rejection, and viral infections. She received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1988.

An American biochemist of Czech origin, Gerty Cori was the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1947, which she shared with her husband Carl Cori. Her work on glycogen metabolism laid the foundations of modern biochemistry.

Grace Hopper, American mathematician and rear admiral, is one of the pioneers of computer science. She developed one of the first compilers and contributed to the creation of the COBOL programming language, revolutionizing programming. She popularized the term "bug" in computing after finding a real insect inside a computer.

Italian physicist and inventor (1874–1937), Marconi was the pioneer of wireless radio. He achieved the first transatlantic transmission in 1901 and received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1909.

Franco-Swiss neurologist and oncologist (1874–1948), he founded the Paris Cancer Institute in 1921 — today known as the Institut Gustave Roussy — the first cancer center in Europe. His pioneering work on brain tumors and cancer laid the foundations of modern oncology in France.

German physicist (1882–1945), Hans Geiger is famous for inventing the Geiger counter, an instrument for detecting ionizing radiation. He worked with Ernest Rutherford and contributed to the alpha particle scattering experiment that revealed the structure of the atomic nucleus.

American geneticist and botanist, Harriet Creighton is celebrated for her landmark experiment conducted with Barbara McClintock in 1931, proving that genetic crossing-over corresponds to a physical exchange between chromosomes. She taught botany at Wellesley College for decades.

American geologist and geophysicist, and a naval officer during World War II. He is one of the founders of the theory of seafloor spreading, a decisive step toward plate tectonics.

He Zehui was a Chinese nuclear physicist and a pioneer of particle physics in China. Together with her husband Qian Sanqiang, she studied the fission of uranium and helped found nuclear research in China. She is sometimes called the “Marie Curie of China.”

British chemist born in 1963, Helen Sharman became in 1991 the first British person and the first Western woman to travel to space, aboard the Soviet station Mir as part of the Juno project.

American Egyptologist and archaeologist, curator and later director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He led major excavations at Deir el-Bahari, in Egypt, and advanced knowledge of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom.

German mathematician and theoretical physicist (1885–1955), Hermann Weyl profoundly transformed geometry, topology, and mathematical physics. He made major contributions to group theory, general relativity, and quantum mechanics.

A German-Brazilian biophysicist of the 20th century, Hertha Meyer was a pioneer in electron microscopy applied to cell biology. She worked at the Instituto de Biofísica at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, contributing to the development of biophysics in Brazil.

Hertha Sponer (1895-1968) was a German, later American, physicist and chemist, a pioneer in applying quantum mechanics to atomic and molecular physics. She was one of the first women to teach physics at university level in Germany before emigrating to the United States.

British archaeologist and Egyptologist (1874–1939), Howard Carter is world-famous for discovering in 1922 the nearly intact tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. This discovery is considered the greatest in the history of archaeology.

French-Greek composer, mathematician and architect, a pioneer of algorithmic and stochastic music. He applied mathematics and probability theory to musical composition, revolutionizing the music of the 20th century.

Imre Lakatos (1922-1974) was a Hungarian philosopher of science and mathematics who became a naturalized British citizen. A professor at the London School of Economics, he is famous for his theory of “scientific research programmes,” an attempt to move beyond the debate between Popper and Kuhn.

Danish seismologist (1888–1993), Inge Lehmann discovered in 1936 that the Earth has a solid inner core, through the analysis of seismic waves. This fundamental discovery reshaped our understanding of Earth's internal structure.

Belgian-born physicist and mathematician, naturalized American, born in 1954. A pioneer of wavelet theory, her work revolutionized signal processing and image compression. First female president of the International Mathematical Union.

French physicist and chemist, daughter of Pierre and Marie Curie. With her husband Frédéric Joliot-Curie, she discovered artificial radioactivity in 1934, which earned them the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935.