Born on November 11

Third emperor of the Trần dynasty in Đại Việt (r. 1278–1293), he led the victorious resistance against two Mongol invasions under Kublai Khan (1285, 1287). After abdicating, he became a Buddhist monk and founded the Trúc Lâm Yên Tử sect, the first truly Vietnamese school of Chan meditation.

French Renaissance writer, poet, and statesman (1530–1563). Author of the celebrated Discourse on Voluntary Servitude, he questioned why people accept oppression. A close friend of Montaigne, he embodies the critical humanist thought of the 16th century.

French navigator and naval officer (1729–1811), he completed the first French circumnavigation of the globe (1766–1769), bringing back accounts of Tahiti that fuelled the myth of the noble savage. He was also a mathematician and played a role in the Seven Years' War.

Paul Signac was a French painter and a major figure of Neo-Impressionism. Together with Georges Seurat, he developed and theorized Divisionism (or Pointillism), a technique based on the juxtaposition of strokes of pure color.

René Clair (1898–1981) was one of the pioneers of French sound cinema. A director, screenwriter, and writer, he created poetic and satirical works such as "Under the Roofs of Paris" and "À nous la liberté". He was the first filmmaker elected to the Académie française, in 1960.

Carlos Fuentes (1928-2012) was a Mexican novelist, essayist, and diplomat, a major figure of the Latin American literary “boom.” His work examines Mexican identity and the legacy of the conquest through modern, richly layered writing.

American physicist nicknamed the “queen of carbon” for her pioneering work on the electronic structure of graphite and carbon-based materials. Her research paved the way for carbon nanotubes and graphene.