Born on February 12

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was the 16th President of the United States. He led the country through the Civil War and abolished slavery in the United States in 1863 with the Emancipation Proclamation.

A 19th-century English naturalist, Charles Darwin revolutionized biology by proposing the theory of evolution by natural selection. His observations during the voyage of the Beagle and his subsequent work laid the foundations of modern biology.

A Prussian aristocrat who became the wife and collaborator of Karl Marx, she shared the couple's exile and poverty in London. For nearly four decades she was the first reader, copyist, and secretary of Marx's work.

Lou Andreas-Salomé (1861-1937) was a German-Russian writer and psychoanalyst, a major intellectual figure of the late 19th century. A close friend of Nietzsche and Rilke, she was one of the first women to practice psychoanalysis in Europe.

American general of World War II, he commanded U.S. ground forces during the Normandy landings in June 1944. Nicknamed "the G.I.'s general," he later became the first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the last five-star general in the United States.

Jean Effel, whose real name was François Lejeune, was a French cartoonist, caricaturist and journalist of the 20th century. His pen name came from his initials F.L. pronounced “eff-el.” He is known worldwide for his poetic and humorous series “The Creation of the World.”