A–Z index
All 973 people, filed by surname.
91 people
Eero Saarinen 1910–1961Technology & BuildingArchitect whose expressive buildings and furniture became icons of postwar American modernism.
Albert Sabin 1906–1993Science & MedicineMedical researcher who developed the oral polio vaccine used in worldwide eradication campaigns.
Florence R. Sabin 1871–1953Science & MedicinePioneering medical researcher and public-health reformer who advanced knowledge of the lymphatic and immune systems.
Sacagawea 1788–1812Frontier & SportShoshone woman who guided the Lewis and Clark Expedition through the Louisiana Territory.
Carl Sagan 1934–1996Science & MedicineAstronomer and science communicator who brought cosmology to millions through Cosmos and popular books.
Augustus Saint-Gaudens 1848–1907Arts & LettersSculptor whose public monuments, including the Shaw Memorial, are among America's finest.
J. D. Salinger 1919–2010Arts & LettersAuthor whose fiction, especially The Catcher in the Rye, became a lasting touchstone of adolescent alienation.
Jonas Salk 1914–1995Science & MedicineMedical researcher who developed the first safe and effective polio vaccine.
Pete Sampras b. 1971Frontier & SportTennis legend who held the record for most Grand Slam men's singles titles for over a decade.
Paul Samuelson 1915–2009Ideas & MediaFirst American to win the Nobel Prize in Economics, whose textbook defined the field for decades.
Sheryl Sandberg b. 1969Technology & BuildingFormer COO of Meta who wrote Lean In and became a prominent voice on women in leadership.
Bernie Sanders b. 1941Government & PoliticsVermont senator whose presidential campaigns moved single-payer health care into mainstream debate.
Margaret Sanger 1879–1966Reform & RightsBirth-control advocate who transformed reproductive health access while leaving a deeply contested legacy involving eugenics.
Antonin Scalia 1936–2016Government & PoliticsJustice whose advocacy of originalism and textualism transformed American legal interpretation.
Wally Schirra 1923–2007Frontier & SportOnly astronaut to fly in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs.
Eric Schmidt b. 1955Business & LaborFormer Google CEO whose tenure saw the company's explosive growth into a tech giant.
Harrison Schmitt b. 1935Frontier & SportApollo 17 lunar module pilot and only professional scientist to walk on the Moon.
Rose Schneiderman 1882–1972Business & LaborLabor organizer who championed women workers, workplace safety, and social reforms later incorporated into the New Deal.
Howard Schultz b. 1953Business & LaborFormer CEO of Starbucks who turned a Seattle coffee shop into a global coffeehouse phenomenon.
Charles M. Schulz 1922–2000Arts & LettersCartoonist who drew Peanuts for fifty years and made Charlie Brown a national figure.
Charles Schwab b. 1937Business & LaborFounder of the discount brokerage that democratized stock trading for ordinary investors.
Stephen Schwarzman b. 1947Business & LaborCo-founder of Blackstone, the world's largest alternative investment firm.
Michael Schwerner 1939–1964Reform & RightsCivil rights worker murdered alongside James Chaney and Andrew Goodman during Freedom Summer.
Martin Scorsese b. 1942Arts & LettersDirector and preservation advocate whose films and institutions have shaped both American cinema and understanding of its history.
David Scott b. 1932Frontier & SportApollo 15 commander who conducted the first extended scientific exploration of the lunar surface.
Dred Scott 1800–1858Reform & RightsEnslaved man whose lawsuit produced the Supreme Court ruling that Black Americans could not be citizens.
MacKenzie Scott b. 1970Business & LaborNovelist and philanthropist who has given away billions to hundreds of organizations with no strings attached.
Winfield Scott 1786–1866Government & PoliticsCommanding general whose long career, Mexico City campaign, and Anaconda Plan shaped nineteenth-century U.S. military strategy.
Glenn T. Seaborg 1912–1999Science & MedicineCo-discovered plutonium and nine other transuranium elements and chaired the Atomic Energy Commission.
Amartya Sen b. 1933Ideas & MediaIndian-American economist and Nobel laureate whose work on welfare economics and famine reshaped development.
