Last Updated on April 8, 2025 by Colby Droscher
When we look back throughout history it’s far too easy to get caught up on humanity’s shortcomings. This could be because it’s a valuable practice to learn from our mistakes. However, we’re going to shake things up and take a closer look at some of the most significantly positive figures to exist throughout history.
1. James Harrison
James Harrison, also known as The Man With the Golden Arm, was an Australian blood plasma donor who was simply built differently. Harrison’s plasma possessed antibodies specifically effective against RhD. Harrison’s plasma would be used to make a treatment for Rhesus disease. He ended up making upwards of 1,100 blood donations and also saved the lives of 2.4 million babies.
2. Jonas Salk
Before Jonas Salk stepped in, polio was one of the most feared diseases in the world—crippling over 35,000 people each year in the United States alone, many of them children. When Salk developed the first effective vaccine in the 1950s, he had the opportunity to patent it and cash in. But when asked who owned the patent, he famously replied, “Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?” By choosing to share his discovery freely, Salk helped turn the tide against a global epidemic and saved millions of lives.
3. Stanislav Petrov
In 1983, at the height of Cold War tensions, a Soviet early-warning system reported that several U.S. missiles were headed toward Russia. His orders were clear: report the launch and prepare for retaliation. But that night, Stanislav Petrov, the officer on duty, sensed something wasn’t right. With the world hanging in the balance, he trusted his gut—and chose to wait. His gut was right, and it turned out the system had malfunctioned. If Petrov had followed orders, it could’ve triggered a full-scale nuclear war. He didn’t fire a weapon, but his decision may have saved hundreds of millions of lives.
4. Norman Borlaug
Norman Borlaug was responsible for developing high-yield, disease-resistant wheat varieties through cutting-edge agricultural research. Some of the techniques were also useful around the world, especially in lesser-developed countries.
5. Terry Fox
Terry Fox was able to run a marathon every day for over 140 days. Just let that sink in. Now, consider the fact that Terry Fox also pulled this herculean feat off with one good leg in addition to an early 1980s prosthetic. His shoes were also nothing special compared to modern running shoes.
6. Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton isn’t just a country music icon—she’s a full-on national treasure. Beyond her chart-topping hits and unforgettable style, she’s poured millions into education, healthcare, and disaster relief. Through her Imagination Library, she’s sent over 200 million free books to children around the world. Dolly doesn’t just talk the talk; she quietly walks the walk and has been for decades.
7. Alexander Fleming
Alexander Fleming mistakenly discovered penicillin after forgetting his sandwich. Later, though, Fleming noted that parts of his sandwich were covered in mold, while other parts weren’t. That very thing that was killing the mold was the aha moment.
8. Marie Curie
Marie Curie was a Polish-born French physicist and chemist. She is considered a true pioneer in the study of radiation. She won the Nobel Prize twice, and in 1898, she discovered the radioactive elements polonium and radium with her husband, Pierre Curie.
9. Oliver Evans
Think of Oliver Evans as the dude who pulled through in the clutch and invented air conditioning. Then, consider how much of modern-day civilization relies on that crazy thing called refrigeration.
10. Frederick Banting
Before insulin was discovered, a diabetes diagnosis was basically a death sentence. In the early 1920s, Canadian doctor Frederick Banting—along with Charles Best—figured out how to extract insulin and use it to regulate blood sugar. It was a medical breakthrough that changed everything. Instead of cashing in, Banting sold the patent for just one dollar, believing that life-saving medicine shouldn’t be a luxury. Thanks to his work, millions of people with diabetes got a second chance at life.
11. Henrietta Lacks
Henrietta Lacks went to the hospital for treatment in 1951, not knowing that doctors would take a sample of her cells without asking. What they discovered changed medicine forever. Unlike most cells, hers kept growing outside the body. Scientists had never seen anything like it. Those cells, now known as HeLa cells, have been used in research that led to vaccines, cancer treatments, and countless medical breakthroughs. She never gave permission, and her family wasn’t told for decades.
12. Steve Irwin
Steve Irwin had a way of making you care about animals you’d usually cross the street to avoid. He wasn’t acting, either. The energy he had and the excitement in his voice was unmistakably real. He spent his life teaching people to see snakes, crocodiles, and every other misunderstood creature through a different lens. What mattered most to him was protecting wildlife and getting others to care, too. After he passed, his family kept going with the mission. Because of Steve, more people around the world grew up loving nature instead of fearing it.
13. Hedy Lamarr
Most people knew Hedy Lamarr from her time on the big screen. What they didn’t see was what she did when the cameras stopped rolling. She liked to tinker, take things apart, and figure out how they worked. During World War II, she helped come up with a way to send radio signals that couldn’t be jammed—an idea that ended up laying the groundwork for modern tech like WiFi and Bluetooth. For years, no one gave her much credit for it.
14. Ignaz Semmelweis
Ignac Semmelweis was a Hungarian doctor who worked as a chief physician in the obstetrics department of the St. Rokus Hospital in Pest from 1851. Semmelweis was responsible for pointing out the numerous, invaluable benefits of aseptic (also known as infection-preventing) procedures in both obstetrics and surgery.
15. Fritz Haber and Carl Bosh
Feeding the world wasn’t always a given. In the early 1900s, Fritz Haber figured out a way to pull nitrogen from the air and turn it into ammonia, a key ingredient for fertilizer. Carl Bosch later figured out how to scale that process so it could work in factories. Together, their work made it possible to grow a lot more food—and helped prevent mass starvation as the global population exploded. Today, billions of people are alive because of what these two men made possible, even if most have never heard their names.
16. Rosalind Franklin
Most people don’t recognize the name Rosalind Franklin, but without her, we might not understand DNA the way we do today. She was a scientist who took detailed X-ray images of molecules, and one of her photos—later known as Photo 51—captured the structure of DNA more clearly than anyone had seen before. That image helped confirm the now-famous double helix, though others ended up getting most of the credit. Franklin’s work quietly became the backbone of modern genetics.
