Sir Paul Maxime Nurse
Paul Nurse
Born	(1949-01-25) 25 January 1949 (age 63) Norwich, UK[1]
Nationality	United Kingdom
Fields	Genetics/cell biology
Alma mater	University of Birmingham University of East Anglia
Known for	Cell cycle regulation; Cdk1
Notable awards	Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2001 Copley Medal in 2005

Sir Paul Maxime Nurse, PRS (born 25 January 1949) is a British geneticist and cell biologist. He was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Leland H. Hartwell and R. Timothy Hunt for their discoveries of protein molecules that control the division (duplication) of cells in the cell cycle.^[2]

When cells with nuclei divide, they divide in phases called G1 (growth), S (synthesis), G2 (growth), and M (mitosis). Nurse, Hartwell and Hunt together discovered two proteins, cyclin and CDK (cyclin dependent kinase), that control the transition from one stage to another. These proteins are called checkpoints, because they check whether the cell has divided properly. If the cell doesn't divide correctly, other proteins will attempt to repair it, and if unsuccessful, they will destroy the cell. If a cell divides incorrectly and survives, it can cause cancer and other serious diseases.^[2]

Working in yeast, Nurse identified the gene cdc2, which controls the transition from G1 to S, when the cell grows in preparation for the duplication of DNA, and G2 to M, when the cell divides. Nurse also found the corresponding gene, CDK1, in humans. These genes stop and start cyclin dependent kinase (CDK) by adding or removing phosphate groups.^[2]

Nurse is the current President of the Royal Society and Chief Executive and Director of the Francis Crick Institute.

Nurse believes that scientists should speak out about science in public affairs and challenge politicians who support policies based on pseudoscience.

Early life and career[link]

Nurse's mother came from Norfolk. His biological maternal grandmother pretended to be his mother while she was alive and his mother pretended to be his sister for her entire life too.^[3] He was born in Norwich, Norfolk, and was educated at Lyon Park school in Alperton and Harrow County School for Boys. He received his undergraduate degree in 1970 from the University of Birmingham and his PhD degree in 1973 from School of Biological Sciences at the University of East Anglia. Beginning in 1976, Nurse identified the gene cdc2 in yeast^[4][5] (Schizosaccharomyces pombe). This gene controls the progression of the cell cycle from G1 phase to S phase and the transition from G2 phase to mitosis. In 1987, Nurse identified the homologous gene in human, Cdk1, which codes for a cyclin dependent kinase.^[6]

In 1984, Nurse joined the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF, now Cancer Research UK). He left in 1988 to chair the department of microbiology at the University of Oxford. He then returned to the ICRF as Director of Research in 1993, and in 1996 was named Director General of the ICRF, which became Cancer Research UK in 2002. In 2003, he became president of Rockefeller University in New York City where he continues to work on the cell cycle of fission yeast. It was announced on 15 July 2010 that Nurse was to become the first Director and Chief Executive of the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation.^[7] He took up his post on 1 January 2011.

On 30 November 2010, Sir Paul took over from Martin Rees as president of the Royal Society.

Political views[link]

Nurse criticized the potential Republican candidates for the US presidential nomination for opposing the teaching of natural selection, stem cell research on cell lines from human embryos, and anthropogenic climate change; he blamed scientists in part for not speaking up.^[8]

He was alarmed that this could happen in the U.S., a world leader in science, "the home of Benjamin Franklin, Richard Feynman and Jim Watson."^[8]

One problem, Nurse said, was "treating scientific discussion as if it were political debate," using rhetorical tricks rather than logic. Another problem was science teaching in the schools, which does not teach citizens how to discuss science, and is compromised by religious schools (even in the U.K.).^[8]

"We need to emphasize why the scientific process is such a reliable generator of knowledge with its respect for evidence, for skepticism, for consistency of approach, for the constant testing of ideas," wrote Nurse.^[8]

Finally, scientific leaders "have a responsibility to expose the bunkum," said Nurse. They should take on politicians, and expose nonsense during elections.^[8]

Awards and honours[link]

In addition to the Nobel Prize, Nurse has received numerous awards and honours. In 1989, he became a fellow of the Royal Society and in 1995 he received a Royal Medal and became a foreign associate of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He received the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1998. Nurse was knighted in 1999. He was awarded the French Legion d'Honneur in 2002. He was also awarded the Copley Medal in 2005. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences - one of the top honours - in April 2006. He is a member of the Advisory Council for the Campaign for Science and Engineering.^[9] Nurse has received many Honorary Degrees, including from the University of Bath in 2002.

