Notable People in History

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Makeda, Queen of Sheba who ruled the Axumite kingdom for more than 50 years. She traveled to Jerusalem to witness the fabled wisdom of King Solomon and bore him a son named Menelik, the first Imperial ruler of Ethiopia.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Mansa Musa, the ninth ruler of the Mali Empire and considered the richest man to have ever lived. During his reign, the empire of Mali doubled in size, making it second in size only to that of the Mongol Empire at the time, and trade tripled.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Queen Amani. She’s remembered as having led her Kingdom’s army to fight back the Romans from 25 to 22 BC, halting their expansion into Kush. She captured three major Roman cities and brought back the bronze head of Augustus Caesar.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Leo Africanus. Born Al Hassan Ibn Muhammad Al Wazzan, he is best known for hisb book, Cosmographia et geographia de affrica (Cosmography and geography of Africa).

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Hatshepsut. Assuming the title King of Upper and Lower Egypt, she reigned Egypt as pharoah from 1478-1458 BCE, longer than any other woman of Egyptian dynasty.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Muḥammad ibn Musa Al-Khwarizmi. His book, Hisab al-jabr w’al-muqabala or The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing, is generally considered to be the first written on the subject of algebra.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Queen Boudica, a Celtic queen of the Iceni tribe in England who led a rebellion against Roman occupation around 60 A.D.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Fibonacci. Traveling around the Mediterranean coast, Fibonacci met with many merchants, learning about their systems for doing arithmetic.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of  Wang Zhenyi. Despite societal norms which prohibited female education, she made accurate findings and observations as to the relationship between the lunar and solar eclipses. 

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Pythagoras. He’s credited with formulating the Pythagorean theorem, and the concept that music and harmony is present in the entire Universe.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Hypatia of Alexandria. She became the head of the Platonist school at Alexandria, lecturin on mathematics and philosophy. In 415 AD, she was attacked by a mob, and beaten to death with what are thought to be roofing tiles.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Euclid, the Greek mathematician, who lived and taught in Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy I. He’s often referred to as the “Father of Geometry.”

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Nakano Takeko.  Born into a family of the Aizu clan, Nakano Takeko was born in Edo. She led a warrior class of female samurais during the Battle of Aizu of 1868.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Golda Meir, Israel's first female prime minister and the third female prime minister in the world. 

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of  Greek physician, Galen.  Universally known as Galen of Pergamon, he correctly pointed out that arteries were filled with blood, not air.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Grace Hopper.  She popularized the idea of machine-independent programming languages, which led to the development of COBOL, one of the first modern programming languages.

In this week's Notable People in History podcast, we’ll take a look at the life of Hippocrates, the Greek physician often credited with developing the theory of the "four humors," or fluids, which include yellow bile, black bile, blood and phlegm.