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Harris scrambles to introduce herself to voters before Trump succeeds in villainizing her

WASHINGTON — A mad scramble is underway to introduce Vice President Kamala Harris to Americans who know little about her, with both campaigns vying to leave a vivid impression that sinks in before voters start casting ballots this fall.

In the 11-week sprint to the election, Harris’ campaign is pouring tens of millions of dollars into an ad blitz meant to humanize a candidate whom the electorate may know only as the understudy to Joe Biden.

The ads have stressed the parts of her biography they believe match up well against Donald Trump, framing her as a prosecutor who has cracked down on fraudsters and stood up for victims of sexual abuse.

But Harris’ best chance to pique the interest of a mass audience comes this week. Political conventions have long been a forum for nominees to reassure voters who may have doubts about their candidacy, and the need may be more acute for Harris, who rose to the top of the ticket without winning a single primary.

As Democrats assemble in Chicago, Harris’ challenge is to persuade voters that the story she’s telling about her life and vision rings true, and that Trump’s caricature of her falls flat.

Coming off the abrupt Harris-for-Biden swap, Trump is working to villainize her — resorting to his familiar tactic of name-calling. He’s trotted out various attack lines, questioning her intelligence and racial makeup.

“I’ve cautioned all of my Republican friends not to underestimate her,” said Jim Brulte, a Trump supporter and former chairman of the California Republican Party. “In my experience, she has unbelievably good people skills and the ability to connect not only one-on-one, but one-on-20,000.”

Trump labeled Harris a “radical left socialist” during a news conference at his Bedminster, New Jersey, home on Thursday — recycling the same phrase he used to disparage Biden four years ago in a speech to conservative activists.

“People don’t know who she is,” Trump added.

Who is she, then?

Whatever happens in November, Harris’ identity will be forever tied to Trump. Had it not been for his political ascent, Harris’ might have been short-lived.

‘R apid fire and confrontational’

Kamala Devi Harris’ first foray into national politics came in 2016, the year of Trump’s stunning victory over Hillary Clinton in the presidential race. Then the attorney general of California, Harris easily won the statewide election that year to replace retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer.

Her victory celebration had a morose feel to it, though, with Democrats across the country shaken by Trump’s upset.

After hearing about Trump’s impending win during an election-night dinner at a Los Angeles restaurant, Harris scrapped her prepared speech and reworked it for an audience that was stunned by the news, said Debbie Mesloh, a friend and former Harris adviser.

“Do not despair,” Harris told the crowd, with her husband, Doug Emhoff, standing at her side. “Do not be overwhelmed. Do not throw up our hands when it is time to roll up our sleeves and fight for who we are. And that’s what we are about to do.”

As the junior senator, Harris hewed to California’s liberal orientation. In a 2020 report on the Senate’s ideological leanings, the government transparency website GovTrack.us ranked her as the second-most liberal senator, next to Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

But legislation isn’t the arena where she distinguished herself.

A lawyer by training, Harris began her career as a prosecutor in the Oakland, California, area, and in 2003 she won an election to become San Francisco’s district attorney.

Skills she learned cross-examining witnesses proved valuable when Trump’s officials and nominees for high office testified before her committees.

Harris appeared to unnerve Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh when asking him during his confirmation hearing in 2018 whether he could think of any laws in which the government made decisions about the “male body.”

The implication was clear: Politicians are more apt to intrude on women’s bodily rights than men’s.

“Um,” Kavanaugh said. “I’m happy to answer a more specific question.”

At a Judiciary Committee hearing the following year, she asked Trump’s attorney general, William Barr, if Trump had ever suggested that he open an investigation into anyone. Yes or no? she asked.

“I’m trying to grapple with the word ‘suggest,’” Barr said. “There have been discussions of matters out there that … they have not asked me to open an investigation.”

Asked about Harris’ methods at the hearing, Barr told NBC News: “In her questioning, she adopted — as she always does — a style that is a caricature of a tough prosecutor — rapid fire and confrontational.”