References[link]

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ ^{a b c} The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2001 Illustrated Lecture
3. ^ Paul Nurse: Discussing Family Trees in School can be Dangerous - The Most Podcast
4. ^ Nurse, P.; Thuriaux, P.; Nasmyth, K. (1976). "Genetic control of the cell division cycle in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe". Molecular & general genetics : MGG 146 (2): 167–178. PMID 958201.  edit
5. ^ Nurse, P. (2004). "Wee beasties". Nature 432 (7017): 557–557. DOI:10.1038/432557a. PMID 15577889.  edit
6. ^ Lee, M. G.; Nurse, P. (1987). "Complementation used to clone a human homologue of the fission yeast cell cycle control gene cdc2". Nature 327 (6117): 31–35. DOI:10.1038/327031a0. PMID 3553962.  edit
7. ^ "Project Press Release". UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation web site. 15 July 2010. http://www.ukcmri.ac.uk/press/press_release6.html. Retrieved 11 August 2010. 
8. ^ ^{a b c d e} Stamp out anti-science; it's time to reject political movements that turn their backs on science, Paul Nurse, New Scientist, 17 September 2011
9. ^ "Advisory Council of the Campaign for Science and Engineering". http://www.sciencecampaign.org.uk/about/who/advisory.htm. Retrieved 2011-02-11. 

Further reading[link]

• Nurse, Paul (2004). The Great Ideas Of Biology: The Romanes Lecture For 2003. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-951897-1. 
• Les Prix Nobel. 2002. The Nobel Prizes 2001, Editor Tore Frängsmyr. Nobel Foundation: Stockholm.

External links[link]

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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Paul Nurse

Biographical

• Sir Paul Nurse at NobelPrize.org autobiography
  • Sir Paul Nurse Curriculum vitae
• Paul Nurse: Office of the President, Rockefeller University
  • The Rockefeller University, Heads of Laboratories: Paul Nurse, Ph.D.
• Profile – Sir Paul Nurse at BBC Four
• Dr Paul Nurse FRS – Cell division from the Royal Society
• Sir Paul Nurse Profile from Nature Medicine
• Paul Nurse at Cancer Research UK
• Sir Paul Maxime Nurse at Durham University
• Paul Nurse telling of discovering his personal heredity, World Science Festival, 12 June 2009.
• Paul Nurse at the Notable Names Database

News media

• British Scientists (inc. Sir Paul Nurse) scoop 2001 Nobel Prize
• Sir Paul Nurse: Genetic identity cards for newborn children within 20 years
• The Times Higher Education – Queen's Birthday Honours – Announcement of Paul Nurse becoming a Knight Bachelor
• A film clip "The Open Mind - A Vital Dialogue: Science and Its Paymasters (2007)" is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
• A film clip "The Open Mind - Are Scientists Keeping the Trust of the Public? (2006)" is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]

Lectures and publications

• Paul Nurse on Charlie Rose
• Paul Nurse at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Paul Nurse in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Paul Nurse scientific publications from PubMed
• Sir Paul Nurse – Nobel Lecture: Controlling the Cell Cycle, 2001
• Great Ideas of Biology lecture at CUNY, April 2010

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Frederick Richard Dimbleby CBE (25 May 1913 – 22 December 1965) was an English journalist and broadcaster, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest figures in British broadcasting history.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Dimbleby was born near Richmond,^[1] in the western suburbs of London, the son of Gwendoline Mabel (Bolwell) and Frederick Jabez George Dimbleby, a journalist.^[2] He was educated at the independent Mill Hill School in North London. He did not go to university. His great grandfather Jabez Bunting (J.B.) Dimbleby, born in Beverley, Yorkshire, was the first of the Dimbleby family to become involved in journalism. He was editor of the journal All Past Time "A journal devoted to the application of Astronomy to the measurement of time" and was described as the premier chronologist to the "British Chronological and Astronomical Association". He wrote a number of works on chronology, including The Appointed Time (translated into Swedish and Norwegian), and the anti-darwinian "The Bible’s Astronomical Chronology versus Evolution" (1905).^[3] Richard's grandfather Frederick William Dimbleby joined the Richmond and Twickenham Times in 1874 and bought the newspaper in 1894 after its founder, Edward King was declared insane.^[4]

Dimbleby began his career at The Richmond and Twickenham Times in 1931. He then worked as a news reporter on the "Southern Evening Echo" Southampton. He joined the BBC as a radio news reporter in 1936, and in 1939, became their first war correspondent. He accompanied the British Expeditionary Force to France. He made broadcasts from the battle of El Alamein and the Normandy beaches during the D-Day landings.

