United States

Famous American People: American Artists, Scientists, Leaders, Musicians, Politicians and Athletes

America has produced many talented people who have achieved extraordinary accomplishments in their lives and who have made a difference to society. The most successful and famous American people did not live their lives as if they believed in a life lottery. They searched through the clouds for the highest peaks. They had a dream and daring dreamers are great achievers! The following Americans, scientists, dynamic leaders, famous writers or artists have one thing in common: are not easy to stereotype. They motivated and inspired us to greatness.

:: List of Famous People from USA ::

Benjamin Franklin

“The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance; to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference; to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you; to yourself, respect; to all men, charity.”

Throughout history, many people have made a lasting impact on the American society and Benjamin Franklin, the Founding Fathers of the United States of America, a noted polymath, leading author and printer, satirist, political theorist, politician, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman and diplomat, a man of great vision and a hero, is considered to be one of the greatest American minds and a proud pillar of the American heritage.

Franklin was a prolific inventor, he possessed many qualities in great abundance. He invented the lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove and a carriage odometer. Moreover, Benjamin Franklin formed both the first public lending library in America and first fire department in Pennsylvania.

But more than more anyone, Franklin invented the idea of an American nation, of the United States. There were four key documents which led to the formation of the United States of America and he was the only person to sign all four documents. Among these documents are: The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the United States.

Henry Ford

Henry Ford, the great Detroit automobile manufacturer, is the American founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. He was the creative force behind an industry that revolutionized the way cars were designed and built, introducing assembly line factories for producing mass amounts of vehicles. He revolutionized transportation and changed permanently the American industry. He was a prolific inventor, was awarded with 161 U.S. patents and is considered a symbol of the transition from an agricultural to an industrial America.

Tyra Banks

Tyra Banks is an American supermodel, talk show host, actress, singer, businesswoman and the first African American woman on the covers of GQ, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and the first-ever African American chosen for the cover of the Victoria’s Secret catalog. She is considered to be one of the wealthiest models with a personal assets that equals 8.8 million dollars. She collaborated with fashion giants like Chanel, Oscar de la Renta, Ralph Laurent and Yves Saint Lauren.

Tyra Banks received in 1997 the VH1 award for Supermodel of the Year and was twice awarded by People Magazine’s in the nomination “50 Most Beautiful”. Furthermore, in 2008, Tyra Banks won the Daytime Emmy Award for her Tyra Banks Show.

Neil Armstrong

Neil Alden Armstrong is a former American NASA astronaut, test pilot, university professor and United States Naval Aviator. Armstrong gained the distinction of being the first man to land a craft on the moon and first to step on its surface during his first spaceflight aboard Gemini 8 in 1966. He was the command pilot.

Armstrong has been decorated by 17 countries and was awarded with many honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom; the Congressional Space Medal of Honor; the NASA Distinguished Service Medal; Aeronautique Internationale’s Gold Space Medal and many others.

Katharine Houghton Hepburn

Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, television and stage. She is considered one of the greatest actresses and film stars of the 20th century. The “Queen of Hollywood” is the only actress to win four Oscar awards, from 12 nominations, as Best Actress in “Morning Glory”, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”, “The Lion in Winter” and “On Golden Pond”.

The American Film Institute ranked Hepburn as the greatest female star in the history of American cinema. She will always be remembered as an iconic figure in American cinema and as an excellent actress, acting in over 50 feature films.

John Moses Browning

John Moses Browning was the most famous, competent, the greatest firearms designer the world has ever known! Browning developed many varieties of firearms, cartridges, and gun mechanisms, many of which are still in use around the world, over 30 million firearms base on his designs. He is the most important figure in the development of modern automatic and semi-automatic firearms and is credited with 128 gun patents. As a prolific gun designer, he invented the Winchester rifle (30/30), the pump shotgun, and the Colt 45 automatic.

Bill Gates

Bill Gates has been a central figure, one of the most important American business figures of the 20th century, because he revolutionized personal computing in the digital information age. His achievements have made him the world’s third richest person and chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen. Microsoft is worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses. Microsoft had revenues of 51.12 billion dollars in 2007 and more than 78,000 employees in 105 countries. Bill Gates is one of the driving forces behind today’s personal computing and the world’s most respected business leader.

Thomas H. Morgan

Was an outstanding American geneticist and embryologist. He was the first person awarded the Nobel Prize in genetics “for his discoveries concerning the role played by the chromosome in heredity.” Morgan’s work with the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, by which he established the chromosome theory of heredity, is the most widely known. The pioneer of Genetics showed that genes are linked in a series on chromosomes and are responsible for identifiable, hereditary traits.

Martin Luther King

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed!”

Martin Luther King was clergyman, activist, one of the greatest American orators and an outstanding leader in the American civil rights movement. He was a firm advocate of non-violence as the means of achieving these rights and is referenced as a human rights icon today.

There are many inspirational speeches and one of the most famous speaches is this: I have a Dream, by Martin Luther King, in 1963 during the March on Washington. Nevertheless, his famous words of wisdom have made an impressive impact upon the American society and not only. He established himself as one of the greatest orators in U.S. history.

Martin Luther King recieved in 1964 the Nobel Peace Prize “for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means.”

Walt Disney

Walt Disney is a powerful, pervasive presence in our culture. Walter Elias Disney, the multiple Academy Award-winning American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur and philanthropist has been, arguably, the most influential American of the 20th century. The entertainer’s enormous popularity had an enduring impact on generations all over the world. Disney became one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world. The corporation The Walt Disney Company has annual revenues of 35 billion dollars.

Walt Disney holds the records for number of Academy Award nominations (fifty-nine) and number of awarded Oscars (twenty-six) for productions like: Mickey Mouse, Three Little Pigs, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Old Mill, Donald Duck and many others. Tens of millions of people who never heard of Martin Luther King or Roosevelt, could identify Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck in an instant.