The Senate served as a springboard for Harris’ next big leap. Capitalizing on the attention she’d gotten in the hearings, she jumped into the 2020 presidential race after just two years in the Senate.

She announced her candidacy before a crowd of 20,000 people in Oakland, the city where she was born to an Indian mother and a Jamaican father, both immigrants.

“I wasn’t surprised when she ran, but in my interactions with her it didn’t feel like, as with some people, that she reeked of that kind of ambition from the moment you meet them,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said in an interview. “You didn’t get that kind of creepy, transitory feeling I’ve had with some of my colleagues.”

Harris’ campaign quickly flatlined. She labored to explain her health care policy and failed to run a disciplined operation. One of her campaign aides in 2019, Kelly Mehlenbacher, wrote a resignation letter obtained by The New York Times that said, “I have never seen an organization treat its staff so poorly.”

Harris’ exchange with Biden during the first Democratic debate, though, seemed to garner at least his grudging respect. She questioned his opposition to busing as a means of integrating schools in the 1960s and ’70s.

Describing how a little girl was bused from one school to another in Berkeley, California, to ease segregation, she said, “That little girl was me.”

At the next debate, Biden greeted her with a warm smile: “Go easy on me, kid,” he said.

Running short of money, Harris dropped out before the first contest in Iowa. From the wreckage of the 2020 campaign came a coveted opportunity. Biden won — and made Harris his running mate.

“Her 2020 campaign was a disaster and failed, but it did succeed in getting her to the vice presidency. And that succeeded in getting her to where she is now,” said Gil Duran, a former aide to Harris in the California Attorney General’s Office. “In a strange way in Kamala’s career, even the failures have been steps toward the current moment.”

‘She takes care of her friends’

Harris’ transition to the vice presidency was a tough one. Since her election as San Francisco district attorney in 2003, she had been her own boss.

Now she was subordinate to Biden. Her job was to make him look good and propel his agenda. He tasked her with addressing the root causes of illegal migration, a largely diplomatic assignment that Trump has hung around her neck, mocking her as a failed “border czar.”

Biden’s approval ratings slumped, as did hers.

Senior Harris aides came and left , raising concerns about her managerial style.

Duran, who served as her communications director in 2013 when she was attorney general, said: “I left after five months, so I’ll let that speak to that. The narrative of staff dysfunction is something she’ll have to work on.”

Some former aides insist that she’s held to a different standard than male bosses. Jeffrey Tsai, a former senior official in the Harris-led attorney general’s office, said in an interview, “I found the three years of working for the attorney general critical to my development as a lawyer.”

Swipes at her executive temperament, he added, have “a ring of sexist overtones.”

Duran disagreed. “Dianne Feinstein,” the late California senator, “was the best manager I ever worked for and she’s a woman, so I don’t consider my critique sexist,” he said.

A former White House aide suggested that because she’s serving in top roles, Harris faces pressures on her time that require a no-nonsense approach.

“At each higher level, she has had less time,” this person said. “I’ve worked with men, too, who are driven by time efficiency. I’ve seen it. When I was working with President Biden, I’ve heard him say during briefings, ‘Don’t pull a fast one on me.’”

A view among Harris loyalists is that she had little chance to shine in an office that, by tradition, requires unwavering deference to the president. Now that she’s standing on her own, she’s drawing large crowds and forging a direct connection with Americans that wasn’t possible when she was Biden’s No. 2, in this view.

“I don’t know if that’s true, but it has the ring of truth to it,” Warner said.

In private, she often displayed the ease and amiability that Americans are now seeing on the campaign trail, her supporters said. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said Harris would invite female senators from both parties to the vice presidential residence for dinner. Harris made cheese puffs for the group once, then handed out her recipe.

Hirono mentioned another instance when the vice president appeared in the Senate to break a tie vote. Harris noticed that Hirono’s scarf was undone and, at the dais, fixed it herself.

