Afghan Girl

This photo was taken as part of the National Geographic “Green Eyes” project, tracking the genetic trait of green eyes passed down through the Mongols of Genghis Khan’s time. The subject was Sharbat Gula and a retrospective on her life done by National Geographic can be found here. Date: 1985. Photographer: Steve McCurry, National Geographic.



Buzz Aldrin

This image was captured in 1969, the day that the Eagle lunar lander made the first touchdown on the moon, by Neil Armstrong of fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Date: 1969. Photographer: Neil Armstrong.



Muhammad Ali

Ali was a three-time heavyweight World Champion in boxing. Born Cassius Clay, he changed his name to Muhammad Ali after joining the Nation of Islam. Date: 1967. Photographer: Ira Rosenberg.



Marie Antoinette

Antoinette was the last Queen of France and one of the more famous victims of the guillotine during the French Revolution. Antoinette was famous for her excess in a time of extreme economic hardship for her country. Date: 1769. Artist: Joseph Ducreux



Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong overcame testicular cancer to win the Tour De France for seven consecutive years. Another Leibovitz triumph, this photo illustrates exactly what the Tour De France champion’s muscles are doing when he is at work. Housed at the Oswald Gallery in Austin. Date: 1999. Photographer: Annie Leibovitz



Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong was a jazz musician that sang vocals and played various instruments, including the trumpet as pictured. He performed solo and with other performers right up until his accidental death in 1971. Satchmo’s image was immortalized in this photo. Date: 1953. Photographer: World-Telegram staff photographer.



Neil Armstrong

An American aviator and a former astronaut, test pilot, university professor, and United States Naval Aviator. He was the first person to set foot on the Moon. Date: 1969. Photographer: NASA/Edwin E. Aldrin Jr.



Fred Astaire

Astaire starred in many musical films, ten of which were with Ginger Rogers. Astaire acted until 1981, amazing considering that he got his start in vaudeville. Date and photographer: Unknown.



Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. He was a crucial figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music, and remains one of the most acclaimed and influential of all composers. Date: 1820. Painter: Joseph Karl Stiele.



Alexander Graham Bell

An eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone. Date: 1904. Photographer: Unknown – Print from Library of Congress.



Marlon Brando

Brando starred in a host of movies including “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “The Wild One”. Date: 1954. Photographer: Publicity Photo for “The Wild One”, used on the poster for the movie.



Humphrey Bogart

Best known for “The Maltese Falcon” and “Casablanca”, Bogart was a mega-star in the golden age of Hollywood. The photographer who took this shot, George Hurrell, was responsible for many of the “glamour shots” in Hollywood in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Only in later years would his work be recognized as art. Date: 1938-1939. Photographer: George Hurrell.



Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon arranged a coup d’etat which brought him to power in 1799. Five years after that he crowned himself as Emperor of France. He led successful military campaigns in Italy and Egypt that bolstered his reputation. His Napoleonic Code is still being used as a basis for law in many countries. Date: 1802. Painter: Antoine-Jean Gros.



Bono

Bono’s real name is Paul Hewson. He acquired the now-famous nickname from his friend Gavin Friday, who dubbed him “Bono Vox”.



Al Capone

The gangster was one of the the most famous people in the US. Loved for running booze during the Prohibition and hated for his murderous tactics to maintain a stranglehold on his business. Pictured here with his omnipresent cigar. Date: Unknown
Photographer: Unknown.



Fidel Castro

The former head of government of Cuba, a position that he held for 50 years. Castro overthrew the US-backed dictator Batista to seize power, and only let go of it by passing it on to his brother. Castro has been alternately reviled and praised for measures that he took with the country as dictator. Date and photographer: Unknown.



Charlie Chaplin

This powerful actor not only helped to found United Artists, but set the stage for what most of us consider “comedy” to be today. Date: 1915. Photographer: Studio Photographer, Chaplin as “The Tramp”.



Kurt Cobain

An American musician, best known as the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter of grunge band Nirvana. On April 8, 1994, Cobain was found dead at his home in Seattle, the victim of what was officially ruled a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head. The circumstances of his death have become a topic of fascination and debate. Date: Unknown. Photographer: Mark Seliger.



