When studying history, people often rely on periodization, which is the practice of breaking down events and slotting people into separate (but often arbitrary) blocks of time. While this makes it easier to study the world, it may not be a real depiction because it leads to disparities in context. That being said, it does create the space for some interesting (and even surprising) intersections of the lives of notable historical figures.
Orville Wright and Neil Armstrong
Neil Armstrong was in his late teens when Orville Wright passed away.
Orville and his brother Wilbur Wright were visionaries who revolutionized the way people travel today. They were credited with building the first-ever successful airplane, which first took flight in 1903. Orville passed away in 1948, at the age of 76.
Only 66 years later, Neil Armstrong would make his journey to space, and become the first-ever man to walk on the moon. While they may seem too far apart, these two men had an overlap of around 17 years, as Armstrong was born in 1930.
Anne Frank, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barbara Walters
The 20th century was a time of major upheaval all around the world. It also saw the emergence of some of the world’s most influential leaders and personalities.
Martin Luther King Jr., Anne Frank, and Barbara Walters were all born in the same year (1929), albeit in very different contexts. While Anne lost her life tragically at the age of 15 during the Holocaust, MLK went on to become one of the most famous civil rights leaders in the country. Barbara Walters, a well-known broadcast journalist and TV personality, passed away in 2022 at 93.
Leonardo DaVinci and Christopher Columbus
DaVinci was one of the most popular artists during the Italian Renaissance movement, and Columbus became well-renowned for his discovery of the “New World.” While they may seem to belong to different generations, they were actually born in the same country just one year apart. Columbus was born in 1451, while DaVinci was born in 1452.
Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin, and Napoleon Bonaparte
Lincoln was monumental in ending the civil war in the country and advancing the cause of freedom for enslaved people. He was born on the same day as Charles Darwin – February 12, 1809.
Interestingly enough, both these men lived at the same time as the prominent French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte. Lincoln and Darwin would have been six years old when Napoleon was engaged in the Battle of Waterloo, an event that marked the end of the Napoleonic Wars. After the war, Napoleon was exiled to Saint Helena, where he died of stomach cancer in 1821.
Pablo Picasso and Jimi Hendrix
There are few names in the art world that are as popular as Picasso. He is often (and mistakenly) believed to belong to the 19th century. The truth is, he was born on October 25, 1881, and went on to live a long life until 1973.
Remarkably, his life overlaps with that of another artist from the world of music – Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix was born in 1942 and tragically passed away at the age of 27 in 1970. Regarded as one of the greatest guitarists of all time, Hendrix lived his entire life within Picasso’s lifetime!
Ben Franklin and Isaac Newton
One of the founding fathers of the country, Benjamin Franklin was a true polymath – writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, politician, and more. He was also famous for discovering electricity. He lived from January 17, 1706, to April 17, 1790.
For roughly twenty years, he shared the planet with another noted scientist – the English Polymath Isaac Newton. Newton was a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, and theologian, who is most renowned for defining gravity. He was born on December 25, 1642, and passed away on March 20, 1727.
Queen Elizabeth II and Marilyn Monroe
Two of the most well-renowned political figures of the last century were actually born in the same year – 1926. Queen Elizabeth II, the longest reigning monarch in British history was born on April 21, 1926, while the queen of Hollywood, Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jeane Mortenson) was born on June 1, 1926. Even though these ladies lived around the same time, their lives and public personas could not have been more different from each other.
Marilyn, unfortunately, died in 1962 at the young age of 36, while the Queen went on to turn 96, before passing away on September 8, 2022, at Balmoral Castle.
Marie Curie and Mark Twain
Curie, Maria Salomea Skladowska-Curie, known for her groundbreaking work on radioactivity, lived at the same time as Samuel Langhorne Clemens (popularly known by his pen name Mark Twain), “the father of American Literature.”
Marie was born on November 7, 1867 in Warsaw, Poland. She died in Passy, France on July 4, 1934, at the age of 66. Her life overlapped with that of Mark Twain for about 43 years. Twain was born on November 30, 1835. He lived until the age of 74, passing away on April 21, 1910. His last piece of writing was the short sketch “Etiquette for the Afterlife: Advice to Paine,” which was published in 1995 posthumously.
Although these figures seem to belong to different eras, they were all born around the same time. This perception often distorts the way in which people remember history.