“How many people presiding [over the Senate] would do that?” Hirono said. “She takes care of her friends.”

'She belongs in this role'

Brian Brokaw, a former Harris campaign aide, came to the White House last year to see his old boss and pass her notes that his two young children had written her.

In a picture taken of the meeting, Harris is holding the letters in her hand, leaning forward on a sofa. She’s in her West Wing office, down the hall from the Oval, nearly 3,000 miles from that school bus she boarded in the hope that Black children would get the same opportunities as white kids.

“Can you believe this?” Brokaw said to her. “Here you are in your West Wing office! That’s pretty cool, isn’t it?”

Harris gave him a look, he recalled, as if to say, “Of course I’m here!”

“She 100% believes she belongs in this role,” Brokaw said in an interview.

Harris came to politics with none of the inherent advantages most presidents enjoy — family money or political pedigrees. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was a cancer researcher and her father, Donald Harris, an economist. The couple filed for divorce in 1972.

In the mid-1990s she dated Willie Brown, the powerful former California state Assembly speaker and ex-mayor of San Francisco.

A Los Angeles Times article in November 1994 reported that then-Speaker Brown had named her to the California Medical Assistance Commission, a post that paid $72,000 a year. At that time, sources had described her as Brown’s girlfriend, the article shows.

In interviews she gave to SF Weekly in 2003 while running for San Francisco DA, she sought to rebut any suggestion that she was beholden to Brown.

“His career is over; I will be alive and kicking for the next 40 years. I do not owe him a thing,” she told the news outlet.

Her mother, who died in 2009 from the same disease she had studied, stands as the formative influence in her life. She encouraged her daughter as she embarked on a political career of her own.

Mesloh recalls Shyamala showing up every day at the campaign office during the DA’s race, attending strategy meetings and stuffing envelopes — whatever was needed.

“She was a worker,” Mesloh said. “Shyamala was always very present.”

As San Francisco DA and later attorney general, Harris took many of the positions that are now fodder for both campaigns.

She opposed capital punishment, hewing to her stance even when a San Francisco police officer was shot to death on her watch as DA. Harris refused to seek the death penalty for the 21-year-old gang member charged with murdering officer Isaac Espinoza, putting her at odds with then-Sen. Feinstein, who argued that the crime justified the death penalty.

Harris’ position would seem to render her vulnerable to the charge that she’s soft on crime.

Yet when she later became attorney general, she defended the death penalty in court. Harris appealed a federal judge’s ruling in 2014 that California’s death penalty ran afoul of the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. An appeals court reversed the judge’s ruling a year later, preserving the death penalty.

Her campaign is seizing on other parts of her record as attorney general to show she is the antithesis of Trump. She filed suit against the for-profit Corinthian Colleges in 2013, alleging the company provided worthless degrees to unsuspecting students while leaving them in debt.

The case culminated three years later in a $1.1 billion judgment against Corinthian Colleges, which was then defunct. As vice president in 2022, Harris had the satisfaction of announcing that the Biden administration was canceling the debt borne by former Corinthian students.

She is already invoking the Corinthian Colleges saga as proof of her bona fides.

In 2018, a federal court approved a $25 million settlement with students of Trump University who’d alleged they were lured into paying high fees in hopes of learning “the secrets of success” in the real estate industry.

“I know Donald Trump’s type,” she likes to say.

Peter Nicholas is a senior White House reporter for NBC News.

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Biology News

Humpback whales wield and manufacture their own tools.

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) create the so-called ‘bubble-net tools’ to hunt, but researchers from the University of Hawai’i and the Alaska Whale Foundation have learned that these marine animals don’t just create the bubble-nets; they manipulate this unique tool in a variety of ways to maximize their food intake in Alaskan feeding grounds. This novel research demystifies a behavior key to the whales’ survival and offers a compelling...