During the war, he flew on some 20 raids as an observer with RAF Bomber Command, including one to Berlin, recording commentary for broadcast the following day. In 1945, he broadcast the first reports from Belsen concentration camp.^[5] He also was one of the first journalists to experiment with unconventional outside broadcasts, such as when flying in a de Havilland Mosquito accompanying a fighter aircraft raid on France, or being submerged in a diving suit, and also describing the wrecked interior of Hitler's Reich Chancellery at the war's end.

He was a contemporary of fellow commentator Brian Johnston who, while better known for sports commentary and light journalism, also shared the job of covering national events with him. Dimbleby was, unlike Johnston, not a traditional 'establishment' figure; he was one of the first well-known media professionals not to have attended a major public school or Oxbridge.

Married^[6] to Dilys Thomas in Copthorne, West Sussex in 1937, Dimbleby had four children, two of whom, David and Jonathan, have followed in his footsteps to become major broadcasting figures in their own right, both anchoring election night broadcasts (David on the BBC, Jonathan on ITN). In addition, Dimbleby's third son, Nicholas, sculpted the plaque in his father's name that was placed in Poets' Corner in 1990.

Broadcasting career[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

After the war Dimbleby switched to television, eventually becoming the BBC's leading news commentator, and is perhaps best remembered as the commentator on a number of major public occasions. These included the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953 and the funerals of George VI, John F. Kennedy, and Winston Churchill. He wrote a book about the coronation, Elizabeth Our Queen, which was given free to many schoolchildren at the time.

He took part in the first Eurovision television relay in 1951 and appeared in the first live television broadcast from the Soviet Union in 1961. He also introduced a special programme in July 1962 showing the first live television signal from the United States via the Telstar satellite. In addition to heavyweight journalism, he hosted lighter programmes such as Twenty Questions and Down Your Way.

From 1955 he was the host of the flagship current affairs series Panorama. This programme saw him use his journalistic skills to full advantage in conducting searching, but polite interviews with key figures of the day, while acting as an urbane anchorman for the programme.^{[citation needed]} He was able to maintain his reporting talents by visiting places like Berlin, standing in front of the Brandenburg Gate a week before the Berlin Wall was erected across it by the communist authorities of East Germany.

Dimbleby's reputation was built upon his ability to describe events clearly yet with a sense of the drama and poetry of the many state occasions he covered. Examples included the Lying-in-State of George VI in Westminster Hall where he depicted the stillness of the guardsmen standing like statues at the four corners of the catafalque, or the description of the drums at Kennedy's funeral which, he said, "beat as the pulse of a man's heart." His commentary for the funeral of Churchill in January 1965 was the last state event he commentated upon.

To produce his commentaries he carried out encyclopedic research on all aspects of the venues of great events, their history and that of the ceremonies taking place, and the personalities involved. This was a necessary part of radio commentary, which transferred well to television coverage. He could also improvise extensively if there were delays in the schedule. His audience always felt that they were in "safe hands", especially in Panorama programmes like the one dealing with the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Inevitably, because of his close association with establishment figures and royalty, some people criticised his "hushed tones" style of speaking at state occasions, claiming he was pompous. In an interview he laughed-off such attacks explaining that, even though he had to use a special microphone which covered his mouth to obviate his speaking disrupting the solemn atmosphere, he still had to pitch his voice low to avoid his voice carrying. A more common touch was demonstrated in his friendly broadcasts like Down Your Way where he met thousands of ordinary people in towns and villages, and the many trade unionists, politicians and industrialists etc. who appeared on Panorama and other programmes. Dimbleby also showed stamina and imperturbability in marathon election night broadcasts which ran from 10pm when the polls closed to around 6 or 7 the following morning.

Controversy and comedy[link]

An infamous, if isolated, incident occurred when Dimbleby uttered the minced oath, "Jesus wept," while unaware the microphone was live. He had been commentating for half an hour during the 1965 state visit^[7] of HM Queen Elizabeth II to West Berlin, without knowing that the TV pictures had failed for all that time. It meant he would have to cover much ground all over again. During his time with Panorama Dimbleby also reported the famous spaghetti tree hoax on 1 April 1957, as an April Fool's Day joke.

