Table of contents for Greatest Pioneers in All About History

As the world a round us becomes more and more complex, with brilliant inventions and forward-thinking ideas coming out seemingly every day, our lives become richer. We live in a time when state-of-the-art medical treatment is never too far way, the latest gadgets mean we don’t have to lift a finger, and beautiful things can be made from very little. But life hasn’t a lways been like this. In this book, we’ll learn about some of the esteemed men and women whose era-defining innovations changed the world for the better. These are the people who built the future–whether they made amazing discoveries, influenced culture and the arts, or even pioneered the political sphere. Join us as we meet nearly 100 of history’s greatest minds. Welcome to All About History’s Book…

Long-range wireless power Tesla thought he could transmit electrical power wirelessly from Wardenclyffe Tower in Long Island. But he ran out of money, and the project was abandoned. Robotic workforce With aspirations to create labour-saving robots that would do menial tasks for humans, Tesla developed a remote-controlled boat. However, his robot race has yet to be realised. Death ray The inventor is reported to have designed a ‘death ray’ that created a beam of particles that could bring down aircraft. His papers on it have never been found.…

His origins can scarcely have been less auspicious. He was the illegitimate son of a well-to-do notary and a peasant girl. The appellation ‘da Vinci’ simply indicates the place where Leonardo grew up, then a pretty, small walled hilltop town some 42 kilometres from Florence. It was here, in his father’s birthplace, that he spent much of his childhood. It did not take long for the boy’s remarkable talents to be recognised. Leonardo was fascinated by everything. He was seldom without charcoal, pen or brush in his hand, compulsively noting in detail flowers, birds, animals, human faces–whatever at the moment attracted his attention. It is this universal fascination for all aspects of nature that explains one of the apparent paradoxes of Leonardo’s life: he left an enormous body of work–paintings,…

Darwin and Emma went on to have ten children. Tragically, three died in childhood–a son and a daughter during their infancies, and another daughter, Anne, at the age of ten. The death of Anne had a huge impact on Darwin and he began researching the effects of inbreeding. Citing the negative impact of self-fertilisation on the life and development of orchids, Darwin questioned whether his own marriage and relations to Emma were causing illness and weakness in his children. Such was his worry that he sought to change the laws on marriage between cousins. At the time of the 1871 census, he lobbied to add questions surrounding the issue, but he was refused outright. After all, in questioning the morality of marrying a cousin, Darwin was challenging the marriage of…

In 1905, Albert Einstein published four papers that revolutionised our understanding of the universe. He won a Nobel Prize for his contribution and came up with the most famous scientific equation: E=mc2–as recognisable as his shock of white hair and bushy ‘tache. At the time of these breakthroughs, however–a year that would become known as his ‘annus mirabilis’, or ‘miraculous year’–he was a dark-haired, doe-eyed 26-year-old. Handsome and known for being a bit of a ladies’ man, he didn’t even have a PhD. In fact, he was working in a Swiss patent office at the time, a role significantly less prestigious than his desired doctorate. In hindsight, though, the position afforded him time to theorise on the properties of light. Einstein worked best as an independent thinker, which is one…

On the surface, the friendship between Ada and Charles Babbage was certainly an unusual one. When they met, she was a vivacious 17-year-old while he was two decades older than her with a difficult personality. They formed a correspondence that lasted until Ada’s death in 1852 and their work is hailed in the world of computer science. But as it turns out, this unlikely pair did not always get along. When Babbage first conceived his Difference Engine, it attracted the interest of the government, which provided him with funding to build it in 1823. Unfortunately, Babbage came unstuck as the resources of his time limited his ability to create a functioning Engine and he was never able to complete it. Instead, he turned his attention to the Analytical Engine, which…

1 She was a plastic surgery pioneer In later life, Lamarr gave her surgeons new ideas for cutting and folding her skin to better hide the scars. Her techniques became widely used in the industry. 2 She raised millions for the troops After being turned away by the National Inventors Council, Lamarr helped the war effort by becoming a spokeswoman for war bonds and managed to raise $7 million in just one night. 3 She was typecast Lamarr’s beauty eventually proved to be a curse. The actress began to grow bored of being cast in movies just for her good looks, saying: “Any girl can be glamorous, all she has to do is stand still and look stupid.” 4 She has an ‘Oscar for inventing’ In 1997, Lamarr became the…

The Founding Fathers were the foremost statesmen of America’s revolutionary generation, the men who secured their country’s independence from Britain and who articulated the liberal principles that became enshrined in the Constitution of the United States. There are no set criteria for inclusion, there is no definitive list of members, and it should be recalled that in spite of the terminology, there were a number of talented women who played a prominent role in the birth of America. However, most historians agree that the ten men listed here made the most significant contributions. Their greatest achievement, aside from winning a war against the most powerful empire in the world, was to establish such a large modern republic, free from the grip of monarchy, in which the citizens were the ultimate…

