VIVA – There have been several people throughout history whose success stories in adversity or unusual thinking have made a lasting global and historical impact.
They are able to inspire the next generation to follow in their footsteps in achieving success. Here are 10 of the most inspirational people in history. Their stories can be influential for people’s live.
1. Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks
- Rosa Parks photographed with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (ca. 1955). (Image credit: USIA)
Rosa Parks was born in 1913, shaped the civil rights landscape when she refused to stand on a separate passenger bus in Montgomery, Alabama, so white people could sit.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a reaction to the arrest of Rosa Parks. She inspired the actions that led to the end of segregation in the United States.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) awards the Martin Luther King Jr. to Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks also received a Congressional Gold Medal and a Presidential Medal of Freedom for activism.
2. Mother Teresa
Bunda Teresa
Mother Teresa chose a volunteer life in poverty to help others. In 1950, she founded the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic congregation which to this day dedicates itself to helping those suffering from HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis as well as running soup kitchens, orphanage, school and mobile clinic.
Through this work, Mother Teresa instigated an entire generation to selflessly help others and fearlessly confront world leaders to address inequality.
She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and canonized in 2016 by Pope Francis, becoming the Patron Saint of Calcutta.
3. Sir Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton's achievements in mathematics, theology, physics, and astronomy were able to inspire and influence human life.
He also had radical thinking that produced groundbreaking revelations and caused waves among the contemporary scientific community that would impact every generation that followed.
Sir Isaac Newton was an influential discoverer of gravity for all modern science, he was also the first to calculate the speed of sound and made great strides in the study of light.
4. Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King
- Wikimedia Commons / U.S. Library of Congress
Martin Luther had fundamentally supported the mass movement for equal rights and inspired an entire generation to rethink racial equality.
Born in Atlanta in 1929 and growing up under strict US segregation laws, he was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's nonviolent activism to lead the Civil Rights Movement, which ultimately ended institutional segregation across the country and earned him the Nobel Peace Prize. and the Presidential Medal of Freedom en route.
5. Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai
- Instagram @wearemalalayousafzai
Malala Yousafzai is a contemporary activist who was shot in the head by Taliban soldiers after campaigning for the right of girls to attend school.
She grew up in Pakistan and was only 11 years old when she became an activist. Unfortunately, Yousafzai's views on girls' right to education resulted in her being attacked by the Taliban when she was a teenager.
Yousafzai's journey has been written in books, including her own memoirs and she is a social influencer and international activist against oppression.
6. Peter Diamandis
Peter Diamandis is an award-winning innovator of the X PRIZE Foundation. It’s a non-profit organization Diamandis developed to encourage innovation and create new projects in exploration, life sciences, energy & environment, and global education/development.
Diamandis has been in charge of his own innovations and he is one of the international leaders pioneering private space travel.
7. Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin.
- U-Report
Charles Darwin was able to reveal the wonders and intrigues of the natural world to the wider public through an epic and extremely dangerous five-year journey across the globe.
At a time when religion held a firm grip on societies around the world, Darwin's theory of natural selection as set out in On the Origin of Species was deemed blasphemous and heretical.
It took undeniable courage, the courage of his convictions, and great faith in the evidence he had found to support the theory that, in the end, formed the basis for much of modern biology.
8. William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
- http://www.globecampus.ca
William Shakespeare is a revered king of literature; Shakespeare's writings are about the reflection of human nature. An actor, playwright and poet, his works changed the way people think about themselves and contemporary society, thus changing the entire English-speaking world forever.
9. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart is considered the greatest inspirational classical composer. Mozart had an extraordinary talent, writing from the age of five. After his death in 1791, left to the world more than 600 works.
Many of these compositions are still among the most popular classical compositions streamed today.
He also refined and developed the Classical fashion, which was characterized by clarity, balance, and transparency, and was in direct opposition to the Baroque style that dominated at the time.
His progressive works later formed the framework for many world-famous successors, including Beethoven and Chopin.
10. Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso)
Dalai Lama
- Source BBC
Dalai Lama is a religious leader who has earned his title of true inspiration for his political activism and peaceful protest movement.
Gyatso was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his nonviolent resistance to Chinese rule in Tibet, an ongoing problem for which Gyatso was forced to live in exile in India.
He is also known for his passionate speeches on topics such as women's rights, economics, environment, science and religion, and his dedication to peace, prosperity, compassion and tolerance are all truly inspiring and influential to people's lives.
