Born on December 22

A German Benedictine recluse and mystic of the 12th century, Jutta of Sponheim founded a community of women at the monastery of Disibodenberg. She is best known as the spiritual teacher and educator of Hildegard von Bingen.

A French playwright of the 17th century, Racine is one of the masters of classical tragedy. Author of masterpieces such as Phaedra and Andromache, he embodies the balance between formal rigour and emotional intensity that defines French classical theatre.

French Egyptologist (1790-1832) who revolutionized the study of ancient Egypt by deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs using the Rosetta Stone. His work opened the door to understanding Egyptian civilization and established Egyptology as a scientific discipline.

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.

Austrian architect and co-founder of the Vienna Secession, Olbrich is one of the masters of Art Nouveau. He designed the Secession Building in Vienna (1897–1898) and went on to develop an artists' colony in Darmstadt from 1899.

A self-taught Indian mathematician (1887–1920), Ramanujan discovered thousands of remarkable mathematical formulas with no formal university training. Recognized by mathematician G.H. Hardy, he made major contributions to number theory and modular functions before dying prematurely at the age of 32.

American painter of Haitian and Puerto Rican descent, a major figure of Neo-Expressionism and New York street art in the 1980s. First a graffiti artist under the pseudonym SAMO, he became an international star before his untimely death at the age of 27.