Honours[link]

He was appointed an OBE in 1945 and advanced to CBE, one rank below a knighthood in the Order of the British Empire, in 1959.

Death and legacy[link]

Richard Dimbleby died in St Thomas' Hospital, London,^[8] at the age of 52, from testicular cancer diagnosed five years earlier. In an interview with the Daily Mail, his son David confirmed that "treatment then wasn't as good as it is now, but he had testicular cancer which spread because he left it".^[9] Two weeks before his death, he presented a documentary on the links between heavy tobacco smoking and lung cancer. Dimbleby decided to admit he was ill with cancer, which, in those days, was a taboo disease to mention. It was helpful in building public consciousness of the disease and investing more resources in finding a cure. The Richard Dimbleby Cancer Fund was founded in his memory. Dimbleby was cremated, the ceremony receiving national publicity.^[10]

Richard Dimbleby lecture[link]

The Richard Dimbleby Lecture was founded in his memory and is delivered every year by an influential public figure. The 2004 lecture was delivered by vacuum cleaner tycoon, James Dyson; in 2005, by Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair; by General Sir Mike Jackson in 2006; by genetics pioneer, Dr. J. Craig Venter, in 2007; and by HRH The Prince of Wales in 2009. The 2010 lecture was delivered by Discworld author, Sir Terry Pratchett; by author Michael Morpurgo in 2011 and by Nobel Prize-winning geneticist Sir Paul Nurse in 2012.

See also[link]

• David Dimbleby
• Jonathan Dimbleby
• Spaghetti tree

References[link]

External links[link]

• Biography from museum.tv
• The Richard Dimbleby Lecture Series
• The Richard Dimbleby Cancer Fund
• Richard Dimbleby in the BBC Archive
• Dimbleby Wedding in Copthorne
• Richard Dimbleby at the Internet Movie Database

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There are many people in history who are commonly appended with the phrase "the Great", or who were called that or an equivalent phrase in their own language. Other languages have their own suffixes such as e Bozorg and e azam in Persian and Urdu respectively.

In Persia, the title "the Great" at first seems to be a colloquial version of the Old Persian title "Great King". This title was first used by the conqueror Cyrus II of Persia.^[1]

The Persian title was inherited by Alexander III of Macedon (336–323 BC) when he conquered the Persian Empire, and the epithet "Great" eventually became personally associated with him. The first reference (in a comedy by Plautus)^[2] assumes that everyone knew who "Alexander the Great" was; however, there is no earlier evidence that Alexander III of Macedon was called "the Great".

The early Seleucid kings, who succeeded Alexander in Persia, used "Great King" in local documents, but the title was most notably used for Antiochus the Great (223–187 BC).

Later rulers and commanders began to use the epithet "the Great" as a personal name, like the Roman general Pompey. Others received the surname retrospectively, like the Carthaginian Hanno and the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great. Once the surname gained currency, it was also used as an honorific surname for people without political careers, like the philosopher Albert the Great.

As there are no objective criteria for "greatness", the persistence of later generations in using the designation greatly varies. For example, Louis XIV of France was often referred to as "The Great" in his lifetime but is rarely called such nowadays, while Frederick II of Prussia is still called "The Great". A later Hohenzollern - Wilhelm I - was often called "The Great" in the time of his grandson Wilhelm II, but rarely later.

Rulers[link]