Sequoyah 1770–1843Reform & RightsCherokee scholar who created the Cherokee syllabary, enabling mass literacy and strengthening Cherokee political and cultural life.
Dr. Seuss 1904–1991Arts & LettersAuthor and illustrator whose rhythmic books transformed American children’s reading and publishing.
William J. Seymour 1870–1922Ideas & MediaPreacher who led the Azusa Street Revival, a foundational event in the global growth of Pentecostal Christianity.
Tupac Shakur 1971–1996Arts & LettersRapper and actor whose work and persona became enduring symbols of hip-hop’s social and personal tensions.
Claude Shannon 1916–2001Technology & BuildingMathematician and engineer who founded information theory, the basis of all digital communication.
Harlow Shapley 1885–1972Science & MedicineDetermined the size of the Milky Way and displaced the Sun from its center.
Fulton J. Sheen 1895–1979Ideas & MediaCatholic bishop whose radio and television programs made him one of America’s first major religious media personalities.
Alan Shepard 1923–1998Frontier & SportFirst American in space and fifth person to walk on the Moon during Apollo 14.
Roger Sherman 1721–1793Government & PoliticsOnly person to sign all four founding documents and author of the compromise that produced the Senate.
William Tecumseh Sherman 1820–1891Government & PoliticsUnion general whose campaigns through Georgia and the Carolinas helped destroy the Confederacy’s capacity to wage war.
William Shockley 1910–1989Technology & BuildingCo-inventor of the transistor at Bell Labs, earning the Nobel Prize and launching the semiconductor age.
Herbert A. Simon 1916–2001Ideas & MediaPolymath whose theories of bounded rationality and pioneering artificial-intelligence research transformed economics and decision science.
Nina Simone 1933–2003Arts & LettersSinger and pianist who joined classical training to jazz and civil rights protest songs.
Frank Sinatra 1915–1998Arts & LettersCrooner and actor whose voice and charisma made him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
Upton Sinclair 1878–1968Ideas & MediaNovelist whose expose of Chicago meatpacking spurred federal food and drug inspection laws.
Sitting Bull 1831–1890Reform & RightsHunkpapa Lakota leader and spiritual figure who resisted U.S. expansion and defended tribal sovereignty.Ted Sizer 1932–2009Ideas & MediaEducational reformer whose Coalition of Essential Schools reshaped American secondary education.
B. F. Skinner 1904–1990Ideas & MediaDeveloped operant conditioning and made behaviorism the dominant mid-century American psychology.
Jeff Skoll b. 1965Business & LaboreBay's first president whose Skoll Foundation supports social entrepreneurs solving global problems.
Deke Slayton 1924–1993Frontier & SportOne of the original Mercury Seven who later directed astronaut selection and flew on the Apollo-Soyuz mission.
Alfred P. Sloan 1875–1966Business & LaborGeneral Motors leader who established the multidivisional corporation and professional management systems copied across industry.
Bessie Smith 1892–1937Arts & LettersLeading blues recording artist of the 1920s known as the Empress of the Blues.
Fred Smith 1944–2025Business & LaborFounder of FedEx who pioneered overnight delivery and transformed global logistics.
Jedediah Smith 1799–1831Frontier & SportMountain man and fur trapper who was the first American to enter California by an overland route.
Joseph Smith 1805–1844Ideas & MediaFounder of the Latter Day Saint movement, one of the most consequential religions to originate in the United States.
Will Smith b. 1968Arts & LettersActor and rapper who transitioned from Fresh Prince to one of Hollywood's biggest box office draws.
James Smithson 1765–1829Science & MedicineBritish scientist whose bequest founded the Smithsonian Institution, America's museum complex.
Stephen Sondheim 1930–2021Arts & LettersComposer and lyricist whose formal and psychological innovations transformed the American musical theater.
George Soros b. 1930Business & LaborInvestor and founder of the Open Society Foundations, supporting democracy and human rights worldwide.
Sonia Sotomayor b. 1954Government & PoliticsSupreme Court Justice and former Yale Law professor whose memoir chronicles her rise from the Bronx.
Thomas Sowell b. 1930Ideas & MediaEconomist and social theorist at the Hoover Institution whose conservative writings span race, culture, and policy.
