Category: Today’s Birthday

Utzon was a Danish architect who, in 1957, won a competition to design Australia’s Sydney Opera House, which was completed in 1973 and was declared a World Heritage Site in 2007. Utzon is only the second architect in history to see his work assigned this status during his lifetime. In 1966, after designing the opera house’s distinctive roof—a series of glittering white shell-shaped vaults—and spending nearly a decade on the project, Utzon was forced to resign mid-project. Why? Discuss

Husserl was a German philosopher and the founder of the phenomenological movement. His philosophy is a descriptive study of consciousness for the purpose of discovering the structure of experience—the laws by which experiences are had. Husserl concluded that consciousness has no life apart from the objects it considers and, in his later work, moved toward idealism and denied that objects exist outside consciousness. Husserl had a major influence on what German philosopher? Discuss

Born Lucila Godoy Alcayaga, Mistral was a Chilean poet who combined writing with a career as a cultural minister, diplomat, and professor. She established her reputation as a poet in 1914, when she won a prize for “Sonetos de la Muerte”—”Sonnets of Death.” Her passionate lyrics, with love of children and of the downtrodden as principal themes, are collected in many volumes. In 1945, Mistral became the first Latin American to be honored in what way? Discuss

An English naturalist, Gosse built the first marine aquarium and was an innovator in the field of marine biology. He was a member of the Plymouth Brethren, a Christian group that rejected the theory of evolution, and wrote many books on zoology, including Omphalos, an attempt to reconcile geological theories with the biblical account of creation. After his death, Gosse was caricatured as a despotic father in Father and Son, written by his son Edmund, who was also his what? Discuss

Born into slavery, Washington was freed following the US Civil War and went on to become one of the nation’s most prominent leaders and educators. He built Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute into a leading African-American educational institution, with programs emphasizing vocational training. His teaching, writing, and lecturing—particularly a famous address in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1895—established him as America’s foremost black leader. Washington was the first African American to be invited where? Discuss

A German writer, von Arnim also spent time as a composer, singer, visual artist, patron of young talent, and social activist. However, she is perhaps best known for the company she kept. She formed friendships with Goethe and Beethoven, among other artists of the day, and tried to foster an artistic union between them. Many leading composers of the time, such as Franz Liszt, admired her for her spirit and her talents. On what currency was von Arnim’s likeness once featured? Discuss

Herbert was a British metaphysical poet, ordained priest and rector, and Cambridge University orator. His poetry was entirely unpublished at the time of his death and was bequeathed to Nicholas Ferrar, who had the collection published as The Temple in 1633. The poems concern personal, doctrinal, and ritual matters and are noted for their mastery of metrical form, use of allegory and analogy, and religious devotion. Some are pattern poems, in which the lines form what? Discuss

Andersen was a Danish writer best known for his many collections of fairy tales, in which he broke with literary tradition and employed the idioms and constructions of spoken language. His stories are imaginative combinations of universal elements from folk legend and include such favorites as “The Ugly Duckling” and “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” While some reveal an optimistic belief in the ultimate triumph of goodness and beauty, others are deeply pessimistic. What else did Andersen write? Discuss

The personal doctor of kings James I and Charles I, Harvey was an English physician whom many credit with laying the foundation of modern medicine. Although his work was not fully substantiated until centuries later, he contributed greatly to the advance of comparative anatomy and embryology. Most importantly, he was the first to demonstrate the function of the heart and complete circulation of the blood, a feat that is especially remarkable because it was accomplished without the aid of what? Discuss

The principal shaper of the Classical style, Haydn was an Austrian composer who exerted major influence on his contemporaries, including Mozart, and future composers. The first great symphonist, he composed 106 symphonies and virtually invented the string quartet. By his later years, he was recognized internationally as the greatest living composer. He composed important works in almost every genre. What legendary composer was a student of Haydn? Discuss