• Abbas I of Persia (1571–1629), Shah of Iran
• Akbar (1542–1605), ruler of the Mughal Empire of South Asia, mainly India
• Alain I of Albret (1440–1522), French aristocrat
• Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), King of Macedonia, Persia, Greece, Egypt, and all of Mesopotamia
• Alexander I of Georgia (1386–1446), King of Georgia
• Alfonso III of León (c. 848-910), King of León, Galicia and Asturias
• Alfred the Great (848/849-899), King of Wessex
• Antiochus III the Great (c. 241–187 BC), ruler of the Seleucid Empire
• Ashoka the Great (c. 304–232 BC), Indian emperor of the Maurya dynasty
• Ashot I of Iberia “the Great”(died 826/830), presiding prince of Iberia (modern Georgia),
• Askia Mohammad I (c. 1442–1538), ruler of the Songhai Empire
• Bhumibol Adulyadej (born 1927), King of Thailand
• Bolesław I Chrobry (967-1025), sometimes called "the Great", first King of Poland
• Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the following section)
• Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (1736–1809), founder and ruler of the Rattanakosin Kingdom (in what is now Thailand)
• Cnut the Great (c. 985 or 995-1035), King of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden
• Casimir III the Great (1310–1370), King of Poland
• Catherine the Great (1729–1796), Empress of Russia
• Chandragupta II (reigned 375-413/415), also known as Vikramaditya, ruler of the Gupta empire in India
• Charlemagne (died 814), King of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans
• Chulalongkorn (1853–1910), King of Siam (now Thailand)
• Chlothar II (584-629), King of Neustria and King of the Franks
• Conrad, Margrave of Meissen (c. 1097-1157), Margrave of Meissen
• Constantine I (c. 272-337), Roman emperor
• Cyaxares the Great (c. 625-585 BC), third king of Media
• Cyrus the Great (c. 600 BC or 576 BC–530 BC), founder and ruler of the Persian or Achaemenid Empire
• Darius the Great (550 – 486 BC), third ruler of the Persian Empire
• Devapala (died 850), ruler of the Pala Empire in the Indian subcontinent
• Dionysius I, Greek tyrant of Syracuse^[3]
• Ferdinand I of León and Castile (c. 1015–1065), King of León and Count of Castile
• Frederick the Great (1712–1786), King of Prussia
• Genghis Khan (1162?-1227), founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire
• Gero (c. 900–965), ruler of Marca Geronis, a very large march in Europe
• Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1594–1632), King of Sweden, founder of the Swedish Empire, and noted military leader
• Gwanggaeto the Great, King of Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea^[4][5]
• Hanno the Great, the name of three leaders of Carthage, in the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd centuries BC
• Henry I, Duke of Burgundy (946–1002)
• Henry IV of France (1553–1610), King of France and King of Navarre
• Herod the Great (73/74 BC-4 BC), King of Judea
• Hugh the Great (898-956), Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris
• Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France
• Hugh I, Count of Vermandois (1057–1101)
• Humphrey I de Bohun (died c. 1123), Anglo-Norman aristocrat
• Ivan III of Russia (1440–1505), Tsar of Russia
• John I of Portugal (1358–1433), King of Portugal and the Algarve
• John II of Aragon (1398–1479), King of Aragon and, through his wife, King of Navarre
• Justinian I (483-565), Byzantine Emperor
• Kamehameha I (c. 1758-1819), first King of Hawai'i
• Kanishka (died c. 127), ruler of the Kushan Empire in Central Asia and parts of India
• Kvirike III of Kakheti (1010–1029), King of Kakheti in eastern Georgia
• Kublai Khan (1215–1294), Mongol ruler in the 13th century and Emperor of China; founder of the Yuan Dynasty
• Llywelyn the Great (c. 1172–1240), Prince of Gwynedd and de facto ruler of most of Wales
• Louis I of Hungary (1326–1382), King of Hungary, Croatia and Poland
• Mangrai the Great (1238–1317), Lanna, northern Thailand
• Emperor Meiji (1852–1912), Emperor of Japan
• Mircea I of Wallachia (1355–1418)
• Mithridates II of Parthia (died 88 BC), ruler of the Parthian Empire (in present day Iran)
• Mithridates VI of Pontus (134 BC–63 BC), ruler of Pontus and the Bosporan Kingdom
• Mstislav I of Kiev (1076–1132), Grand Prince of Kievan Rus
• Naresuan (1555–1605), King of Ayutthaya
• Narai (1633–1688), King of Ayutthaya (in what is now modern Thailand)
• Odo the Great (died c. 735), Duke of Aquitaine
• Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (912-973)
• K'inich Janaab' Pakal (603-683), ruler of the Mayan city-state of Palenque
• Parakramabahu I of Polonnaruwa (1123–1186), King of Sri Lanka
• Peter Krešimir IV of Croatia (died 1075), King of Croatia
• Peter the Great (1672–1725), Tsar of Russia
• Peter III of Aragon (1239–1285), King of Aragon and King of Sicily
• Pompey (106 BC-48 BC), military and political leader of the late Roman Republic, rival of Julius Caesar
• Radama I (1793–1828), first king of greater Madagascar
• Raja Raja Chola I (c. 947-1014), Indian emperor of the Cholas.^[6][7][8]
• Rajendra Chola I (reigned 1014–1044), Tamil King of India
• Ramesses II (reigned 1279 BC – 1213 BC), considered the greatest pharaoh of Ancient Egypt
• Ram Khamhaeng (around 1237 to 1247-1298), King of Sukhothai (in present day Thailand)
• Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona (1082–1131), also Count of Provence and various other counties
• Rhodri the Great (c. 820–878), King of Gwynedd (in present day Wales)
• Roman the Great (after 1160-1205), Grand Prince of Kiev
• Saladin (c. 1138-1193), Kurdish Sultan of Egypt and Syria, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, and victor over the Crusaders
• Samudragupta (c. 335–375), ruler of the Gupta empire in the Indian subcontinent
• Sancho III of Navarre (c. 992-1035), King of Kingdom of Navarre
• Sargon of Akkad (died c. 2215 BC), ruler of the Akkadian Empire
• Sejong the Great (1397–1450), Korean king^[9]
• Shapur II (309-379), king of the Sassanid Empire, Persia
• Simeon I of Bulgaria (864/865-927), ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire
• Stephen III of Moldavia (1433–1504), Prince of Moldavia (Romania)
• Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia (c. 1308-1355), King of Serbia and Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks
• Taksin (1734–1782), King of the Thonburi Kingdom (Thailand)
• Tamar (1160-1123), Queen of the Georgian Empire
• Timur (1336–1405), better known as Tamerlane, founder of the Timurid Dynasty
• Theobald II, Count of Champagne (1090–1151), Count of Blois and of Chartres as Theobald IV, Count of Champagne and of Brie
• Theodoric the Great (454-526), King of the Ostrogoths, regent of the Visigoths and a viceroy of the Byzantine Empire
• Theodosius I (347-395), Roman emperor
• Tigranes the Great (140-55 BC), Emperor of Armenia
• Tiridates III of Armenia (285-339), King of Armenia
• Umar (c. 586 to 590–644), second caliph of the Muslim Empire
• Valdemar I of Denmark (1131–1182), King of Denmark
• Valentinian I (364-375), Roman Emperor
• Vladimir I of Kiev (c. 958-1015), ruler of Kievan Rus
• Vytautas (c. 1350-1430), archduke of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy
• William I, Count of Burgundy (1020–1087), Count of Burgandy and Mâcon
• William V, Duke of Aquitaine (969-1030), also Count of Poitou
• Xerxes I (519-465 BC), King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire (Persia)
• Yu the Great (c. 2200-2100 BC), legendary ruler in ancient China