Madam C.J. Walker lived a truly remarkable life, building a business empire catering to the cosmetic needs of black women. More than that, she educated and empowered members of the black community, providing them with jobs and skills, while elevating their perception not just of their own beauty, but, more crucially, of their capabilities. Madam Walker was born Sarah Breedlove two days before Christmas in 1867. Her parents were former slaves, who, since the end of the Civil War, had worked as sharecroppers in Louisiana. Even at an early age, the odds were stacked against her–orphaned at the age of seven, she moved in with her sister and brother-in-law, and began working in the cotton fields. Desperate to escape her vicious brother-in-law, Sarah married at just 14, but tragedy struck…

Susan B. Anthony Fighting for women’s rights in America 1820-1906 Susan was born into a family of Quaker activists, and it was after she was banned from speaking at a temperance convention on account of her sex that Anthony decided to focus her efforts instead on women’s rights. She started a women’s property rights petition, but when she presented it to the State Senate Judiciary Committee, she received a sarcastic response that men are in fact the oppressed sex as they have to give up their carriage seats to women. The campaign finally achieved success in 1860, when the Married Women’s Property Act was passed. In 1866, she created the American Equal Rights Association, which would campaign for both African American and white women’s voting rights. The association split over…

Non-cooperation Launched as a response to greatly restricted rights and police brutality (including hundreds of deaths), Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement kicked off in 1920. It involved resisting the purchase of British goods, buying and using only natively produced crafts and goods and the picketing of establishments that sold alcohol. It was the first sign that a movement of national unity could be achieved, but it was ultimately suspended by Gandhi in 1922 after protestors became violent and police and were killed in Chauri Chaura; he feared that the philosophy of non-violence was at risk of being lost. Civil Disobedience The next evolution of the non-violent protest philosophy was to actively oppose laws that were unjust to confront the British with the iniquity of their own rule. This started with the Salt…

Sir Isaac Newton was an English physicist who laid down the foundations of modern-day classical mechanics. The core of this was his description of universal gravitation and clarifying the existing three laws of motion, which he brought together under one system. This allowed Newton to demonstrate that the motions of celestial bodies were dictated by a single set of universal laws, radically shifting scientific thought away from heliocentrism–the idea of the Sun being at the centre of the entire universe–and setting the stage for Einstein’s equally pioneering theories of general and special relativity over 200 years later. At the time Newton was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1661, the university was still basing much of its scientific and mathematical teachings on Aristotle. However, due to Newton’s widespread reading of…

The Industrial Revolution was a pivotal moment in the evolution of Britain into a world superpower. Taking place from 1760 to around 1840, it was a time of tremendous transition and upheaval, with the country becoming more productive and connected than ever before. It gave individuals with the relevant capacity and wherewithal the chance to showcase their talents. One such person was Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Born on 9 April 1806 in Portsmouth, he was the son of Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, himself an engineer of some renown. The beneficiary of an affluent upbringing, Marc was determined that Isambard receive a similarly good education. Having already imparted upon him a solid grounding in engineering principles, he sent him to a French academy to gain experience first hand, before diligently returning Isambard…

Caroline Herschel 1750-1848 A German astronomer, Caroline was the first woman to discover a comet when she was observing the night sky in August 1786. Recognised for her contributions to astronomy, King George III of Great Britain even hired her to work as an assistant to her own brother, astronomer William Herschel. Through her work, Caroline also added more than 550 stars to the star catalogue that had been created by John Flamsteed, the first-ever appointed royal astronomer in Britain. Mary Somerville 1780-1872 Responsible for introducing Ada to some of the best brains of the age, Mary Somerville was a science writer and polymath. Along with Caroline Herschel, she was the first honorary female member of the Royal Astronomical Society. She played a key role in the discovery of Neptune…

During the 20th Century, the Soviet Union and the United States were embroiled in a heated competition for space supremacy - both countries wanted to be the first to launch an artificial satellite into Earth orbit. The Space Race began in the summer of 1955, when the Soviets answered the US’ announcement where they intended to launch a spacecraft ‘in the near future’. The rivalry between the two superpowers occurred not too long after the Second World War, where political conflict and military tension drove a wedge between the countries. Refusing to be outdone, the Soviet Union launched spacecraft Sputnik 1 into Earth orbit in October 1957, an 58 centimetre (23 inch) unmanned craft that would later pave the way for Sputnik 2, which carried on board the first living…

