famous jews in history

The Pulitzer Prize is one of journalism's highest honours. Every year, it recognises outstanding reporting, writing and photography. The prize is named after Joseph Pulitzer, a Hungarian-born Jewish immigrant whose remarkable journey helped transform American journalism.Born in Makó, Hungary, in 1847, Pulitzer's father died when he was young, leaving the family in financial hardship. At 17, he travelled alone to the United States to join the Union Army during the American Civ

Every second of every day, your body converts food into energy. It's something we rarely think about, yet for centuries, nobody fully understood how it worked. One of the people who changed that was Dr Gerty Cori. Born into a Jewish family in Prague in 1896, Gerty studied medicine alongside her husband, Carl. Together, they discovered how the body stores and releases energy by converting glucose into glycogen and back again, a process now known as the Cori Cycle. Their gr

Helen Suzman spent much of her political career speaking out against South Africa's apartheid system, one of very few in Parliament willing to do so. Suzman was born in South Africa in 1917 to Jewish immigrant parents from Lithuania. She entered politics in the 1950s and became one of the country's most outspoken parliamentary opponents of apartheid. From 1961 to 1974, Suzman was the only representative of the Progressive Party in Parliament. She used her position to chal

Decades before Sir Zelman Cowen became Australia's second Jewish Governor-General, another Jewish Australian had already made history. In 1931, Sir Isaac Isaacs became the first Australian-born and first Jewish person to serve as Governor-General, breaking new ground for both Australia and the Jewish community. Isaacs was born in Melbourne in 1855 to Jewish parents who had emigrated from Poland. A gifted student, he became a teacher before studying law. He quickly establish

Julius Rosenwald was one of America's most successful businessmen of all time. Born in 1862 in Illinois to German Jewish immigrants, Rosenwald built his career in the clothing industry before becoming president of Sears, Roebuck and Co. Under his leadership, Sears grew into one of the largest retailers in the United States, making Rosenwald one of the country's wealthiest men. Inspired by Jewish values of charity and social responsibility, Rosenwald believed that those wh

Born in New York City to Jewish immigrants from Russia, Ben Hecht became one of the most successful writers in Hollywood history. A former journalist, he wrote or contributed to more than 70 films, including Scarface and Wuthering Heights. In 1929, he won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Original Story and was widely regarded as one of the most talented screenwriters of his generation. For much of his life, judaism was of little concern to Hecht. His focus was on journ

Long before New York became the centre of world finance, it was a small Dutch trading settlement called New Amsterdam. Founded in 1625, the colony was less than 30 years old when one of its earliest Jewish settlers, Asser Levy, arrived and began fighting for equal rights. Levy arrived after fleeing persecution in Europe. At a time when Jews faced restrictions and discrimination, he repeatedly challenged laws that treated Jewish settlers differently from others. When Jews were

Born in Melbourne in 1919, Zelman Cowen grew up in a Jewish family that placed a strong emphasis on education, learning and community service. A gifted student, he attended Scotch College before studying law at the University of Melbourne. He later won a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, beginning a career that would take him from academia to public service. After serving in intelligence during World War II, Cowen became one of Australia's leading legal

The biblical figure associated the most with Shavuot is undoubtedly Ruth, who lived in ancient Israel during the time of the Judges. The Book of Ruth, which we read on Shavuot, tells the story of a woman who refused to give up. When faced with the loss of her husband, instead of succumbing to grief, Ruth chose loyalty, kindness and faith. After the death of her Jewish husband, Ruth could have remained in her homeland of Moab. Instead, she chose to accompany her mother-in-

Born in Tel Aviv in 1957 to a large Yemeni Jewish family, Ofra Haza rose from modest beginnings in one of the city’s poorer neighbourhoods to become one of Israel’s most iconic singers. Her extraordinary voice first gained attention as a teenager in a local theatre troupe, before she became a national star in the 1970s and 80s. In 1983, she represented Israel at Eurovision with Chai, finishing second in one of the contest’s closest results. Far from a disappointment, the