Ancient mtDNA Reveals Presence of Indigenous Dogs at Jamestown Colony in Early 17th Century

Multiple studies have demonstrated that European colonization of the Americas led to the extinction of nearly all North American dog mitochondrial lineages...

Marine Biologists Discover New Species of Fish in Mauritanian Waters

A new species of three-bearded rockling has been described from one specimen collected using a grab sample from the Tanoûdêrt Canyon off Mauritania at...

Ornithologists Discover New Species of Storm Petrel

An international team of ornithologists has described a cryptic new species of the bird genus Oceanites from Chile. The Andean storm-petrel (Oceanites...

Biologists Find Diverse Bacterial Communities in Microwave Ovens

Microwaves have become an essential part of the modern kitchen, but their potential as a reservoir for bacterial colonization and the microbial composition...

Antarctic Archaea Can Behave Like Parasites, Microbiologists Find

New research shows that Candidatus Nanohaloarchaeum antarcticus, a DPANN archaeon from an Antarctic hypersaline lake called Deep Lake, behaves like a parasitic...

Earliest Primates Gave Birth to Twins, New Research Suggests

Twinning has been around longer than we thought, according to new research led by Western Washington University. Jack H. McBride & Tesla A. Monson...

SARS-CoV-2 Virus is Widespread among Wildlife Species, Study Shows

In new research, a team of scientists from Virginia Tech examined how widespread exposure to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2),...

Extinct Moa’s Refugia Continue to Serve as Sanctuaries for New Zealand’s Remaining Flightless Birds

Human settlement of islands across the Pacific Ocean was followed by waves of faunal extinctions that occurred so rapidly that their dynamics are difficult...

Komodo Dragons Have Iron-Coated Teeth, New Study Reveals

Komodo dragons (Varanus komodoensis) are the largest living predatory lizards and their serrated, curved and blade-shaped teeth make them valuable analogues...

Scientists Discover New Antidote for Cobra Bites: Heparin

Snakebites affect about 1.8 million people annually. The current standard of care involves antibody-based antivenoms, which can be difficult to access...

Extremely Rare Amazon Weasel Captured on Video in Bolivia

Bolivian coffee producers have filmed the Amazon weasel (Neogale africana) near their shade-grown plots as part of a citizen science monitoring program. The...

Biologists Find Ancient Giant Virus Insertions in Genome of Unicellular Parasite

Amoebidium appalachense, a protist closely related to animals, harbors the remnants of ancient giant viruses woven into its own genetic code, according...

Last Universal Common Ancestor Lived 4.2 Billion Years Ago: Study

The last universal common ancestor (LUCA) is the hypothesized common ancestor from which all modern cellular life, from single celled organisms like bacteria...

New DNA Study Sheds Light on Early History of Dingoes in Australia

Dingoes (Canis dingo) are an iconic element of Australia’s biodiversity, but evidence-based management and conservation of dingoes depend on understanding...

Carpenter Ants Can Perform Life-Saving Amputations on Wounded Nestmates

Carpenter ants (Camponotus), a diverse genus of large ants indigenous to many forested parts of the world, can selectively treat the wounded limbs of fellow...

Fruit Bats Possess Episodic Memory and Ability of Mental Time Travel, Study Shows

Episodic memory and mental time travel have been viewed as uniquely human traits. This view began to shift with the development of behavioral criteria...

New Species of Bird Discovered on Lesser Sunda Islands

A team of scientists from the Swedish Museum of Natural History and elsewhere has described a new species of nightjar living in the tropical forests of...

Researchers Sequence Genomes of Greater and Lesser Bilbies

In collaboration with Indigenous rangers and conservation managers, scientists from the University of Sydney and elsewhere have decoded the genomes of...

Researchers Identify Cryptic New Species of Armadillo

The nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) is actually four different species, including a previously undescribed species endemic to the Guiana Shield,...

