If you want to make your mark on history, it helps to be a little weird. The great figures of the past were, more often than not, eccentric at best and insane at worst.
The famous romantic poet Lord Byron had a pet bear in college as a protest against a rule banning dogs. There was a man who went to Harvard when he was eleven, but eventually left it all behind to do boring desk work. Peter Freuchen is probably the most baffling and impressive figure, who explored the Arctic, lost leg, fought the Germans in World War II, then finally settled down and became the editor of Vogue magazine.
Scroll through and meet some folks who were just as odd as they were memorable.
1
William James Sidis
A man who entered Harvard at age eleven, and is considered possibly one of the smartest people who ever lived. He eventually chose to live in obscurity working menial jobs until his death at forty-six.
2
Nellie Bly
A journalist who faked insanity to expose asylum conditions, then circled the globe and chronicled the journey in her writing.
3
Claude Cahun
Born Lucy Shwob, they were a Surrealist photographer and anti-German resistor who blurred gender lines and was one of the first people to be openly gender-fluid.
4
Howard Hughes
The famous billionaire, filmmaker, aviation pioneer and philanthropist who turned into an obsessive recluse with extreme hygiene rituals.
5
Bertrand Russell
The philosopher and activist opposed war, promoted logic, and once got jailed for protesting nuclear bombs when he was in his eighties.
6
Hedy Lamarr
An actress who co-invented a frequency-hopping system that was the foundation to modern wireless tech.
7
Beatrix Potter
The author of the Peter Rabbit books, but she was also a mycologist who drew fungi in obsessive detail.
8
Antoni Gaudí
The architect behind Barcelona’s Sagrada Família, he later decided to live like a hermit and died wearing rags.
9
Tycho Brahe
A Danish astronomer with a brass nose, a pet elk, and a dwarf jester companion.
10
Nikola Tesla
A brilliant inventor who talked to pigeons and was obsessed with the number 3.
11
Peter Freuchen
A Danish journalist who led two Arctic expeditions, lost a leg, fought in World War II, escaped German imprisonment twice, and eventually moved to America and became the editor of Vogue.
12
Benjamin Franklin
The Founding Father flew kites in storms, took air baths, and wrote under female pseudonyms.
13
Hildegard of Bingen
A Medieval nun who claimed divine visions and composed music centuries that was later considered to be centuries ahead of its time.
14
William Blake
The famous poet who claimed to speak to angels and saw the world as divine.
15
Lord Byron
The famous poet fought in Greece's war for independence, and traveled with a pet bear at university.
