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Iosif VissarionoviĨ Stalin, born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, December 18, 1878 (O.S. December 6) ā€“ March 5, 1953, usually transliterated Josef Stalin, consolidated power to become the absolute ruler of the Soviet Union between 1928 and his death in 1953. Stalin held the title General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1922-1953), a position that did not originally have significant influence, but through Stalin's ascendancy, became that of party leader and de facto leader of the Soviet Union. Stalin was responsible transforming the Soviet Union from an agricultural nation into a global superpower and did not see the elimination of millions of lives as an impediment to the achievement of this goal.

Richard Erskine Frere Leakey (December 19, 1944 - January 2, 2022) was a paleontologist and archaeologist, famous for his discovery of "Turkana Boy." The son of well-known paleoanthropologists Louis and Mary Leakey, Richard, along with his wife and daughter, continued the family tradition of research in East Africa. In addition to his contributions to our knowledge of human evolution, Richard Leakey devoted his life to wildlife preservation and environmental activism.