Billionaire Bill Gates fell in love with computers when he was just thirteen years old. Since he was seen as a small, shy boy, no one predicted that he would become a ruthless business owner who led the advent of modern computers.

Billy Graham rose from humble beginnings in rural North Carolina to become one of the world’s most famous evangelists. Born in 1918, Graham grew up on his family’s farm. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, his strict Presbyterian parents grew more religious. Graham attended church meetings with them out of duty, but one night a particularly fiery Baptist preacher ignited his faith.

Che Guevara stood for revolution. As a young man, Che traveled throughout South America and witnessed the severe poverty and oppression people suffered while the countries’ leaders did nothing to help them. He so strongly believed in the need to improve the social conditions of South America, he was ready to fight against the ruling governments.

Jack Kerouac, “King of the Beats,” never intended to lead a cultural movement—he just wanted to write. As a young man in New York in the late 1940s, Jack spent his days and nights discussing new ideas with other founders of the “Beat Generation,” a term Jack reportedly coined.

Martha Stewart has been a straight-A student, model, mother, stockbroker, caterer, writer, TV personality, and convicted federal prisoner. She remains one of the wealthiest self-made businesswomen in history. Born as Martha Kostyra in 1941 to a working-class family, Martha excelled at cooking, gardening, and sewing from a young age.

From the age of five, Joseph Alois Ratzinger knew he wanted to be a priest. Seventy-three years later, he became Pope Benedict XVI, the 265th pope of the Catholic Church. Born in 1927 in Marktl-am-Inn, Germany, Ratzinger was the son of a police officer and a cook, who raised a devout Catholic family. Ratzinger entered the seminary in 1939, but Germany’s leader, Adolf Hitler, soon closed the school. Like all boys, Ratzinger was forced to join the Hitler Youth and later the anti-aircraft corps and the national labor service.

Stephen Hawking is one of the most famous scientists in the world as well as a medical miracle. Just after he enrolled in a doctorate program in physics at Oxford University, he learned he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Doctors gave him just a few years to live. But Hawking never let his disease keep him down. His brilliant, groundbreaking work on black holes and the Big Bang theory amazed other scientists.

Vladimir Ilyitch Lenin was one of the most controversial figures of the 20th century. The son of a Russian civil servant, he was raised in comfortable circumstances. But when his older brother was executed for attempting to assassinate the Russian czar, Lenin became a revolutionary. He was inspired by the radical writings of Karl Marx, who called for a world ruled by workers instead of wealthy men and monarchs. Lenin created his own interpretation of Marxism, known as Leninism, and headed a small, outlawed political party known as the Bolsheviks.

Vera Wang, one of the hottest names in the fashion world, gained fame by revolutionizing bridal design with her sleek, sophisticated gowns. But Wang’s talents go far beyond elegant wedding dresses; her one-of-a-kind evening gowns are sought after by celebrities for red-carpet events, and upscale department stores and boutiques carry her designs for items ranging from sportswear to bedding to stationery to glassware to fragrances.