Willem Einthoven was born on May 21, 1860, in Semarang on the island of Java, in the former Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). His father was Jacob Einthoven, born and educated in Groningen, The Netherlands, an army medical officer in the Indies, who later became parish doctor in Semarang. His mother was Louise M.M.C. de…

John Douglas Cockcroft was born at Todmorden, England, on May 27th, 1897. His family had for several generations been cotton manufacturers. He was educated at Todmorden Secondary School and studied mathematics at Manchester University under Horace Lamb in 1914-1915. After serving in the First World War in the Royal Field Artillery he returned to Manchester…

I was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, a little coal mining town in Eastern Pennsylvania, where my father owned a small business. He had first gone into business for himself after leaving Montreal and his family for the United States when he was only sixteen-years old. He moved many times in the eastern United States before…

“I don’t think anyone should write their autobiography until after they’re dead.”Samuel Goldwyn Several years ago I was on a trekking trip in the Jordanian desert with a large group of Brits. We were camping and, as usual, there was not much to do in the evenings, so we filled the hours by sitting around…

Tawakkol Karman did not submit an autobiography.

Thomas J. Sargent did not submit an autobiography.

My four grandparents all immigrated as young adults to the United States from Eastern European Jewish towns and villages early in the twentieth century. This was a generation of poor but optimistic intellectuals, who expected that the newly rationalist world would use education and creativity to leave behind boundaries, borders, and religion to build a…

Adam G. Riess did not submit an autobiography.

Brian P. Schmidt did not submit an autobiography.

Dan Shechtman did not submit an autobiography.