Famous birthdays by year
Famous People Born in 1879
Born in 1879? Meet the well-known people who share your birth year, from the biggest names to the ones you might not expect, month by month.
Turning 147 in 2026 · Chinese zodiac: Year of the Rabbit
The 1870s
The most famous people born in 187922
1879–1955Albert Einstein
Nobel Prize-winning physicist whose theories of special and general relativity, and the equation E=mc², transformed our understanding of space, time and energy
1879–1940Leon Trotsky
Russian Marxist revolutionary who helped lead the October Revolution and founded the Red Army before being exiled and murdered by Stalin's agent
1879–1919Emiliano Zapata
Key leader of the Mexican Revolution and peasant activist
1879–1968Otto Hahn
German chemist and pioneer who discovered nuclear fission
1879–1940Paul Klee
Swiss-German artist whose explorations of colour theory and teaching at the Bauhaus made his lectures essential texts for modern art
1879–1960Max von Laue
Physicist who won the Nobel Prize for discovering X-ray diffraction in crystals
1879–1970E. M. Forster
English author best known for writing the novel A Passage to India
1879–1959Owen Willans Richardson
British physicist who won the Nobel Prize for thermionic emission
Born in 1879, month by month
- January
- E. M. Forster (January 1) · English author best known for writing the novel A Passage to India
- Grace Coolidge (January 3) · First Lady of the United States from 1923 to 1929
- February
- Sarojini Naidu (February 13) · Indian independence activist and poet known as the Nightingale of India
- Paul Klee (February 18) · Swiss-German artist whose explorations of colour theory and teaching at the Bauhaus made his lectures essential texts for modern art
- March
- Otto Hahn (March 8) · German chemist and pioneer who discovered nuclear fission
- Hans Luther (March 10) · Chancellor of Germany who helped end hyperinflation in the 1920s
- Albert Einstein (March 14) · Nobel Prize-winning physicist whose theories of special and general relativity, and the equation E=mc², transformed our understanding of space, time and energy
- April
- Kartini (April 21) · Javanese activist who campaigned for women's education
- Owen Willans Richardson (April 26) · British physicist who won the Nobel Prize for thermionic emission
- May
- Milutin Milanković (May 16) · Serbian geophysicist who theorised the impact of orbital cycles on climate
- Symon Petliura (May 22) · Ukrainian politician and military leader during the early twentieth century
- June
- Huda Sha'rawi (June 23) · Pioneering Egyptian feminist leader and founder of the Egyptian Feminist Union
- August
- Emiliano Zapata (August 8) · Key leader of the Mexican Revolution and peasant activist
- Emperor Taishō (August 31) · Emperor of Japan whose reign saw a shift towards liberal democracy
- September
- Joseph Wirth (September 6) · German politician who served as Chancellor during the Weimar Republic
- Margaret Sanger (September 14) · Activist who pioneered birth control and founded Planned Parenthood
- October
- Wallace Stevens (October 2) · Pulitzer Prize-winning American modernist poet
- Max von Laue (October 9) · Physicist who won the Nobel Prize for discovering X-ray diffraction in crystals
- Franz von Papen (October 29) · German politician who served as Chancellor during the Weimar Republic
- November
- Will Rogers (November 4) · Cherokee-American vaudeville performer and prolific humorist
- Leon Trotsky (November 7) · Russian Marxist revolutionary who helped lead the October Revolution and founded the Red Army before being exiled and murdered by Stalin's agent
- December
- Ramana Maharshi (December 30) · Indian Hindu sage and philosopher of the Advaita Vedanta school