Born in 1775, Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction earned her a place among the most beloved writers of all time. She penned the enduring classics Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma.

“It isn’t what we say or think that defines us, but what we do."

Writing in their Yorkshire home under male pseudonyms, sisters Charlotte and Emily Bronte were poets and authors of great passion and intelligence, who both published their greatest works in 1847 - Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, still widely read today.

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with independent will."

Marie Curie was a Polish-born scientist who became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first person to win it twice, in Physics and then in Chemistry. Her pioneering research into radioactivity played a major role in the advancement of Medicine.

"Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves.”

Anne Frank was a courageous Jewish girl who kept a journal while living in hiding from the Nazis during WWII. A gifted diarist, she documented life confined to an attic for two years, until she was discovered and sent to a concentration camp, where she died aged 15.

“Memories mean more to me than dresses.”

Jewel Plummer Cobb was an American biologist, cancer researcher and professor known for her work on a cure for melanoma. She fiercely promoted access to education for women, increasing diversity in the universities where she worked.

“I’d like to be remembered as a black woman scientist who cared very much about what happens to young folks.”

Emmeline Pankhurst was a political activist who drove the Suffragette movement to win the right to vote for women in early-20-cenury Britain. The campaigners’ militancy shocked contemporary society but eventually led to the introduction of universal suffrage in 1928.

“Trust in God – she will provide.”

Rosa Parks was an American civil rights activist who in 1955 refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. Her resulting arrest led to 381 days of black passengers boycotting buses, which was pivotal in forcing an end to segregation.

“I am a person with dignity and self-respect, and I should not set my sights lower than anybody else just because I am black.”

Born in Macedonia in 1910, Mother Teresa was a Catholic nun who founded a charitable order of women dedicated to helping very sick and poor people in India. She is considered to be one of the 20th century’s greatest humanitarians, and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. 

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”