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Sanna Marin Sanna Marin, Finnish politician who was the youngest person to serve as prime minister of Finland (2019– ). She became leader of the liberal Social Democratic Party in 2020. Marin was born in Helsinki, but she grew up in Pirkkala, where she graduated from high school in 2004. Her parents separated...
Jill Biden Jill Biden, American educator and wife of Joe Biden, who served (2009–17) as vice president of the United States under Pres. Barack Obama and who was elected president of the United States in 2020. She is believed to be the first vice president’s spouse to maintain a paying job throughout his...
Scott Kelly Scott Kelly, American astronaut who made four spaceflights, the longest of which lasted 340 days. He is the twin brother of American astronaut and senator Mark Kelly. Scott Kelly received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the State University of New York Maritime College at Throggs...
Carrie Lam Carrie Lam, civil servant and politician in Hong Kong who in 2017 became the fourth chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China. Carrie was born and raised in Hong Kong. She attended St. Francis’ Canossian School and College for 13 years. She then attended the...
Jakub Józef Orliński Jakub Józef Orliński, Polish countertenor, known for his angelic voice and tasteful interpretations of Baroque pieces. His penchant for break dancing, his active social media presence, and his classically good looks amused the opera world and attracted the attention of a younger audience. Born to a...
Wilmington coup and massacre Wilmington coup and massacre, political coup and massacre in which the multiracial Fusionist (Republican and Populist) city government of Wilmington, North Carolina, was violently overthrown on November 10, 1898, and as many as 60 Black Americans were killed in a premeditated murder spree that was...
Luis Arce Luis Arce, Bolivian politician, economist, banker, and academic who became president of Bolivia in November 2020, returning the country to socialist rule after an interregnum of acting right-wing government that had resulted from the 2019 presidential election in which the victory of nearly 14-year...
Dalia Stasevska Dalia Stasevska, Ukrainian-born Finnish musician and conductor who became, in 2019, the youngest person and the first woman to be awarded a title conducting position at the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Stasevska was born to a Ukrainian father and a Lithuanian mother, both of whom were artists. The...
Billie Eilish Billie Eilish, American singer-songwriter who first gained recognition in 2015 for the song “Ocean Eyes” and became, in 2020, the youngest person ever to win a Grammy for Album of the Year. Eilish’s parents were inspired by Hanson, a ’90s pop band formed by a group of homeschooled brothers from...
Amy Coney Barrett Amy Coney Barrett, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 2020. She was the fifth woman to serve on the Supreme Court. Amy Coney was the first of eight children of Linda Coney (née Vath), a high-school French teacher, and Michael Coney, an attorney. Her family was devoutly...
Suga Yoshihide Suga Yoshihide, Japanese politician who became leader of the Liberal-Democratic Party of Japan (LDP) and prime minister of Japan in 2020. Suga grew up in rural northern Honshu, where his father was a strawberry farmer and his mother was a schoolteacher. Rather than take over the family farm after...
Gotabaya Rajapaksa Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lankan military officer and politician who served as secretary to the Ministry of Defense (2005–15) during the final years of the country’s civil war and later as president (2019– ). Rajapaksa played an instrumental role in bringing the civil war (1983–2009) to an end...
Shavkat Miromonov Mirziyoyev Shavkat Miromonov Mirziyoyev, Uzbek politician who served as Uzbekistan’s prime minister (2003–16) and president (2016– ). A younger protégé of the repressive president Islam Karimov (1991–2016), he became known for his management of economic development both before becoming president and during...
Voting rights Voting rights, voting rights, in U.S. history and politics, a set of legal and constitutional protections designed to ensure the opportunity to vote in local, state, and federal elections to the vast majority of adult citizens. The right to vote is an essential element of democracy in any country,...