Yus! I love threads like these! I'm a history graduate, and I simply love to discuss history with other people with knowledge on the subject!
Ok, I have two favorites I can share. I'll keep them relatively short, so no one need to get bored while reading them =>
Alfred the Great - The only English king to be called "the Great", the one who defeated and made peace with the Danes. The father, pretty much, of what is now English law, the English army, and English education. He was by all accounts a wise and learned man, the sort of man you could sit down with and have a good long conversation.
Johannes Kepler - Galileo and Copernicus may have been first, but Kepler was more influential. Much of modern philosophy of science, as well as astrophysics, theoretical physics, and the calculus are founded on Kepler's work. With the recent transit of Venus, it's timely to honor Kepler, as Horrocks's correct prediction of the 1639 transit established the accuracy of Kepler's laws.
Peisistratos - Tyrant of ancient Athens - famous for one of the weirdest and most cynical stunts in political history; he found a tall Greek woman and dressed her up as Athena the goddess, and then rode into the city in a golden chariot; the stunt lured superstitious Athenians to his side because they thought he had the goddess's support.
This is spot on! An analysis of a historical process or event should be done neutral and objectively. And the farer this event is in the past, the easier it is.
