ACHIEVE YOUR IELTS GOALS.

William Shakespeare

Writers · 1564–1616

B1

William Shakespeare was an English writer who lived more than 400 years ago. He wrote around 37 plays and 154 short poems called sonnets. Many of his stories, such as Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, are still performed on stage all over the world today.

Herodotus

Historians · c. 484–425 BC

B2

Herodotus was an ancient Greek writer often called the “Father of History.” He travelled widely and wrote about the wars, cultures, and countries of the ancient world. His work is one of the first careful attempts to record history.

Al-Khwarizmi

Mathematicians · c. 780–850

B1

Al-Khwarizmi was a mathematician who worked in Baghdad more than a thousand years ago. He wrote an important book about solving equations, and the word algebra comes from its title. The English word algorithm also comes from his name.

Marie Curie

Scientists · 1867–1934

B1

Marie Curie was a scientist who studied radioactivity. She discovered two new elements, polonium and radium, together with her husband. She was the first person ever to win the Nobel Prize two times, in physics and in chemistry.

Nikola Tesla

Inventors · 1856–1943

A2

Nikola Tesla was an inventor and engineer. He helped create the system of electricity that we use in our homes today. Many of his ideas about power and machines were far ahead of his time.

The Black Death

Global Pandemics · 14th century

B2

The Black Death was a terrible disease that spread across Asia, Europe, and Africa in the 14th century. It killed a very large part of the population in only a few years. It is one of the deadliest pandemics in human history.

Jane Austen

Writers · 1775–1817

B1

Jane Austen was an English writer famous for her novels about love, family, and society. Her most famous book, Pride and Prejudice, is still read and loved around the world. She wrote with humour and a sharp eye for the people of her time.

Ibn Khaldun

Historians · 1332–1406

B2

Ibn Khaldun was a historian and scholar born in Tunis in North Africa. In his famous book, the Muqaddimah, he tried to explain why civilizations rise and fall. Many people consider him one of the founders of history and social science.

Ada Lovelace

Mathematicians · 1815–1852

B2

Ada Lovelace was an English mathematician in the 19th century. She worked on an early idea for a computing machine and wrote what many call the first computer program. Because of this, she is often called the first computer programmer.

Albert Einstein

Scientists · 1879–1955

B1

Albert Einstein was a physicist born in Germany. He created the theory of relativity, which changed how we understand time, space, and energy. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921.

Thomas Edison

Inventors · 1847–1931

A2

Thomas Edison was an American inventor. He created or improved many things, including the electric light bulb. He is one of the most famous inventors in history.

The 1918 Influenza (Spanish Flu)

Global Pandemics · 1918–1920

B2

The 1918 influenza pandemic was one of the deadliest disease outbreaks in history. It spread across the whole world and infected about one third of all people alive at that time. Scientists still study it today to understand how to fight new pandemics.

Leo Tolstoy

Writers · 1828–1910

B2

Leo Tolstoy was a Russian writer and one of the greatest novelists in history. He wrote two very long and famous novels, War and Peace and Anna Karenina. His books explore big questions about life, war, and human nature.

Thucydides

Historians · c. 460–400 BC

B2

Thucydides was an ancient Greek historian who wrote about a long war between Athens and Sparta. He tried to explain events using facts and logic instead of myths. Many people see him as one of the first “scientific” historians.

Isaac Newton

Mathematicians · 1643–1727

B1

Isaac Newton was an English scientist and mathematician. He explained how gravity pulls objects toward the earth and wrote important laws of motion. His ideas changed the way people understand the physical world.

Charles Darwin

Scientists · 1809–1882

B2

Charles Darwin was an English naturalist who studied plants and animals. He developed the theory of evolution, which explains how living things change over long periods of time. His book On the Origin of Species is one of the most important science books ever written.

Leonardo da Vinci

Inventors · 1452–1519

B1

Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian artist and inventor of the Renaissance. He painted the famous Mona Lisa and also designed many machines far ahead of his time. He was curious about art, science, and nature.

Smallpox

Global Pandemics · ancient–1980

B2

Smallpox was a very dangerous disease that affected humans for thousands of years. It caused millions of deaths before a vaccine was created. In 1980 the world officially announced that smallpox had been wiped out.

Charles Dickens

Writers · 1812–1870

B1

Charles Dickens was an English writer who lived in the 19th century. He wrote famous stories such as Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol. His novels often described the hard lives of poor people in England.

Edward Gibbon

Historians · 1737–1794

B2

Edward Gibbon was an English historian of the 18th century. He is famous for a huge book about the fall of the Roman Empire. He tried to explain why such a powerful empire slowly collapsed.

Pythagoras

Mathematicians · c. 570–495 BC

A2

Pythagoras was an ancient Greek mathematician. He is famous for a rule about right-angled triangles that students still learn today. Many people also remember him for his ideas about numbers.

Ibn Sina (Avicenna)

Scientists · c. 980–1037

B2

Ibn Sina, also known as Avicenna, was a scholar and doctor who lived over a thousand years ago. His medical book, The Canon of Medicine, was used in schools for hundreds of years. He wrote about medicine, science, and philosophy.

Wright Brothers

Inventors · early 1900s

B1

The Wright Brothers, Orville and Wilbur, were two American inventors. In 1903 they built and flew the first powered airplane. Their invention changed travel forever.

Cholera Pandemics

Global Pandemics · 19th century onward

B1

Cholera is a disease that spreads mostly through dirty water. In the 19th century, several cholera pandemics spread across the world and killed many people. The disease taught scientists how important clean water is for health.

Rumi (Mevlana)

Writers · 1207–1273

B2

Rumi was a poet and thinker who lived in the 13th century, much of his life in Konya. He wrote thousands of poems about love, the soul, and being human. Today his poetry is read and translated all over the world.

Evliya Çelebi

Historians · 1611–c.1682

B2

Evliya Çelebi was an Ottoman traveller who spent more than 40 years visiting many lands. He wrote a famous ten-volume travel book called the Seyahatname. It describes the cities, people, and customs he saw on his journeys.

Cahit Arf

Mathematicians · 1910–1997

B2

Cahit Arf was a Turkish mathematician of the 20th century. He is known for important work in algebra, including an idea called the “Arf invariant.” His face once appeared on a Turkish banknote to honour his work.

Aziz Sancar

Scientists · born 1946

B2

Aziz Sancar is a Turkish scientist who studies how living cells repair their DNA. In 2015 he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this work. He was one of the first Turkish scientists to win a Nobel Prize.

Alexander Graham Bell

Inventors · 1847–1922

B1

Alexander Graham Bell was an inventor and teacher. He is best known for inventing the first practical telephone. His work changed the way people communicate over long distances.

COVID-19

Global Pandemics · 2019–present

B1

COVID-19 was a disease caused by a new virus that appeared in late 2019. It quickly spread around the world and became a global pandemic. Governments asked people to wear masks and stay apart to slow it down.