Scientists: Ahmed Zewail (1946-2016) Egyptian-American chemistry Nobel Prize winner who is known as the "father of femtochemistry."
Artists/Architects: Zaha Hadid (1950-2016), Iraqi-British architect, described by the Guardian as the "Queen of the curve" and was the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
Artists: Hassan Massoudy (1944-now), an Iraqi painter and calligrapher, considered by the French writer Michel Tournier as the "greatest living calligrapher."
Writers: Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), a Lebanese-American writer and poet, considered to be the third-best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Laozi.
Explorers: Ibn Battuta (1304-1368), a Moroccan explorer who widely travelled the Old World and who is said to have traveled more than any other explorer in history.