Famous people born on April 27th
April 27 gathers an unusually wide range of influential birthdays, spanning revolutionary political leadership, foundational thinkers, and artists who reshaped modern culture. The date is especially rich in writers and public intellectuals, but it also features innovators in communication, landscape design, and popular entertainment. Together, these lives trace a path from Enlightenment-era debate to contemporary media and activism.
Notable highlights
- Mary Wollstonecraft (1759) - A pioneering feminist philosopher whose "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman" helped redefine arguments for women's education and equality.
- Ulysses S. Grant (1822) - Union Civil War general turned U.S. president who pursued Reconstruction and federal civil-rights enforcement amid fierce resistance.
- Samuel Morse (1791) - Co-developer of the telegraph system and Morse code, transforming long-distance communication in the 19th century.
- Edward Gibbon (1737) - Author of "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", celebrated for sweeping narrative history and sharp skepticism.
- Herbert Spencer (1820) - Victorian philosopher who popularized evolutionary ideas in social theory and coined the phrase "survival of the fittest".
- Coretta Scott King (1927) - Civil-rights leader who extended the movement's work after Martin Luther King Jr.'s death and championed nonviolence and justice globally.
- Frederick Law Olmsted (1822) - Landscape architect behind Central Park, shaping the idea of public parks as essential urban infrastructure.
- August Wilson (1945) - Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright whose "Pittsburgh Cycle" chronicles Black American life across the 20th century.
- Casey Kasem (1932) - Iconic radio host whose "American Top 40" became a weekly soundtrack for generations of pop music fans.
- Eric Schmidt (1955) - Technology executive who helped scale Google during its rise from fast-growing startup to global platform.
On this day
- 4977 BCE - The traditional epoch used to date the ancient Egyptian calendar is sometimes placed on this day in modern reconstructions.
- 1521 - Ferdinand Magellan is killed in the Battle of Mactan in the Philippines during his expedition's circumnavigation attempt.
- 1861 - President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in parts of the U.S. amid the opening months of the Civil War.
- 1961 - Sierra Leone gains independence from the United Kingdom, becoming a sovereign state within the Commonwealth.
- 1994 - South Africa holds its first multiracial democratic elections, marking the end of apartheid-era rule.