Born on February 26

Austrian mathematician and astronomer of the Renaissance. Copernicus's only disciple, he published the Narratio prima in 1540, the first printed account of the heliocentric system, and persuaded his master to publish De revolutionibus.

A major French writer of the 19th century, Victor Hugo (1802–1885) is the author of iconic novels such as Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. Poet, playwright, and committed politician, he championed the rights of the poor and fought against the death penalty.

Honoré Daumier (1808-1879) was a French engraver, caricaturist, painter and sculptor. A master of lithography, he ferociously sketched the political and social life of his time, becoming one of the greatest satirists of the 19th century.

William Cody (1846-1917), known as Buffalo Bill, was a scout for the U.S. Army and a bison hunter before becoming a worldwide showman. His Wild West Show staged the conquest of the West before millions of spectators in America and Europe.

Russian revolutionary and educator (1869–1939), wife of Lenin and Bolshevik activist. She played a central role in Soviet educational policy after 1917, particularly in mass literacy campaigns and the reform of public schooling.

Egyptian-American chemist and pioneer of femtochemistry, he revolutionized the observation of chemical reactions by filming the movement of atoms at the femtosecond timescale. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1999, he is regarded as the father of ultrafast chemistry.