John Paul Jones was a Scottish sailor who served in the United Kingdom, the United States and Russia. He is most famous for participation in the American Revolutionary War.
Paul Jones was born on July 6, 1747 in Kirkcudbright, Scotland. His father, John Paul Sr., was a gardener, and the mother of the future admiral was Jean Duff. They got married on November 29, 1733 in New Abbey, Kirkcudbright.
John Paul Jr. began naval career at the age of 13 as a cabin boy aboard the Friendship under Captain Benson. The next few years, he sailed on the British merchant ships, including as a third mate in 1764 aboard the King George and the first mate on the Two Friends in 1766.
More »

Birute Galdikas is a Canadian anthropologist, primatologist, ethologist and ecologist of Lithuanian origin.
Birute Marija Filomena Galdikas was born on May 10, 1948 in Wiesbaden. She was born in a family of refugees from Soviet Lithuania. She was the first of four children. In 1949, her family moved to Canada and obtained citizenship. The girl spent her childhood in Toronto.
She studied psychology and biology, and in 1966 Birute received a bachelor’s degree in psychology and zoology at the University of British Columbia and the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1969 she became Master of Anthropology.
More »

Their names have become household name, and the time has smoothed the events of previous years. And now they are called extraordinary individuals who defied society.
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow traveled the southern states of the USA in the early 1930s. And they were not like the characters of Hollywood film 1967 with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway in the lead roles.
Bonnie Parker was born on October 1, 1910 in the Texas town of Rowena and was the middle of three daughters. In 1914 her father died and her mother took children and moved to the Dallas suburb. At school Bonnie was considered one of the best students. She enthusiastically read magazine stories about the adventures, wrote poems and was fond of photography. Teachers and parents believed that Bonnie had a chance to become successful in the future. But … six days before her 16th anniversary Bonnie left school and married her classmate Roy Thornton. In 1929 he was jailed for robbery, and Bonnie would never see her husband again. Bonnie was only 19 years old. She dreamed of a life full of events and adventures.
More »

There were a lot of adventurers in France of the XVIII century. Many magicians, alchemists, astrologers, soothsayers, sorcerers, healers appeared. Franz Mesmer, the discoverer of “animal magnetism”, had a great popularity. But Casanova was the most famous of them. He gained fame as a healer: he helped La Tour D’Auvergne to get rid of aches, removed acne from Duchess of Chartres’ beautiful skin, and managed to sell the Prince of Courland recipe for … gold! They say Casanova arranged sessions of clairvoyance for the Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst – brilliant Catherine II.
Like all the adventurers of the XVIII century, Casanova was a fine fencer and a good shooter, but his main weapon was the word. He was a well-read man, knew ancient, Italian, and French literature, and was a connoisseur of art and theater.
Giacomo Jacopo Girolamo Casanova de Seinglat, the first child of an actor and actress, was born in 1725 in Venice.
More »

On June 5, 1783 there were a lot of people in the central square of a small French town. They heard that Montgolfier brothers, Joseph and Etienne, owners of a paper factory, decided to surprise the world – they made a balloon and wanted to run it into the sky. Nobody believed it. People said they were madmen, because only birds could fly.
A special platform was erected in the center of the town square and they made a fire. Eight volunteers brought a giant bag made of fabric, which was placed over the fire. Suddenly the bag took the form of a giant balloon, hovering over the fire. The balloon began rising higher. People could not believe their eyes. Human creation rose above the flying birds. The wind carried it away, and the balloon began falling. Joseph and Etienne were happy, they managed to lift the balloon in the air and it landed safely. Brothers became the first people in the world to launch artificial air flying machine which flew several hundred meters. The flight lasted more than ten minutes. The successful experience was reported to the king Louis XVI. The king invited the brothers to Paris to demonstrate their flying machine. At the same time, he demanded the Academy of Sciences to study the issue of aeronautics and explain the magic of the lift. The arrival of the brothers to Paris delayed. They began to build another balloon with a basket for the passengers. They wanted to surprise not only the audience, but the king.
More »

Steph Davis is an American climber, wingsuiter and BASE-jumper. She was the first woman to climb all Fitz Roy peaks in Patagonia, the second to climb El Capitan in one day and the first woman to climb El Cap. She made free-solo Longs Peak in Colorado and climbed Torre Egger in Patagonia.
Stephanie Davis was born on November 4, 1973 in Illinois. She was an excellent student. At the age of 3 she began playing the piano. Later she played the flute and sang.
In 1990, she entered the University of Maryland and in 1991 she first tried climbing. She fell in love with climbing and gave up music. On holidays she climbed in Longs Peak.
She enjoyed climbing so much and even moved to Colorado as a part of a student exchange program. After receiving a bachelor’s degree, she entered the University of Colorado to get a master’s degree. She refused the doctoral degree and entered the University of Colorado, but quit after 5 days of studying. Against his parents’ wishes, she decided to dedicate her life to climbing.
More »

John Cabot was an Italian and French sailor and a merchant who explored the coast of Canada. He was once thought to have been the first to bear the English flag across the Atlantic.
Giovanni Caboto was born in 1450. It is an approximate date of his birth. Although it is possible that he was born a little bit earlier. He was probably born in Genoa.
In 1496 Cabot’s contemporary, the Spanish diplomat Pedro de Ayala, mentioned him in one of his letters to Ferdinand and Isabella as a “Genoese Columbus“.
It is known that in 1476 Cabot became the citizen of Venice. To get Venetian citizenship he had to live there for 15 years. This means that he and his family moved to Venice in 1461 or earlier.
In the middle of 1495 Cabot and his family moved to England. Upon arrival in England, Cabot immediately went to Bristol to find support. All his expeditions started in this port.
More »