Who is Who

[gracemini]

Bala Saraswati, T. (b.1918): Foremost exponent of the Bharatanatyam style of dance.

Balzac, Honore de (1799-1850): French novelist. La Comedie Humaine.

Banabhatta (7th c.): Indian Sankrit scholar and poet. Kadambari, Harsh Charit.

Bancroft, George (1800-1891): American historian who wrote the 10-volume history of the united states.

Bandaranaike, Solomon (1899-1959): PM of Ceylon from 1956 until assassination. Widow Sirimavo (1916-2000) became world’s first woman PM, 1960. In 1994, daughter Chandrika Kumaratunga became president and Sirimavo PM Sri Lanka.

Bandopadhyay, Padmavathy (b.1944): The first woman air marshal of Indian air force. Received AVSM and VSM.

Bannerjee, Surendranath (1848-1952): One of the first Indian to quality the ICS examination. Held the president ship of Indian national congress twice.

Bannerjee, Womesh Chandra (1844-1906): First president of Indian national congress, migrated to England in 1902.

Bannister, Sir Roger (b.1929): British athlete and doctor who became the first man to run a mile four minutes in 1954.

Barnard, Christian Neethling (1922-2001): South African surgeon who performed the first human heart transplant operation.

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Bartok, Bela (1881-19450: Hungarian composer and pianist.

Baskerville, John (1706-’75): British typographer who is known for the widely used Baskerville typeface.

Basu, Jyoti (b.1914): Veteran communist leader. CM of West Bengal for a record five consecutive terms until Nov. 2000.

Batistuta, Gabriel (b.1969): Former Argentine international footballer retired 2005.

Batuta, Ibn (1304-1378): Traveller from North Africa who spent eight years in India. His travelogue is source for the political history of the Khalji and Tuglaq dynasties of the Delhi sultanate.

Beatles, The (Paul Mc Cartney, John Lennon (1940-80), George Harrison (1943-2001), Ringo starr): English vocal and instrumental rock ‘n’ roll quartet whose highly original and melodic songs held the attention of youth all over the world in the 60’s.

Beaverbrook, Lord (1879-1964): British financier, statesman and newspaper owner.

Becker, Boris (b.1967): German tennis player. Youngest Wimbledon champion, 1985, 1986, 1989. Retired in 1997.

Becket, Smauel (1906-’89): Irish playwright and novelist. Nobel prize, 1969.

Becket, Thomas (1118-’70): Saint and martyr. Archbishop of Canterbury who made the position of the church his first care and, came into conflict with King HenryII. Murdered in Canterbury cathedral.

[gracemini]

Beckham, David (b.1975): British football player with a huge fan following. His marriage to Victoria Adams, otherwise known as Posh Spice, has both made them targets for the tabloid press.

Bedi, Bishen Singh (b.1946: Indian cricketer. Captain for 33 tests.

Bedi, Kiran (b.1949): First woman Indian police service officer (1972). A former Asian games women’s tennis champion. Magsaysay award, 1995. UN medal for outstanding service, 2004.

Beethoven, Ludwig Van (1770-1827): German musician and composer. His symphonies, 9 in number, rank as the greatest ever written.

Begin, Menachem (1913-’92): Israeli prime minister, 1977-’83. Made peace with Egypt(1979). Nobel peace prize, 1978.

Belafonte, Harry (b.1927): American entertainer, civil rights leader.

Bell, Alexander Graham (1847-1922): Scottish-born inventor of the telephone.

Ben Gurion, David (1886-1973): The first time minister of Israel, 1948-63.

Benedict XVI (b.1927): The Pope, head of the Roman Catholic church since April 2005. Formerly Josef Raatzinger, the German archbishop. Succeeded John Paul II.

Bengal, Shyam (b.1934): Indian film director. Akrosh, Mandi, Bharat Ek Khoj.

[gracemini]

Benes, Eduard (1884-1948): Czech statesman, president from 1935 to ’38.

Bentham, Jeremy (1748-1832): British philosopher who developed the theory of utilitarianism.

Berry, Halle (b.1968): US film actress. First black actress to win Oscar for best actress. Monster’s Ball.

Bertolucci, Bernardo (b.1940): Italian film director. The last emperor won 9 Oscars in 1987.

Besant, Annie (1847-1933): An Irish woman, staunch supporter of Indian independence movement. Social worker, educationalist and reformer. Set up Home rule league. President of INC, 1917. Established Theosophical society of India.

