Born on November 8

An English astronomer and scientist of the 17th–18th century, he is famous for calculating the orbit of the comet that bears his name and predicting its return. A friend and patron of Newton, he played an essential role in the publication of the Principia Mathematica.

A French general from the high nobility, he served under the Revolution and the Empire. Appointed senator of the First Empire by Napoleon, he embodies the fusion between the old aristocracy and the new Napoleonic institutions.

Dorothea Viehmann (1755-1815) was a German storyteller, the daughter of an innkeeper near Kassel. Her exceptional memory for folk tales made her one of the main sources for the Brothers Grimm, who collected many stories from her for their “Children's and Household Tales.”

An American Catholic journalist and activist, in 1933 she co-founded the Catholic Worker Movement, which combines spiritual commitment, social justice, and pacifism. A major figure of charity and nonviolence, she devoted her life to the poor and the marginalized.

Christiaan Barnard was a South African cardiac surgeon. On December 3, 1967, in Cape Town, he performed the first human heart transplant in history, becoming a worldwide figure of modern surgery.