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Pablo Picasso (1881 –1973) - Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer. He spent most of his adult life in France. Regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he us known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage art and for the wide variety of styles he helped develop and explore. Picasso demonstrated extraordinary artistic talent in his early years and was extremely prolific throughout his life with over 20,000 paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics and other items such as costumes and theater sets. Read more

 In his book, "Amusing Ourselves to Death" : Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business Postman argued that by expressing ideas through visual imagery, television reduces politics, news, history and other serious topics to entertainment. He worried that culture would decline if the people became an audience and their public business a "vaudeville act". Read the excerpt of the book's forward

Neil Postman (1931 - 2003) was an American critic educator and Author. In addition to Amusing ourselves to Death, Postman wrote several other books as well as magazine and newspaper articles regarding technology and education. His other books include Conscientious Objections (1988), Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology (1992), The Disappearance of Childhood (1982) and The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School (1995).

His interests were were very diverse. He wrote on the disappearance of childhood, reforming public education, postmodernism, semantics, inguistics, and technopolies.

Sources: Wikipedia, NeilPostman.org

Henry Ward Beecher (1813 – 1887) was an American Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, and speaker, known for his support of the abolition of slavery, his emphasis on God's love and a novel oratorical style in which he employed humor, dialect, and slang. He was thought to be the most famous preacher in the nation. Read more

Source: "Life thoughts", 1859

Henry S. Haskins ( 1875 - 1957) was a stockbroker and man of letters. He author a book called "Cat's Cradle, Songs Grave and Gay" published in 1916. His aphorisms, were edited and published anonymously in 1940 as "Meditations in Wall Street by Albert Jay Nock. 

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844 -1900) German philosopher, cultural critic, composer, poet, philologist, and a Latin and Greek scholar. 

Source: Closing words in a letter from Friedrich Nietzsche, age 19,  to his younger sister Elizabeth.

Thomas Woodrow Wilson (1856 – 1924) The 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of Princeton University and as the governor of New Jersey before winning the 1912 presidential election. As President, Wilson changed the nation's economic policies and led the United States into World War I in 1917. He was the leading architect of the League of Nations, and his progressive stance on foreign policy came to be known as Wilsonianism. Read more

Georgia O'Keeffe (1887 – 1986) was one of the most significant artists of the 20th century. She was a modernist artist known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes. O'Keeffe has been called the "Mother of American modernism". Read more

Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977) - Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film and became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp..,. Read more

Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862).  American naturalist, philosopher, poet, and essayist. He is best known for his book "Walden" or "Life in the woods", a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay "Civil Disobedience" (originally published as "Resistance to Civil Government"), an argument for disobedience to an unjust state.

George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950), was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as Man and Superman (1902), Pygmalion (1913) and Saint Joan (1923). With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Read more

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Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 – 1962) She was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She served as the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four terms in office.  Roosevelt served as United States Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly from 1945 to 1952.