Bessemer, Sir Henry (1813-’98): British metallurgist who invented the process of converting cast iron direst in to steel.

Bhabha, Homi J. (1909-’66): The Indian scientist who was mainly responsible for creating the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. Described as the father of Indian nuclear science.

Bhagwan dass, Dr. (1869-1958): Vedic scholar, Indian freedom fighter. Bharat Ratna.

Bhagwati, Prof, Jagadish (b.1934): India-born U.S. Professor of Economics at Columbia university.

Bharat Muni (5th c): Sankrit writer. Natya Shastra.

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Bharati, Subramanya (1881-1921): Indian poet, patriot and philosopher. His impact of Tamil literature is great. Title ‘bhavati’ conferred by the Raja of Ettayapuram, Tamil Nadu.

Bhasa (5th.c): Sankrit playwright. Swapna Yaugandharayana, Charudatta.

Bhaskara I (7th c. AD): Indian astronomer who was a contemporary of Brahmagupta.

Bhaskaracharya II (1114-c.1185): Great Indian mathematician and astronomer, who was the first to use the decimal system in a written work, invented the + and – convention, and used letters to represent unknown quantities as in modern algebra. Sidhanta Shiromani.

Bhatia, Sabeer (b.1968): Indian-born co-founder of Hotmail. He told Hotmail to Microsoft for US$ 400 million.

Bhatnagar, Shanti Swarup (1894-1955): Indian scientist who created a chain of national laboratories. Director of CSIR, secretary to AEC, chairman of UGC. Science awards after his name.

Bhatt, Ela (b.1933): Emancipator of women in the self-employed sector. Magsaysay award, 1977.

Bhavabhuti (8th c.): A great Sanskrit dramatist. Malatimadhava.

Bhave, Vinoba (1895-1982): Disciple of Gandhi who led the Bhoodan movement. Bharat Ratna 1983, first Magsaysay.

Bhutia, Baichung (b.1976): Indian footballer from Sikkim. At 15, highest goal-getter in the Subroto Mukherjee tournament in Delhi. Arjuna Award.

[gracemini]

Bhutto, Zulfikar Ali (1928-’79): Prime minister of Pakistan who was ousted (1977 by Gen. Zia-ul Haq whose government executed him. His daughter Benazir Bhutto (b.1953-2007) became prime minister, 1988- the woman to head a modern Islamic state. Ousted in 1990.

Bimbisara (c.544 – 493 BC): Ruler of the kingdom of Magadha, which he expanded. Built city Rajagriha. Patron to Mahavira and the Buddha.

Bindra, Abhinav (b.1983): Shooter from Chandogarh, won gold in 1008 Beijing Olympics.

Bismark, Otto Von (1815-’98): German statesman, chief architect of the German empire, known as the man of blood and iron..

Balake William (1757-1827)English poet, philosopher, artist. Songs of Innocence.

Bloch, Ernest (1880-1959): Swiss born US composer, famous, for his chamber music. Israel Symphony (1916)

Boccaccio, Giovanni (1313-’75): Italian author and humanist; father of the novel. Decameron, Life of Dante.

Bohr, Niels (1885-1962): Danish physicist. Nobel prize, for work on atomic structure.

Boleyn, Anne (1507-’36): Queen of Henry VIII of Britain and mother of Queen Elizabeth 1. Beheaded.

Bolivar, Simon (1783-1830): South American revolutionist, called the Liberator. He founded Grand Colombia (now Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador).

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Bolkiah, Hassanal (b.1946): Sultan of Brunei. One of the richest men in the world.

Bonfield, Margaret Grace (1873-1953): Labour politician and trade unionist. First British woman to hold cabinet office-minister of labour, 1923-31.

Boole, George (1815-’64: English mathematician best known for his invention of Boolean algebra.

Booth, William (1829-1912): English religious leader, founder of the salvation Army.

Border, Allan (b.1956: Former Australian cricket captain who holds the world record of 156 test matches. 11,174 test runs.

Bordolol, Gopinath (1890-1950): One of the makers of modern Assam, Educationalist. CM of Assam twice before independence. Bharat Ratna, 1999.

Borg, Bjorn (b.1956): Swedish tennis player. World’s top player in the late 70’s. Fifith consecutive Wimbledon in 1980.