Elmer Sperry 1860–1930Technology & BuildingInventor and engineer who developed gyroscopic stabilizers for ships and aircraft.
Evan Spiegel b. 1990Technology & BuildingCo-founder of Snapchat who pioneered ephemeral messaging and augmented reality social media.
Steven Spielberg b. 1946Arts & LettersDirector and producer whose blockbusters and dramas have defined American cinema for five decades.
Benjamin Spock 1903–1998Ideas & MediaPediatrician whose 1946 baby-care manual reshaped postwar American child-rearing advice.
Bruce Springsteen b. 1949Arts & LettersSongwriter whose music made working-class life, aspiration, and disappointment central themes of American rock.
Edwin M. Stanton 1814–1869Government & PoliticsLincoln's war secretary whose refusal to be fired triggered the impeachment of Andrew Johnson.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton 1815–1902Reform & RightsPrincipal theorist and organizer of the nineteenth-century women’s rights and suffrage movements.
John Steinbeck 1902–1968Arts & LettersNobel Prize-winning novelist whose Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men chronicled American hardship.
Gloria Steinem b. 1934Reform & RightsWriter and organizer who became one of the most visible leaders of second-wave feminism.
Charles Proteus Steinmetz 1865–1923Technology & BuildingElectrical engineer whose work on alternating current systems powered the electrification of America.
John Paul Stevens 1920–2019Government & PoliticsLong-serving justice whose opinions shaped civil liberties, administrative law, and limits on executive power.
Thaddeus Stevens 1792–1868Government & PoliticsRadical Republican leader who drove congressional abolition, civil-rights measures, and a transformative vision of Reconstruction.
Adlai Stevenson II 1900–1965Government & PoliticsIllinois governor and two-time Democratic presidential nominee who later served as UN ambassador.
Martha Stewart b. 1941Business & LaborLifestyle entrepreneur who built a media and merchandising empire around domestic arts.
Alfred Stieglitz 1864–1946Arts & LettersPhotographer and gallerist who established photography as fine art and promoted American modernists.
Joseph Stiglitz b. 1943Ideas & MediaNobel Prize-winning economist whose work on information asymmetries reshaped development economics.
I.F. Stone 1907–1989Ideas & MediaInvestigative journalist whose self-published newsletter exposed government lies for nearly two decades.
Joseph Story 1779–1845Government & PoliticsEarly Supreme Court justice and legal scholar whose treatises and opinions strengthened federal judicial authority.
Harriet Beecher Stowe 1811–1896Reform & RightsAuthor of Uncle Tom's Cabin whose novel galvanized the abolitionist movement.
Joseph Strauss 1870–1938Technology & BuildingChief engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge, one of the most photographed structures in the world.
Levi Strauss 1829–1902Business & LaborImmigrant entrepreneur whose company helped turn blue jeans into an enduring American product and symbol.
Meryl Streep b. 1949Arts & LettersMost nominated actor in Oscar history, renowned for her chameleon-like ability to inhabit diverse roles.
Lisa Su b. 1969Technology & BuildingCEO of AMD who transformed the semiconductor company into a major competitor to Intel and NVIDIA.
Anne Sullivan 1866–1936Ideas & MediaTeacher who famously educated Helen Keller, breaking through her isolation from deafness and blindness.
Louis Sullivan 1856–1924Technology & BuildingArchitect whose skyscraper designs and “form follows function” principle helped define modern architecture.
Pat Summitt 1952–2016Frontier & SportCollege basketball coach whose sustained success helped build women’s athletics into a national institution.
Charles Sumner 1811–1874Government & PoliticsMassachusetts senator and abolitionist leader who pressed for Reconstruction-era civil rights legislation.
Aaron Swartz 1986–2013Technology & BuildingInternet activist and Reddit co-founder whose work on open access and web standards left a lasting legacy.
Gustavus Franklin Swift 1839–1903Technology & BuildingMeatpacking pioneer who developed the refrigerated rail car, transforming the food industry.
Taylor Swift b. 1989Arts & LettersSinger-songwriter whose commercial reach, fan culture, and control of her catalog reshaped the modern music business.