Christopher Columbus

A Genoese navigator, colonizer and explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean—funded by Queen Isabella of Spain—led to general European awareness of the American continents in the Western Hemisphere.



His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama

The current Dalai Lama was exiled from his seat of power, Tibet by Chinese forces. He is an incarnate god on earth for Tibetan Buddhists. Date: 2007. Photographer: Luca Galuzzi.



Salvador Dali

Dali was a Surrealist artist that produced a huge volume of works that spanned film, sculpture and paintings. He also worked with Hitchcock on a dream sequence for his film “Spellbound”, which both the artist and the director hated. The artist’s famous mustache is captured perfectly in this 1942 photo. Date: 1942. Photographer: Philippe Halsman.



Leonardo Da Vinci

Da Vinci defined the “Renaissance Man” with his inventions, art and scientific theories. This self-portrait of the famous artist and inventor was composed in red chalk. Date: 1512-1515. Artist: Leonardo da Vinci.



Charles Darwin

Darwin’s “Origin of the Species” set off a powderkeg when it appeared to scientifically establish that humans evolved from apes. Years later, Darwin is still celebrated in the scientific and broader community as a visionary that held out against religious interests in order to advance the cause of science. Date: 1883 copy of 1881 original. Artist: John Collier



Bette Davis

Bette Davis was not only a famous screen actress, but the first female president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Date and photographer: Unknown.



Miles Davis

Davis played tirelessly from his teenage years right on up until his death in 1991. He received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award in 1991. Davis was not just a pioneer of jazz, but one of the major influencers in the jazz fusion movement. President Obama describes listening to the music of Miles Davis as a spiritual experience in this interview. Date: Unknown. Photographer: Anton Corbijn



James Dean

James Dean is considered to be one of the greatest actors of all time. His handsome good looks were only enhanced by an unmistakable screen presence in such films as “Giant” and “A Rebel Without a Cause”. Date: 1955. Photographer: Publicity shot for Schlitz Playhouse of Stars.



Princess Diana

Princess Diana married Prince Charles and found herself divorced from him just a few years afterwards due to his persistent philandering with his current wife, Camilla Parker Bowles. Tireless in her humanitarian efforts, Diana continued to win the hearts of the British people and indeed people all over the world up until her death. Patrick Demarchelier was Princess Diana’s favourite photographer. This image he took of her was featured on the cover of People magazine after her death in 1997 and it instantly became iconic. Date: 1990. Photographer: Patrick Dermarchelier.



Marlene Dietrich

Dietrich rose from German cabaret acts to film stardom in the pre-war US. She left her native Germany for the US even after being invited back by the Nazi party prior to the outbreak of World War II due to her distaste for their policies. Date: 1951
Photographer: Publicity Shot for “No Highway in the Sky”.



Walt Disney

Walt Disney founded Walt Disney Corp. from humble beginnings as an animator. His studio produced some of the most timeless children’s movies ever and still continues to do so. Date and photographer: Unknown.



Bob Dylan

Dylan wrote the soundtrack to the American civil unrest of the 1960’s. Winning a number of awards for his music including an honourary Pulitzer, Dylan created some controversy for his fans when he switched from acoustic guitar to electric midway through his career. One of his most famous songs, “All Along The Watchtower”, was used as a key plot device in the 2003 incarnation of the science fiction series Battlestar Galactica. Date and photographer: Unknown.



Amelia Earhart

Earhart was the first female pilot to fly solo over the Atlantic. Earhart disappeared in a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937 near Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean. Date: 1932. Photographer: Unknown.



Thomas Edison

This photo of a young Edison was taken with the phonograph that he invented. He was most famous for inventing a long-lasting, practical lightbulb. Date: 1877-1878. Photographer: Levin C. Handy.



General Dwight D. Eisenhower

Eisenhower was the chief general in charge of the US forces during World War II, and later went on to be President. This photo was taken a year after victory over Axis forces in WWII. Karsh would go on to photograph Eisenhower as President and in his retirement, where he delighted in showing Karsh the oil painting that he was working on of Churchill for which he used Karsh’s portrait as a source. Date: 1946. Photographer: Yousuf Karsh.



