Leighton Meester
Leighton Meester begain playing Blair, the haughty and not-so-nice frenemy, on the TV show Gossip Girl in 2007. Gossip Girl was based on the the popular book series about privileged teenagers at a fancy private school on the Upper East Side of New York City. Meester was already a TV veteran at age 21: she was 13 when she guest-starred on Law & Order (her first TV role). She followed that with appearances on 24 and many other TV shows, including a brief recurring role on Entourage as Justine Chapin, a teenybopper singer (2004). Meester was also a veteran model, having signed with the Wilhelmina agency in New York at age 11. Her feature films include the horror flick Hangman's Curse (2003), the off-kilter drama Flourish (2006), and the black comedy Drive-Thru (2007).

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Cornelius Vanderbilt was one of America's richest men in the second half of the 19th century. He started in business when he was 16 years old -- he borrowed money, bought a boat and started as a ... more

Alan Turing

Alan Turing was a mathematician who in 1937 suggested a theoretical machine, since called a Turing Machine, that became the basis of modern computing. ... more

Adam Smith

Scottish philosopher Adam Smith is the author of the 1776 book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, a classic of modern economics beloved especially by free market ... more

Paul Revere

Paul Revere was a hero of the American Revolutionary War, famous for his "midnight ride" of 1775, during which he sounded the alarm that British forces were moving against the colonists. His fame ... more

Eliot Spitzer

Eliot Spitzer is the crusading former prosecutor who, as governor of New York, was accused of consorting with prostitutes. Those allegations interrupted a steady political climb that some had ... more