Born on July 24

Born in Caracas in 1783, Simón Bolívar was the leading architect of South American independence from the Spanish Empire. Known as 'El Libertador,' he liberated several nations and dreamed of a great Latin American federation.

Margarete Steiff (1847-1909) was a German seamstress and entrepreneur, founder of the Steiff toy manufacturing company. Stricken with polio and using a wheelchair, she built a thriving business from her hand-sewn felt animals, which gave rise to the famous teddy bear.

Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (1886-1965) is one of the greatest Japanese novelists of the twentieth century. His work explores desire, the Japanese aesthetic tradition, and the tension between Western modernity and ancestral culture.

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.

A pioneering American aviator of the 20th century, Amelia Earhart made history in aviation by becoming the first woman to cross the Atlantic by plane in 1928. She disappeared in 1937 during an attempt to circumnavigate the globe along the equator, becoming a legendary figure in the history of aerial exploration.

Japanese novelist born in 1964, Banana Yoshimoto is world-renowned for her novel Kitchen (1988). Her work sensitively explores solitude, grief, and inner healing.

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.