The economist Herbert Cole Coombs (1906-1997) was appointed to a series of public positions which allowed him more influence on the shape of post-war Australia than all except a few prime ministers. Widely respected by all sections of the ...

The English statesman Herbert Henry Asquith, Ist Earl of Oxford and Asquith (1852-1928), was prime minister of Great Britain from 1908 to 1916. His government sponsored significant social legislation, restricted the power of the House of L...

H. L. Hunt (1889-1974) was an entrepreneur who built a financial empire from a small early investment in oil in Arkansas. In his later years he was perhaps the world's richest man. Born on his father's farm near Vandalia, Illinois, on Febr...

H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) is widely considered the most important literary supernaturalist of the twentieth century. He is one of the greatest in a line of authors that originated with the Gothic novelists of the eighteenth century and w...

The American poet, translator, and novelist Hilda Doolittle (1886-1961), generally called H. D., was an imagist whose lyric art conveys intense feelings through sharp images and "free" forms. Hilda Doolittle was born on Sept. 10, 1886, in ...

Habib Bourguiba (1903-2000) was president of the Tunisian Republic and played a primordial role in leading his country's nationalist struggle for independence. Habib Bourguiba was born on Aug. 3, 1903, at Monastir into a modest family. He ...

Shams al-Din Hafiz (ca. 1320-1390) was a great Persian mystical poet who, as a professor of Koranic exegesis, composed some of the most sensitive and lyrical poetry ever produced in the Middle East. Hafiz was born in Shiraz, the capital of...

Haile Selassie (1892-1975) was an emperor of Ethiopia whose influence as an African leader far surpassed the confines of his country. Haile Selassie was born on July 23, 1892, the son of Ras Makonnen, a cousin and confidant of Emperor Meni...

A director and producer whose long list of credits includes the musical blockbusters West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, Evita, and The Phantom of the Opera, as well as groundbreaking works with lyricist/composer Stephen Sondhei...

Hall Jackson Kelley (1790-1874), American promoter, worked to encourage the settlement of the Oregon Territory. Hall J. Kelley was born on Feb. 24, 1790, at Northwood, N.H. He attended school at Gilmanton, then began teaching school at the...

Hallie Flanagan (1890-1969) was a director, playwright, and educator who headed the Federal Theater Project, America's first national, federally-funded theater organization, from 1935 to 1939. Born in South Dakota on August 27, 1890, and r...

As secretary of state under President Ulysses S. Grant, Hamilton Fish (1808-1893) settled the Alabama Claims and avoided war with Spain over the Cuban insurrection. Hamilton Fish was born on Aug. 3, 1808, in New York City. His father was a...

James Henry Hammond (1807-1864) was governor of South Carolina and a U.S. senator. He was a radical proponent of the doctrine of states' rights. James Henry Hammond was born on Nov. 17, 1807, in the Newberry district of South Carolina. Aft...

Hammurabi (reigned 1792-1750 B.C.) was a Babylonian king. One of the outstanding rulers of early antiquity, he is especially known as a lawgiver, the author of the code which bears his name. Nothing is known of the early life of Hammurabi....

Han Fei Tzu (ca. 280-233 BC) was a Chinese statesman and philosopher and one of the main formulators of Chinese Legalist philosophy. Elements of Chinese Legalist philosophy can be traced to the 7th century B.C., but it was Han Fei Tzu who ...

Spokesperson for the Palestinian delegation in the Arab-Israeli peace talks and later chair of a human rights group in the West Bank and Gaza, Hanan Mikhail Ashrawi (born 1946), a professor of English literature and a political activist, w...

Pulitizer Prize winner Oscar Handlin (born 1915) ranks as one of the most prolific and influential American historians of the twentieth century, with pioneering works in the fields of immigration history, ethnic history, and social history...

Henry Louis (Hank) Aaron (born 1934) was major league baseball's leading homerun hitter with a career total of 755 upon his retirement in 1976. He broke ground for the participation of African Americans in professional sports. Henry (Hank)...

Nancy Hanks (1927-1983) was called the "mother of a million artists" for her work in building federal financial support for the arts and artists. Her years as chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts and of the National Council on...

Hannah (Allgood) Glasse (1708-1770) published The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy in 1747. The book, which became the most popular cookbook of the eighteenth century, stands out for its practical advice, common sense recipes, and caref...

The German biologist and philosopher Hans Adolf Eduard Driesch (1867-1941) was a leading representative of vitalism in the 20th century. Hans Driesch was born at Bad Kreuznach on Oct. 28, 1867, into a prosperous middle-class family. After ...

The Alsatian-born American theoretical physicist Hans Albrecht Bethe (born 1906), prolific and creative contributor to several vital fields of nuclear physics, discovered the mechanism of energy production by stars (including the sun). Han...

The Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted (1777-1851) was the first to notice the interaction of electric current and the magnetic needle, thereby initiating the study of electromagnetism. Hans Oersted was born on Aug. 14, 1777, in Rudk&...

Hans Geiger (1882-1945) invented the Geiger counter. Hans Geiger was a German nuclear physicist best known for his invention of the Geiger counter, a device used for counting atomic particles, and for his pioneering work in nuclear physics...

The German painter and graphic artist Hans Holbein the Younger (ca. 1497-1543) combined consummate technical skill with a keen eye for realistic appearance and was the first portrait painter to achieve international fame. Hans Holbein the ...