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Biogeography articles from across Nature Portfolio

Biogeography is the study of the large-scale distribution of species. It investigates how these distributions change over time and the processes that govern distribution patterns.

Latest Research and Reviews

A multi-decadal 1 km gridded database of continental-scale spring onset products

• Emma Izquierdo-Verdiguier
• Raúl Zurita-Milla

Local environmental factors drive distributions of ecologically-contrasting mosquito species (Diptera: Culicidae)

• Roel M. Wouters
• Wouter Beukema
• Jordy G. van der Beek

Key innovations and niche variation promoted rapid diversification of the widespread Juniperus (Cupressaceae)

Using the macroevolution method, this study shows that key innovations and niche divergence promoted widespread distribution and rapid diversification of Juniperus.

• Kangjia Liu
• Zhixiang Zhang

Unforeseen plant phenotypic diversity in a dry and grazed world

Analysis of 20 chemical and morphological plant traits at diverse sites across 6 continents shows that the transition from semi-arid to arid zones is associated with an unexpected 88% increase in trait diversity.

• Nicolas Gross
• Fernando T. Maestre
• Yoann Le Bagousse-Pinguet

Disentangling drivers of mudflat intertidal DOM chemodiversity using ecological models

Intertidal DOM follows similar ecological patterns and underlying mechanisms to microbes, suggesting that there may exist universal ecological models explaining the patterns of both living and non-living biological entities in the Earth’s biosphere.

Latitudinal gradients in the phylogenetic assembly of angiosperms in Asia during the Holocene

• Kuber P. Bhatta
• Ondřej Mottl
• Ole R. Vetaas

News and Comment

Niches beyond borders

Analysis of distributional data for 25,000 species challenges the assumption that species are bound to the climatic conditions that they inhabit today, and argues that many species may be able to venture into unoccupied areas of their fundamental niche.

• David Nogués Bravo

European monitoring of genetic diversity must expand to detect impacts of climate change

Efforts to monitor genetic diversity in populations vary greatly among European countries. The populations and species that are most likely to experience the greatest impacts of climate change are not well covered by these efforts, which suggests an urgent need for a substantial expansion in their monitoring.

Increases in large-scale plant similarity driven by ancient human impacts

Floristic homogenization — an increase in plant similarity within a given region — threatens biodiversity. By studying the taxonomic similarity of the floras of South Pacific islands over the past 5,000 years, we find that initial human settlement was probably a major driver of floristic homogenization.

Origins of successful invasions

An analysis of distributions of over 99% of the world’s seed plant flora shows that species that originate from large and biodiverse regions are more successful at establishing naturalized populations outside of their native range. They are also more likely to be used by humans for economic purposes.

• Jaime Moyano

Chytrid invasion drives frog redistributions

An analysis of the geographical range and climatic niche dynamics of Australian frogs highlights the role of an emerging chytrid fungal disease in reshaping the distributions of native species through novel host–pathogen interactions.

• Adrián García-Rodríguez
• Héctor Zumbado-Ulate

Biogeographic boundaries and high diversity in abyssal seafloor communities

Analysis of an ocean basin-scale dataset revealed the existence of clear biogeographic provinces (deep and shallow abyssal zones) delimited by the carbonate compensation depth in Pacific Ocean seabed communities. Species diversity is maintained or increases with depth owing to phylum-level taxonomic replacements.

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How to Write a Biographical Article From an Interview

Newspaper, magazine or Web articles about a specific person or organization are called personal profiles. While profiles do not carry the same urgency as hard, breaking news, they are interesting, descriptive biographical pieces. To write your profile, you'll start with research, follow through with the famous "Five W" elements, clarify a "nut graph" or topic thesis, and then revise and polish.

Choosing Your Subject and Angle

The best subjects for a profile are people who have a unique quality or experience or are relevant to a current event; good profiles are written with a narrowed focus on important parts of the subject's life. Whether it's the person who plays the school mascot on your college campus or someone in your town who's opened a new business, interview people you do not already know well to get the best results.

