On this day — January 1

Abraham Lincoln

1809 – 1865

Issued the Emancipation Proclamation · 1863

Albert Einstein

1879 – 1955

Published Annus Mirabilis Papers · 1905

Marcus Aurelius

121 – 180

Authored 'Meditations' · 170

Thomas Coram

1668 – 1751

Born in Lyme Regis, Dorset · 1668

Alan Mathison Turing

1912 – 1954

Cracked the Enigma Code · 1941

Thomas John Barnardo

1845 – 1905

Opened his First Children's Home · 1870

Jane Austen

1775 – 1817

Begins Her 'Juvenilia' · 1787

Sojourner Truth

1797 – 1883

Born Isabella Baumfree in New York · 1797

Sojourner Truth

1797 – 1883

Escaped to Freedom · 1826

Mary Jane Seacole

1805 – 1881

Honed Skills in Panama · 1851

Florence Nightingale

1820 – 1910

Answered a Calling to Nursing · 1844

Bessie Coleman

1892 – 1926

Toured to Fund a Flight School · 1925

Emmeline Pankhurst

1858 – 1928

Led Militant Suffrage Campaigns · 1912

Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett

1847 – 1929

Became President of the NUWSS · 1897

Ida Bell Wells-Barnett

1862 – 1931

Published 'Southern Horrors' Exposé · 1892

Lesia Ukrainka

1871 – 1913

A Life Shaped by Illness · 1881

Lesia Ukrainka

1871 – 1913

Wrote 'The Forest Song' · 1911

Lesia Ukrainka

1871 – 1913

A Voice for Ukrainian Identity · 1900

Maria Oksentiyivna Prymachenko

1909 – 1997

First Major Exhibition · 1936

Maria Oksentiyivna Prymachenko

1909 – 1997

Gained International Acclaim · 1937

Maria Oksentiyivna Prymachenko

1909 – 1997

Awarded Shevchenko National Prize · 1966

Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko

1814 – 1861

Published 'Kobzar', a National Touchstone · 1840

Hryhorii Savych Skovoroda

1722 – 1794

Began Studies at Kyivan Mohyla Academy · 1734

Hryhorii Savych Skovoroda

1722 – 1794

Embraced a Life of Wandering Philosophy · 1769

Hryhorii Savych Skovoroda

1722 – 1794

Composed his 'Fables of Kharkiv' · 1774

Ivan Yakovych Franko

1856 – 1916

Published 'Zakhar Berkut' · 1883