Borlaug, Norman Ernest (b.1914): American wheat scientist responsible for the green revolution. Nobel peace prize, 1970.

Boroin, Alexander Portfirevich (183-87): One of the ;Russian Five’ group of composers.

Borromini, Grancesco (1599-1667): Italian architect. One of the three masters of Roman Baroque, the other two being Bermini and Pietro da Cortona.

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Bosch, Hieronymus (1450-1516): Flemish painter. The Garden of Earthly Delights, The temptation of St.Anthony.

Bose, Amar Gopal (b.1929): American-born Indian professor of electrical engineering at MIT. In 1964, he founded the Bose corporation, which specializes is designing and producing high quality sound systems.

Bose, Jagadish Chandra (1858-1937): Doyen of Indian science. Did original work in electricity.

Bose, Nandalal (1883-1996): Father of modern painting in India. Padma Bhushan.

Bose, Netaji Subhas Chandra (1897-1945): One of the leaders of India’s freedom struggle. Formed the Indian National Army in 1943 to fight the British with the help of Japan. Reportedly killed in an air crash.

Bose, Satyendra Nath (1894-1974): Indian physicist after whom an elementary particle, the boson is named.

Boswell, James (1740-’95): Scottish author of the celebrated biography, The life of Samuel Johnson.

Botha, Louis (1862-1919): The first PM of the Union of South Africa, 1910.

Botham, lan Terence (b.1955): English cricketer and coach, a great all rounder with 14 rest centuries (5200 runs) and 373 test wickets. First player to score a century and take 10 wickets in test (1979).

Botvinnik, Mikhail electrical engineer who used his scientific training to hold the world chess title three times (1948-57, 58-60, 61-63)

[gracemini]

Bourguiba, Habib (1903-2000): First president of Tunisia (1957-87). Proclaimed president for life in 1975, A coup overthrew him.

Boyd, William (b.1952): British novelist. The new confessions.

Bradman, Sir Donald (1908-2001):Australian cricket legend. Captain, 1936-48. 6996 runs in 52 games (average 99.94) including 29 centuries and a highest score of 334.

Bragg, Sir William Lawrence (1890-1971): English physicist born in Australia. With this father Sir William Henry Bragg (186201942), won Nobel Prize for Physics (1915).

Brahmagupta (598-680): The Indian mathematician who was the first to treat zero as a number. Brahma Siddhanta.

Brahms, Johannes (1833-97): German composer, who moved to Vienna. Orchestral works: four symphonies, two piano concertos and a concerto for violin,

Braille, Louis (1809-‘52_: French educationalist, who, as a (blind) teacher of the blind, devised the touch system of reading and writing for the blind.

Brando, Marlon (1924-2004): Outstanding American stage and film actor. On the waterfront, the godfather.

Brandt, Willy (1913-’92): First Social democratic chancellor of the federal republic of Germany, 1969-74. Nobel prize, 1971.

Brezhnev, Leonid (1906-’82) Soviet president (1977); succeeded Khrushchev as first secretary of the communist party, (1954-82).

[gracemini]

Bronte, Charlotte (1816-’55): One of the three Bronte sisters, forceful novelist, author of Jane Eyre. Her sister Emily (1818-’48) wrote Wuthering Heights; an another sister Anne (1820-’49) wrote Agnes Grey.

Brooke, Rupert (1887-1915): English poet. Fought in WWI. The soldier, clouds the dead.

Brown, Dan (b.1964): American author of best selling novel The Da Vinci Code (2003) with 36 million copies in print.

Brown, John (1800-’59): Hero of the song’John Brown’s Body’. An anti-slavery crusader who tried to start a slave revolt, was caught, and hanged.

Browning, Robert (1812-’89): English poet of the Victorian Era, famous for his dramatic monologues. Wife Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-’61) was poet too.

Bruce, Robert (1274-1329) Scottish national leader. King in 1306; defeated Edward II of England in 1314.

Brundtland, Gro Harlem (b.1939): Norway’s first woman PM. She was PM in ’81, 86, ’90. Active environmentalist. Former director general, WHO.

Brutus, Marcus Junius (85-42. B.C.): Roman senator famed as a conspirator against Julius Caesar.

Bubka, Sergei (b.1964): World’s best pole vaulter from Ukraine. In’94, at 6.14m. World title six times.

Buck, Pearl S. (1892-1973): American author. Nobel prize (1938), Pulitzer Prize, (1932). The good earth.