Nelson Mandela

Former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela was considered to have been one of the world's greatest leaders. Mandela played a huge part in

ending apartheid, a system that forced black and white people to live separate lives in South Africa.

In 1990, Mandela was released from prison after 27 years behind bars.

Mandela was given the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, along with then South African president FW de Klerk. They were jointly awarded for their work to

bring about a democratic and racially equal South Africa.

Mandela became president of South Africa in 1994 in the country's first democratic elections, after more than 300 years of white rule.

In 1995 South Africa held its first major sports competition, the Rugby World Cup. Mandela gave his support to the victorious South African team,

which was made up mostly of white men. That helped to unite the country.

Marie Curie

Marie Curie was a Polish scientist - and is probably one of the most famous scientists of all time. She was born in the Polish city of Warsaw, but later moved

to France where she made an incredible discovery which would change the world.

In France, she met her husband - a man called Pierre, who was also a scientist. Together, they built on work done by previous scientists and made discoveries

which would earn them a Nobel Prize in 1903. As if that wasn't enough, Marie went on to win another Nobel Prize in 1911. She

was the first woman in history to win it.So what was this amazing work? Well, the Curies made ground-breaking

discoveries about something called radioactivity. Radioactivity happens when certain special chemical elements give off energetic particles when a part of

them called their nucleus breaks down.This all sounds rather technical, but through this work, the Curies announced the

discovery of two new chemical elements - polonium and radium.And why was that so important? Well, first of all, their work was used to develop

something called radiotherapy, which is used to treat certain illnesses.These discoveries were also really important in developing X-rays, which are vital

in hospitals today. It also meant that during World War One, Curie was able to develop a portable X-ray unit that could be used near the battlefront.

So if you ever find yourself in hospital having an X-ray, you now know who you should be thanking.

Marcus Rashford

Aged 22, Marcus grew up on a housing estate in Manchester with his single mum and 4 brothers and sisters. His mum had to work hard to provide food for her

children and sometimes worked more than one job.

Marcus was a talented young footballer who grew up to play for England and Man Utd teams.

This week, the government has changed its mind and will continue a food voucher scheme in England during the summer holidays, following a campaign

by Manchester United and England footballer Marcus Rashford.The Covid summer school fund will mean that children eligible for free school

meals in term time will get a six-week voucher.After the government announced the change, Rashford tweeted: "I don't even know what to say. Just look at what we can do when we come together, THIS is

England in 2020." Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was glad of Marcus Rashford's "contribution

to the debate around poverty".The Manchester United forward had asked the government to change its mind

about not offering vouchers for free meals during the summer holidays. The Department for Education had previously said the government would not

change its decision.

Malala Yousafzai

Now aged 20, Malala became one of the most famous schoolgirls in the world.

As a young girl of 11, the Pakistani student wrote an anonymous diary about what life was like under the rule of an extreme group called the Taliban in

north-west Pakistan. In the diary, she talked about how she wanted to stay in education and about

how girls should be able to go to school. The Taliban wanted to ban girls' education. Lots of people read the diary all over the world and she became well-

known for fighting for her right to an education.But the Taliban didn't like this. Because of what she said in her diary, in October

2012, she was shot by their soldiers - but she survived the attack. The world was appalled by what happened to her and Malala quickly won the

support of millions more people.At 14, she became the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize. When she received it, she joked that she was probably the first winner who still

fought with her younger brothers!She has gone on to win more awards, and continues to campaign for girls' rights

all over the world and inspire many generations.