Born on October 29

French journalist, historian, and socialist theorist (1811–1882). A member of the provisional government of the Second Republic in 1848, he championed the National Workshops and the right to work. Exiled in England after the June Days uprising, he returned to France after 1870.

French artist, painter, and sculptor

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became in 2006 the first woman elected president of an African state, leading Liberia after a long civil war. A trained economist, she worked to rebuild the country and foster national reconciliation, receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011.