Born on June 13

English novelist, playwright, and diarist (1752-1840), Frances Burney published Evelina anonymously in 1778, an epistolary novel that was an immediate success. A forerunner of Jane Austen, she documented eighteenth-century English society with great perceptiveness in her journals and correspondence.

Scottish physicist and mathematician (1831–1879), Maxwell authored the unifying equations of electromagnetism. His work predicted the existence of electromagnetic waves and inspired Einstein in developing the theory of special relativity.

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.

Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) was a Portuguese writer and poet, a major figure of modernist literature. He is famous for his heteronyms, fictional author identities each endowed with its own style and biography.

Nigerian economist and politician, twice Minister of Finance of Nigeria and Director-General of the World Trade Organization since 2021. She is the first woman and the first African to lead the WTO.

Russian mathematician born in 1966, famous for proving the Poincaré conjecture in 2003, one of the seven Millennium Prize Problems. He refused the Fields Medal (2006) and the Clay Prize of one million dollars (2010).