Once you have chosen your subject, think about the most interesting aspect of that person. Why did you choose him or her? What drew your attention to this person? Chances are, that's your angle for the story. Keep the focus on the person, however; if you are interviewing the owner of a new business, your article should mostly be about the owner, not the business itself.

Preparation and Interviewing Your Subject

Good journalists always have some questions prepared for an interview in advance. Avoid questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no, and think about how you can get the most detailed information.

Start with the five W's -- the who, what, when, where and why/how. For example, you could ask your business owner:

Who or what inspired you to start this business? What do you enjoy most about your work? When did you get this idea? Where is your business? Why did you choose that spot? How are you planning for the future of your business?

Though you will have prepared questions, the interview in practice may feel like a conversation. If your subject says something especially interesting, follow up or ask for more.

For example, if a pizza shop owner says she got her idea for her business after traveling to Italy, ask questions like "Why did you go to Italy?" and "What was the best pizza you had on your trip?" The most interesting information might come from asking for more detail.

Take lots of notes. (Tip: Ask your subject if she minds being recorded on your phone or whether you can type notes on your computer.)

Planning and Drafting Your Article

After the interview is complete, review your notes and highlight the most important information. It's time to come up with your "nut graph," or the thesis of your article. This should be one sentence or paragraph summarizing the who, what, when, where, why/how, signaling to the reader why the article is important or interesting.

For example: Rosanna DiMarco is the founder of "Pie in the Sky," a new pizza shop in Central Square that combines the idea of traditional Italian pizza with fruity, sugary pies.

Just by reading the one sentence, your reader should have an idea of who and what the rest of the article will be about : Rosanna and her pizza shop. The nut graph also addresses the location of the shop (where), the fact that it is brand new (when), and why it's interesting (fruity pizza).

Once you have written your nut graph, draft the rest of your article with details from your interview and a few quotes from the subject. Make sure the quote adds color or interest to the article; everything else, you can paraphrase.

Paraphrased information: DiMarco said she was inspired to start her pizza shop on a trip to Italy.

Quoted information: "Eating pizza was the best part of my trip!" said DiMarco. "I would sit and eat a whole pie by myself and then walk for hours around the city."

Quotes from the subject are sometimes a good way to end your piece.

Revising and Editing

After the first draft of your profile is complete, read through and cut out any words or sentences that are not essential. For example, readers need to know the type of pizza Rosanna's shop serves, but they don't need to know the names of all her employees or the price of each kind of pie.

Next, check your order: Paragraphs should usually be ordered from the most interesting or important at the top, to the least important at the bottom.

Finally, edit for correct spelling, grammar and punctuation.

• Poynter: Atlanta Journal Constitution Writer Shows What It Takes to Craft an Excellent Profile
• Poynter: Hearts and Guts, Writing the Personal Profile
• Bleacher Report Blog: Interview Tips via Poynter from ESPN's Guru, John Sawatsky

Katrina Ballard is an expansion manager for a network of high-performing charter schools based in New York, overseeing the establishment of new schools across the country. She previously taught middle school in a low-income neighborhood outside of Denver, Co., advocates for gender equality and loves to travel.

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Biotechnology

The Country Where You Can Buy Meat Grown in a Lab

Singapore, which subsists on imported food, is looking to secure its future with new ways of feeding its people.

By Sui-Lee Wee

Maxine Singer, Guiding Force at the Dawn of Biotechnology, Dies at 93

A leading biochemist, she helped shape guidelines in the 1970s for genetic-engineering while calming public fears of a spread of deadly lab-made microbes.

By Denise Gellene

U.S. Awards $504 Million for ‘Tech Hubs’ in Overlooked Regions

Biden administration officials hope the money will help propel technological innovation in areas that have historically received less government funding.

By Madeleine Ngo and Ana Swanson

What MAGA’s Beef With Lab-Grown Meat Says About the G.O.P.