Religious figures[link]

• Abraham the Great of Kashkar (ca. 492-586), monk and saint of the Assyrian Church of the East
• Abraham Kidunaia (died c. 366, hermit, priest, and Christian saint of Mesopotamia
• Albertus Magnus (1193/1206–1280), medieval German philosopher and theologian
• Anthony the Great (c. 251–356), early Christian saint of Egypt
• Babai the Great (c. 551–628), Assyrian church leader
• Basil of Caesarea (330-379), Greek bishop and theologian
• Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the previous section)
• Euthymius the Great (377-473), abbot and Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint
• Gertrude the Great (1256-c. 1302), German Benedictine, mystic, theologian and Roman Catholic saint
• Pope Gregory I (c. 540-604)
• Hiyya the Great, 3rd-century rabbi, Palestine
• Pope John Paul II (1920–2005)
• Pope Leo I (c. 391 or 400-461)
• Macarius of Egypt (c. 300-391), Egyptian hermit
• Pope Nicholas I (c. 800-867)
• Photius I of Constantinople (c. 810–c. 893), Eastern Orthodox saint and Patriarch of Constantinople
• William of Maleval (died 1157), founder of the Catholic congregation of Williamites

Other[link]

• Beli Mawr, a figure in medieval Welsh literature and genealogies
• Emmy the Great, folk singer
• Matteo Rosso the Great, Roman politician and father of Pope Nicholas III
• Prokop the Great, Hussite general in Bohemia

See also[link]

• Epithet
• List of monarchs by nickname
• List of nicknames of European Royalty and Nobility: G-I
• James, son of Zebedee, also known as James the Greater, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus
• Ajax (mythology), called Ajax the Greater
• Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, whose common honorific "Mahatma" means "Great Soul"

Notes[link]