From the 8th century CE, while Europe descended into the Dark Ages, the Islamic world excelled at philosophy, science and mathematics. Known as the Islamic Golden Age, this era coincided with the rise of the Abbasid Caliphate, which ruled most of the Muslim world from Baghdad, in what is now Iraq, from 750 to 1258. Centrally located between Europe and Asia, Baghdad became a hub for trade and the exchanging of brilliant ideas. The city’s scholars translated Ancient Greek and Roman writers into Arabic, as well as texts from Persia, India and China. However, rather than simply preserving or imitating these great works, Islamic thinkers expanded on them, making incredible advances and spreading this knowledge throughout the Muslim world–all the way from modern-day Pakistan to Moorish Spain. The Islamic Golden…

William Shakespeare ENGLISH 1564-1616 Although his inclusion here might seem like a foregone conclusion, the Bard’s enormous impact on the English language is obvious not just in famous quotes like “to be or not to be”, but also in the many phrases he coined that we now consider commonplace, such as ‘lily-livered’, ‘bated breath’ and, indeed, ‘foregone conclusion’. But his influence is greater still. As the creator of an estimated 2,000 words, including ‘amazement’, ‘bedroom’, and ‘fashionable’, it’s impossible to imagine what English would be like without him. His ‘monumental’ position as a master of English is ‘secure’. Geoffrey Chaucer ENGLISH 1343-1400 Like Shakespeare, Chaucer is a writer whose words not only had a literary impact, but who transformed the nature of the English language. Chaucer’s writing made it acceptable…

Intrepid journalist, daredevil reporter and undercover sleuth, Nellie Bly revolutionised 19th-century journalism. Carving out new forms of reporting, she smashed the gender-defined glass ceiling, battering down the doors for the countless female journalists who followed in her footsteps. Born Elizabeth Jane Cochran in 1864, Nellie’s journalistic career began at the age of 20 with an impassioned response to a misogynistic article in The Pittsburgh Dispatch. Her letter was so remarkable, the editor offered her a job. Her first article, The Girl Puzzle, was a rewriting of her rebuttal letter, published under the pen name, Nellie Bly. Despite this promising start, Nellie’s pieces were often relegated to the women’s pages. Frustrated with writing gossip, she headed to Mexico to work as a foreign correspondent for six months. On her return to…

Hailed as the father of modern politics, Niccolò Machiavelli has long been synonymous with everything bad about the political sphere. His name, turned adjective as ‘Machiavellian’, conjures up images of a cunning, sly and manipulative figure, hell-bent on achieving their own goals regardless of the means of getting there. But was the man behind the legend really as cruel as his legacy makes out? Interestingly, Machiavelli’s reputation varies from country to country. Tarred as a schemer, he has gone down in English-speaking history as the first of the slimy, slippery politicians–yet in his home nation of Italy, any notion of this historical bias is shed and the man is seen for what he really was: an innovator whose views were far ahead of his time–by 500 years, in fact. To…

Madam C.J. Walker’s Wonderful Hair Grower Madam C.J. Walker’s Wonderful Hair Grower was developed as a result of her hair loss. Like many black women at the time, she was overworked and suffered both a poor diet and hygiene. Having treated herself, Madam Walker embodied the effectiveness of her product. Madam C.J. Walker’s Hair and Scalp Preparation When Madam Walker’s hair fell out, her brothers, all barbers, taught her the importance of scalp care. Her subsequent Hair and Scalp Preparation lotion would play a crucial role in her trademark Walker System. Madame Walker Glossine and Pressing Oil Madame Walker’s system of hair care was devised specifically for black women. Her Glossine and Pressing Oil was applied sparingly and evenly to the hair and scalp, from the roots outwards, before hot…

Much of 20th-century history is dominated by a clear clash of ideologies–that of market-oriented capitalism versus collective-based communism. By 1985, one-third of the world’s population lived under communist regime, which had its roots in an obscure political theory devised more than a century prior. The industrialisation of Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries may have plunged the working classes into dark factories and mills in unsanitary towns and cities as society struggled to keep up with the pace of change, but rapid economic growth did smile upon a fortunate few. Among the beneficiaries of capitalism were the families of two men, whose words would later be used to agitate the working classes into revolutionary action against the bourgeoisie. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were born 140 miles apart within…

On 21st July 1960, Sirimavo Bandaranaike changed the course of history, becoming the world’s first elected female head of government when she was sworn in as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon). With a political career spanning four decades, she navigated a bipolar world on the brink of nuclear war. Shattering the glass ceiling, she paved the way for other women to reach politics’ upper echelons–though it would take another six years before any another country nominated a female leader, and almost two decades for Europe to follow suit. Until her meteoric rise, Sirimavo had never expressed political ambition. Born into an affluent family, she was educated at Catholic convents in Colombo, though remained a practising Buddhist. After graduating, she threw herself into social work, becoming involved with local…