Agnes Keleti was born on 9 January 1921 in Hungary. She began gymnastics as a child and was already a national champion before the war. Her career was then taken away from her. Anti-Jewish laws banned her from competing, and during the Holocaust she was forced into hiding, surviving under a false identity. Her father and many relatives were murdered. After the war, in her mid-20s, she returned to a sport where most athletes peak much earlier. In her 30s, an age when most gymn

Irvin Kershner wasn’t an obvious choice to direct a Star Wars film. He didn’t come from science fiction or action films. His work was focused on people and relationships. Kershner was born in 1923 in Philadelphia to Jewish immigrant parents. He trained in music and art, and came into filmmaking through visual storytelling. He later taught film at the University of Southern California. One of his students was George Lucas. After the success of the first Star Wars film, L

Louis B. Mayer was born Lazar Meir in 1884, into a poor Jewish family in Eastern Europe. His family faced restrictions and discrimination, like many Jews at the time. As a child, he moved with his family to North America, arriving in the United States in the early 1900s. They were very poor, so Mayer left school young and worked to support them. Despite the opportunities in America, Jews still faced discrimination and were often shut out of industries like banking, law, and l

Baruch Spinoza was born into a Jewish family in Amsterdam. They were part of a community who had rebuilt Jewish life after fleeing persecution in Spain and Portugal. He was one of the first thinkers to argue that truth should be pursued through reason, not simply accepted from authority. In 1656, at age 24, he was excommunicated from the Jewish community after challenging core beliefs about God, scripture and who has the authority to define truth. Spinoza did not reject God,

Eddie Jaku was born in Leipzig, Germany, in 1920. As he came of age, he saw his world collapse under Nazi rule. He was arrested on Kristallnacht in 1938 and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. He was later transferred to Auschwitz, where he endured years of forced labour, starvation and constant danger. In early 1945, as the Nazis evacuated camps, he was forced on a death march back toward Germany. He eventually made his way back to Buchenwald, where he was liberated by Am

Jonas Salk was born in New York to Jewish immigrant parents. Like many other immigrants, his family was poor but fixated on education. He was the first in his family to go to university. He studied medicine, but was more interested in preventing disease than treating it. In the early 1900s, polio was one of the most feared diseases in the world. It mainly affected children and could cause paralysis or death. Outbreaks shut down schools and changed how families lived. Ma

Natan Sharansky was born in the Soviet Union, where Jews were not free to live openly as Jews or to leave the country. He became a leading voice for Soviet Jews who wanted to emigrate to Israel. For that, he was arrested by the KGB in 1977 and accused of treason. Sharansky spent nine years in prison, including long periods in solitary confinement and forced labour. He was repeatedly pressured to confess and to inform on others. To give up his identity. He refused. Dur

Rabbi Hillel was one of the most influential sages in Jewish history. He was born in Babylon and moved to Jerusalem, where he lived in poverty while studying Torah. One well-known story describes him climbing onto a roof in winter to listen to a lesson because he could not afford the entrance fee. Over time, he became a leading teacher and head of the Sanhedrin. Hillel is best known for a simple teaching: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.” He presente

Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler was born in Vienna, Austria, to a Jewish family. Her father was a bank director and her mother was a concert pianist. In 1933 she married Friedrich Mandl, a wealthy Austrian arms manufacturer who supplied weapons to fascist regimes in Europe. Through that marriage Lamarr was often present at dinners and meetings where military engineers discussed weapons technology. The marriage was unhappy and controlling. Lamarr later escaped and fled Europe, ev

Sir John Monash was one of Australia’s greatest military leaders and engineers, and one of the first Jews to rise to national prominence. Born in Melbourne to Prussian Jewish parents, he had a brilliant mind and a quiet confidence that shaped everything he did. Before World War One, Monash was already a top civil engineer. When the war came, he brought logic and planning to the battlefield. As commander of the Australian Corps, his smart strategies at Hamel and Amiens in 19