Farrah Fawcett

Farrah Fawcett became famous through a combination of the hit 70’s series “Charlie’s Angels” and this photograph which was popularized as a poster. Date: 1976. Photographer: Bruce McBroom.



Federico Fellini

Fellini was one of the most iconic filmmakers of the 20th century, with an enigmatic style that blended fantasy with Baroque art. Date: 1965. Photographer: Walter Albertin.



Anne Frank

Anne Frank was a young Jewish girl who hid from the Nazis with her family in Amsterdam and wrote an account of it in her diary. “The Diary of Anne Frank” is universally read by schoolchildren all over the world as an account of the Holocaust. This portrait was taken just a few months after Frank and her family went into hiding on October 10, 1942. Date: 1942. Photographer: Unknown.



Benjamin Franklin

One of the founding fathers of the United States, Franklin served in many positions to further the independence of the United States, including a few posts as foreign ambassador in order to raise funds for the formation of the new country. This portrait of Ben Franklin by Duplessis was immortalized on the American one hundred dollar bill. Date: Unknown. Artist: Joseph Siffred Duplessis.



Clark Gable

The “King of Hollywood” in his day, most remember Clark Gable as Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind. Date: 1938. Photographer: Publicity Shot for “It Happened One Night”.



Yuri Gagarin

Gagarin was the first human in outer space and the first to orbit the earth. He died in a training flight in 1968 and was buried within the walls of the Kremlin in Moscow. Date: Unknown. Photographer: Unknown.



Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi was responsible for getting the British to allow India to form its own government through his technique of satyagraha, or non-violence. Date: 1930’s. Photographer: Unknown.



Greta Garbo

Greta Garbo was a Swedish-American actress that starred in a number of movies from the silent film era to the “Golden Age” of Hollywood. Best known for “Camille” and “Ninotchka”. Date and photographer: Unknown.



Judy Garland

While Garland had a successful film career, no appearance of hers could even come close to “The Wizard of Oz”. Before the days of instant content access, kids would camp out in front of the TV for this feature film extravaganza, which still felt modern right on up until the 1980’s, mostly due to Garland’s masterful acting of what would have otherwise been a very two-dimensional character. Date: Unknown. Photographer: Publicity shot for “The Wizard of Oz”



Bill Gates

The founder of Microsoft and a primary benefactor of the largest charitable foundation in the world, Bill Gates was one of the first tech visionaries. Date and photographer: Unknown.



Betty Grable

Queen of the pin-ups, mostly due to this 1942 portrait. Grable’s legs were insured by her studio for a million dollars with Lloyd’s of London. Date: 1942. Photographer: 20th Century Fox.



Cary Grant

Grant, born Archibald Alec Leach, starred in a number of movies spanning from the 1930’s to the 1970’s. He was one of Hitchock’s favourite actors. Date and photographer: Unknown.



Che Guevara

Ernesto “Che” Guevara Havannassa at the La Coubre Memorial Service in 1960. Che traveled around Latin America as a young medical student and came to the conclusion that the only solution for the poverty that he saw was world revolution. He was instrumental in Castro’s takeover of Cuba and was later assassinated by Bolivian forces who were assisted by the CIA. Date: 1960. Photographer: Alberto Korda.



Ernest Hemingway

Hemingway wrote many memorable novels, including “The Old Man and the Sea”, “The Sun Also Rises”, and “A Farewell to Arms”. His life is almost more colourful than one of his novels, full of trips all over the world and the popularization of the daiquiri. Date: 1957. Photographer: Yousuf Karsh.



Jimi Hendrix

Widely considered to be the best electric guitarist in history, Hendrix is known for “Are You Experienced”, his rendition of “All Along the Watchtower” by Dylan, and his version of “The Star-Spangled Banner”, along with many others. Hendrix was also one of the first artists to add effects to his music in the studio. Date: Unknown. Photographer: Unknown.



Albert Einstein

Einstein is another father of modern science. While his most famous theory is his theory of relativity, he put forward a number of new theories that formed the foundation of modern physics and paved the way for the Atomic Age. Date: 1947. Photographer: Oren Jack Turner. Second photo: Date: 1951. Photographer: Arthur Sasse.




Of course this is not the end of the list, will continue with a series of galleries.