"Mad, bad and dangerous to know." This description, reportedly given by Lady Caroline Lamb, one of Byron's many paramours, lays the foundation for most contemporary perception of Lord Byron. A leading poet in the Romantic movement of the early 19th century, his major works include the narrative poems Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, and Don Juan, the satire English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, and the "heroic poems" The Giaour, The Bride of Abydos, The Corsair and Lara, A Tale, partially inspired by his travels through the Mediterranean in 1809-1811. Read more.

With the help of the most famous apple since Adam and Eve, Sir Isaac Newton made possibly the most significant scientific discovery since our ancestors figured out how to make fire. With his law of universal gravitation, Newton finally explained why objects fall down instead of up, and how humans keep from spiraling off into the abyss. From this observation, Newton formulated his laws of motion, further helping to explain the mysteries of how the world works. Read more.

Had Lady Caroline Lamb never crossed paths with Lord Byron, it's very possible her name would have been lost to history. The only daughter in an aristocratic family, Caroline was spirited and intelligent, but also prone to neurosis and nervous fits. In 1812, after reading an advance copy of Lord Byron's breakthrough poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimige, Caroline wrote to the poet, resulting in a brief but tumultuous affair. When Byron broke it off, Caroline responded in a fitting manner - by publishing a novel, Glenarvon, based on the affair, as well as satires of Byron's poems. Read more.