Biographies And Who’s Who

Find your next favorite biography featuring people from literature, media, military. politics, religion, science, history, and more. Discover fascinating stories about your favorite icons, musicians, authors & historical figures.
  1. A Brillant Madness – From the PBS series program, American Experience: “A Brilliant Madness: The story of Nobel Prize winning mathematician John Nash.” Mr. Nash is the scientist whose story was used to make the recently released film, A Beautiful Mind. The show will be broadcast by PBS on Sunday, April 28, 2002 at 9:00PM Eastern.
  2. All Popes, Listing – Comprehensive list and background of all popes serving as head of the Roman Catholic Church.
  3. Author Webliography
  4. Biography Center – site lists more than 10,500 manually indexed biographies.
  5. Biographical Dictionary – “The Biographical Dictionary contains information on 33,000 notable people from ancient times to the present day. The Dictionary is searchable by names, keywords, and dates.”
  6. Biography.com
  7. BrightSPARCS – Biographical information about people from science, technology & medicine
  8. Catholic Online – FAQs about saints & sainthood, patron saints, saints’ days, etc.
  9. CIA: World Leaders – “The CIA publishes and updates the online directory of Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments regularly. The directory is intended to be used primarily as a reference aid and includes as many governments of the world as is considered practical, some of them not officially recognized by the United States.”
  10. Colonial Hall: Biographies of America’s Founding Fathers – ongoing project to put the biographies of the founding fathers on the Web. These are currently divided into three categories: Signers of the Declaration, Articles of Confederation, and the U.S. Constitution.
  11. Composer Biographies by Time Period
  12. Congressional Biographical Directory
  13. Distinguished Women of Past & Present
  14. Einstein Online – Detailed web directory to Einstein’s life and scientific theories.
  15. Einstein’s Big Idea – NOVA – PBS online special about the 20th century’s greatest physicist, with games to illustrate his theories.
  16. Famous Sports People – “Famous Sports People is a resource to get information on some of the most famous people in sports.”
  17. Feynman, Richard, 1918-1988 – excerpts from biographies, postings from people who knew him, and many anecdotes about the legendary man. Included is a concise explanation of how Feynman discovered the cause of the Challenger disaster.
  18. Noteworthy Find a Grave – “Find A Grave is a free resource for finding the final resting places of famous folks, friends and family members. With millions of names, it’s an invaluable tool for genealogist and history buffs. Find A Grave memorials are rich with content, including dates, photos and bios. You can even leave ‘virtual flowers’ on the memorials you visit to complete the online cemetery experience. Find A Grave also contains listings for thousands of celebrity graves, making it the premier online destination for tombstone tourists.”
  19. Bob Hope and American Variety – Throughout his extraordinary professional career of nearly seventy years, Bob Hope practiced the arts he learned in vaudeville and perpetuated variety entertainment traditions in stage musical comedy, motion pictures, radio, television, and the live appearances he made around the world in support of American armed forces. This Library of Congress tribute provides a chronicle of his life and achievements.
  20. Info Please Biography – Features 30,000 notable people.
  21. Invention and Inventors Index – An index of famous inventors and inventions.
  22. Inventors’ Hall of Fame – Searchable by inventor’s name or by invention, mainly American.
  23. Jefferson, Thomas – 1743-1826 – site from the foundation that maintains Jefferson’s home
  24. Namebase Index – Over 200,000 citations.
  25. Omnibiography.com – “OmniBiography.com is the largest directory of biographies available on the Web containing information on more than 110,000 important people from antiquity to the present time.”
  26. Poe, Edgar Allen – The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore created this exhaustive resource on Poe’s life and work.
  27. Presidents of the United States – biographical directory of the 41 men that have been President, from Washington to George Walker Bush
  28. Rock Musicians – People Magazine’s Rock Hall of Fame.
  29. Short Biography – “Short Biography of Famous Personalities and Celebrities in History. List of thousands of famous people from all over the world.”
  30. Social Security Death Master File (fee-based)
  31. Steinbeck, John — 1902-1968 – The National Steinbeck Center is home to a museum and library devoted to this great writer and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Pulitzer Prize. The collections include books by and about him, local and oral history, audio-visual materials, artwork, and theses.
  32. Who’s Alive and Who’s Dead – A “site that helps you keep track of which famous people have died and which are still alive!” If they’re one of the more than 1,700 people listed, you can find out if they are still with us and, if not, when and why they went.
  33. Women’s International Center Biography Index –
  34. Women Mathematicians Biographies