Born on March 31

German composer and organist (1685–1750), Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the greatest figures of Baroque music. A master of fugue and polyphony, he composed over a thousand works combining mathematical rigor with spiritual depth, decisively influencing the history of Western music.

A Savoyard baroness, Françoise-Louise de Warens (1699-1762) is famous for taking in and protecting the young Jean-Jacques Rousseau. She gave him a home at Les Charmettes, near Chambéry, and played a decisive role in his intellectual and emotional education.

Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) was an Austrian composer regarded as the "father of the symphony" and the string quartet. Long in the service of the Esterházy family, he profoundly influenced Mozart and Beethoven. His monumental body of work includes more than 100 symphonies and represents the pinnacle of Viennese Classicism.

19th-century British poet and translator, celebrated for his free translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (1859), which achieved remarkable success across Europe and helped introduce Persian poetry to Western readers.

A Russian Bolshevik revolutionary, Alexandra Kollontai was one of the first women in the world to hold a diplomatic post. A theorist of socialist feminism, she championed women's emancipation and freedom from traditional marriage.

Russian impresario and patron of the arts, Diaghilev founded the Ballets Russes in 1909, revolutionizing choreographic art by bringing together the greatest artists of his era. He collaborated with Stravinsky, Picasso, Matisse, and Nijinsky to create total spectacles blending dance, music, and the visual arts.

British physicist born in Australia, a pioneer of X-ray crystallography. At 25, he became the youngest-ever Nobel laureate in Physics (1915), sharing the prize with his father William Henry Bragg for the study of crystal structure.