Paul Krugman on how burgers became the focus of a conspiracy theory.

By Paul Krugman, Derek Arthur and Jillian Weinberger

Meat, Freedom and Ron DeSantis

A full plate of culture war and conspiracy theories.

By Paul Krugman

‘We Will Save Our Beef’: Florida Bans Lab-Grown Meat

Other states have also considered restrictions, citing concerns about farmers’ livelihoods and food safety, though the product isn’t expected to be widely available for years.

By Dionne Searcey

Biotech Exec Gets 7 Years in Prison for False Claims About Rapid Covid-19 Test

Prosecutors said Keith Berman falsely claimed he had invented a blood test that could detect Covid-19 in 15 seconds. His lawyer said he had put “genuine effort” into developing such a test.

By Michael Levenson

The Revolution That Died on Its Way to Dinner

Cultivated meat offered a delicious fantasy: that we can consume our way out of climate catastrophe.

By Joe Fassler

Chinese Spy Agency Rising to Challenge the C.I.A.

The ambitious Ministry of State Security is deploying A.I. and other advanced technology to go toe-to-toe with the United States, even as the two nations try to pilfer each other’s scientific secrets.

By Edward Wong, Julian E. Barnes, Muyi Xiao and Chris Buckley

A Top New York Hospital, an Unapproved Treatment and an F.D.A. Warning

A product made from umbilical cord blood was used in spine surgeries at a Manhattan hospital. After a federal warning came an internal complaint: Patients should have been told.

By Ellen Gabler, Steve Eder and Allie Pitchon

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This section on biology news includes new research related to many related subjects such as biochemistry, genetics, cytology, and microbiology. Popular sub-topics include Biotechnology , DNA ,  Microbiology , Neurology , Evolutionary Biology , Genetics , Stem Cells , Neuroscience , Bioengineering , and Cell Biology .

Whether you are a professional biologist, an aspiring scientist, or simply someone with a passion for learning about the living world, our Biology News page offers a wealth of information and insights to keep you informed and inspired.

The Plant That Changed History: How an Ancient Hybrid Grass Birthed the World’s Most Iconic Crop

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The Hidden Architect: Biologists Uncover Unexpected Role of Nuclei in Organ Development

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Targeting NPCs: A New Approach to Combating Blood Cancers

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Over 30 Times the Size of a Human’s: Scientists Decode the World’s Largest Animal Genome

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New Species of Extinct Walrus-Like Mammal Discovered in the North Atlantic

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Biography.com Editors

Staff editorial team and contributors.

The Biography.com staff is a team of people-obsessed and news-hungry editors with decades of collective experience. We have worked as daily newspaper reporters, major national magazine editors, and as editors-in-chief of regional media publications. Among our ranks are book authors and award-winning journalists. Our staff also works with freelance writers, researchers, and other contributors to produce the smart, compelling profiles and articles you see on our site. To meet the team, visit our About Us page: https://www.biography.com/about/a43602329/about-us

.css-1796pb7{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-family:Gilroy,Gilroy-roboto,Gilroy-local,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.2;font-weight:bold;color:#262626;text-transform:capitalize;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-1796pb7{-webkit-transition:color 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:color 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-1796pb7:hover{color:link-hover;}} Julius Caesar

Roman general and statesman Julius Caesar turned the Roman Republic into the powerful Roman Empire. An assassination ended his reign on the Ides of March.

Ancient Greek statesman Pericles, leader of Athens from 460–429 B.C., organized the construction of the Parthenon and developed a democracy based on majority rule.

Henry VIII, king of England, was famously married six times and played a critical role in the English Reformation, turning his country into a Protestant nation.

William Shakespeare

Playwright and poet William Shakespeare is considered the greatest dramatist of all time. His works are loved throughout the world, but Shakespeare’s personal life is shrouded in mystery.