Human Heart Transplant Christiaan Barnard Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa, 1967 Although heart transplants were initially seen as ethically controversial, they have revolutionised treatment for patients with serious cardiac problems During the 20th century, great strides were made in organ transplantation. By the late 1960s, successful kidney, pancreas and liver transplants had taken place, but heart transplants continued to be unsuccessful–until 1967. The world’s first successful human heart transplant was performed by surgeon Christiaan Barnard and his team. Louis Washkansky, a 53-year-old man terminally ill with heart failure, received the new heart. The donor was Denise Darvall, a 25-year-old woman who died in a car crash. Washkansky became the first man to regain consciousness after a heart transplant but unfortunately, he died from pneumonia 18 days later. More…

Had you been alive in the late-16th and early-17th centuries, Galileo would have challenged, if not changed, the way you looked at the world. His studies into the laws that govern motion, strength of materials and the very nature of scientific method of the time paved the way for scientific advances for the next few centuries. Though the achievement he’s best known for was to advocate the heliocentric system, he was such a staunch proponent of this in the face of punitive opposition that the scientific community was forced to re-examine its beliefs. The world that Galileo was born into in 1564 was as much a boon to his career as a hindrance. On the one hand, contemporary Renaissance-era geniuses like Nicolaus Copernicus and Leonardo da Vinci had already proved…

In the years before the voyage of the Beagle, the young Darwin was something of an aimless disappointment to his father, who had invested a great deal of money in his son. His scientific curiosity clashed with his interest in becoming a clergyman, so much so that he decided to leave Edinburgh University, where he was studying medicine, so he could study divinity at Cambridge. Although he might have been unsure about what exactly he wanted to do with his life, Darwin had a strong moral code that helped him become a sensitive observer of human nature. His grandfather Josiah Wedgwood was a famous campaigner for the abolition of slavery and Darwin passionately believed in his family’s work. He wrote often in his diaries from the Beagle about his shock…

Intelligent, confident and daring, Ada Lovelace was a tech visionary that was ahead of her time. Not only did she write the first computer program, she foresaw a digital future in which machines could do more than basic maths. She is held up as an inspiration for women in science and her life is often romanticised. But behind her ground-breaking achievements was a complex character, who spent her entire life wrestling with both her mental and physical health before her tragic death at the age of just 36. Augusta Ada Byron was born in London in 1815. Her mother, Lady Annabella Byron, was a clever, upright and deeply religious woman. Meanwhile, her father was the poet Lord Byron, of “mad, bad and dangerous to know” infamy. Ada was named after…

On the big screen, Hollywood siren Hedy Lamarr captivated audiences with her stunning beauty and acting talent, but when the cameras weren’t rolling she could be found developing a technology that would go on to change the world. Born in 1914 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, young Hedwig Kiesler (her original name) dropped out of school to pursue acting, first in Czechoslovakia and then Hollywood, where she changed her name to Hedy Lamarr. Despite not completing her education, she retained a passion for knowledge and loved to tinker with contraptions in her trailer. She came up with an idea for an improved traffic stoplight, a tablet that would dissolve in water to create a carbonated drink, and, while dating aviation tycoon Howard Hughes, she helped him develop a racing airplane to sell…

1 Royal connections Marconi installed radio equipment on Queen Victoria’s royal yacht so that she could communicate with the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII, while travelling. 2 Educated but unqualified Marconi had no formal scientific qualifications, but he did have a keen interest in physics. At the request of his mother, he was mentored by physicist Professor Augusto Righi, who introduced him to radio waves. 3 Are you ready? The first wireless radio transmission to be sent across the open sea was sent on 13 May 1897 over the Bristol Channel. The message travelled a distance of just 6.4 kilometres and read: “Are you ready?” 4 High-speed Morse To be employed as a wireless operator by Marconi’s Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company, you had to be able to…

Before the philosophers, people worked under the assumption that human beings were the centre of all things. The Ancient Greeks had even imagined their gods as essentially people (albeit people with superpowers); always arguing and fighting among themselves, and indulging in interpersonal dramas like a sort of cosmic soap opera. With the arrival of philosophy, however, this began to change. Philosophers started to explore the idea that human beings were simply a part of a much larger system–not necessarily its most important ingredient. They asked what our place was in the wider universe; what the world and its constituent parts were made of; and how it might have come into being. They decided that made-up stories were no longer sufficient as explanations for the basics of nature, and realised that…