Erik Menendez

Erik Menendez and his older brother, Lyle, are serving double life terms in prison for the 1989 murder of their parents.

Lyle Menendez

Lyle Menendez and his younger brother, Erik, are serving life in prison for murdering their parents in 1989.

Why the Menendez Brothers Killed Their Parents

Lyle and Erik Menendez cited emotional and sexual abuse, among other reasons, for the gruesome 1989 murders of their father and mother.

Marlo Thomas

Emmy-winning actor Marlo Thomas is best known for the hit TV shows That Girl and Free to Be... You and Me .

Phil Donahue

The longtime host of Donahue , Phil Donahue established the modern daytime talk show format with his focus on audience participation and hot-button social issues.

Matthew Perry

Actor Matthew Perry was best known for playing Chandler Bing on the hit sitcom Friends from 1994 to 2004.

Entrepreneur Wally Amos founded the Famous Amos cookie brand and, during his days a talent agent, discovered Simon & Garfunkel.

Scott Peterson

Scott Peterson is serving a life sentence for the 2002 murders of his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn child.

Musician, author and director Questlove is the longtime drummer for the Grammy Award-winning hip-hop group The Roots.

Actor Tom Cruise has starred in the box-office hits Risky Business , Top Gun , Jerry Maguire , and the Mission: Impossible franchise.

Sha’Carri Richardson

Olympic track athlete Sha’Carri Richardson holds the world record in the women’s 100-meter dash and is known for her bold fashion choices.

Simone Biles

Simone Biles is the most decorated gymnast in history, with more than three dozen Olympic and World Championship medals to her name.

Katie Ledecky

A 14-time Olympic medalist, American swimmer Katie Ledecky is among the greatest athletes in her sport.

Kamala Harris

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is the first woman as well as first Black person and Asian American to hold the position.

Robert Downey Jr.

Actor Robert Downey Jr. is known for roles in a wide variety of movies, including Iron Man , The Avengers , and Sherlock Holmes. He won an Academy Award for the 2023 biopic Oppenheimer .

LeBron James

Basketball legend LeBron James has played professionally since 2003, won NBA titles with three different teams, and is the league’s all-time leading scorer.

Rising to prominence as a teenage phenom, professional tennis player Coco Gauff won the 2023 U.S. Open.

Andy Murray

Scottish tennis star Andy Murray triumphed at Wimbledon in 2013 to become the first British male in 77 years to win the tournament.

Christopher Reeve

Actor Christopher Reeve played Superman in the movie and its sequels. After a spinal cord injury, he started a foundation to help other paraplegics.

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer whose Symphony 5 is a beloved classic. Some of his greatest works were composed while Beethoven was going deaf.

Temple Grandin

Temple Grandin is a noted animal expert and advocate for autistic populations who penned the books 'Animals in Translation' and 'Animals Make Us Human.'

Ray Charles

Ray Charles was a pioneer of soul music, integrating R&B, gospel, pop and country to create hits like "Unchain My Heart," "Hit the Road Jack" and "Georgia on My Mind."

Andrea Bocelli

Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli is an international superstar whose music has bridged classical and pop genres.

Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking was a scientist known for his work with black holes and relativity, and the author of popular science books like 'A Brief History of Time.'

Troy Kotsur

American actor Troy Kotsur is a deaf performer who has appeared on stage, on television and in films, including his breakthrough Oscar-winning role in 'CODA' (2021).

Pop icon Lady Gaga's debut album, 'The Fame,' included the hits "Just Dance" and "Poker Face." She also won a Golden Globe for her role in 'American Horror Story' and an Oscar nomination for her co-starring role in 'A Star Is Born.'

Steve Martin

Comedian, actor and writer Steve Martin found fame starring in such films as 'The Jerk,' 'All of Me,' 'Little Shop of Horrors' and 'Father of the Bride.'

Louis Braille

Louis Braille invented a system of raised dots that enables blind people to read and write. His system is the globally accepted code for those with visual impairments.