Klaus Iohannis, the president of Romania

Klaus Werner Iohannis (also spelled Johannis; born 13 June 1959) is president of Romania. He became leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL) in 2014, after having served as leader of the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (DFDR/FDGR) from 2001 to 2013. Iohannis was a physics teacher and a school inspector before entering full-time politics.
Iohannis was elected the mayor of the city of Sibiu in 2000, representing the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania. Although the German population of the once predominantly German-speaking city of Sibiu (German: Hermannstadt, Transylvanian Saxon dialect: Härmeschtat) had declined to a tiny minority, Iohannis won a surprise victory and was re-elected by landslides in 2004, 2008, and 2012. Iohannis is credited with turning his city into one of Romania's most popular tourist destinations, and the city was declared the European Capital of Culture in 2007. In February 2013, Iohannis became a member of the National Liberal Party, accepting an invitation from then liberal leader Crin Antonescu, and was immediately elected the party's First Vice President, eventually becoming the PNL President during the following year.
In October 2009, four of the five political groups in the Parliament, excluding the Democratic Liberal Party of then-President Traian Băsescu, proposed him as a candidate for the office of Prime Minister of Romania; however, Băsescu refused to nominate him despite the Parliament's adoption of a declaration supporting his candidacy.^[3] He was again the candidate for Prime Minister of the National Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party in the elections in the same year.^[4]
Iohannis is the first Romanian president to come from an ethnic minority.^[5] He is a Transylvanian Saxon, part of Romania's German minority which settled in Transylvania in the 12th century. He was re-elected in the 2019 Romanian presidential election.

Helmuth Duckadam, retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was dubbed "the Hero of Seville" due to his display in the 1986 European Cup Final, won by his main club Steaua Bucureşti, where he saved all four penalties against Barcelona in the penalty shootout, for the first time in football history

Helmuth Robert Duckadam (born 1 April 1959) is a Romanian retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper and the current president of FC FCSB.
He was dubbed "the Hero of Seville" due to his display in the 1986 European Cup Final, won by his main club Steaua Bucureşti, where he saved all four penalties against Barcelona in the penalty shootout, for the first time in football history. He represented three other teams in a 14-year senior career.
Duckadam regularly appears as a studio guest on Digi Sport's "Fotbal Club" programme.

Born in Semlac, Arad County of Banat Swabian descent, Duckadam started playing in his regional leagues, before moving to FC UTA Arad in 1978 to become professional. He earned two full caps for Romania in 1982 and, subsequently, was signed by country giants FC Steaua Bucureşti.
capital side to two consecutive Liga I titles, was also between the posts for the 1986 European Cup final against FC Barcelona, which was played in Seville, on 7 May 1986. He saved four consecutive penalty shots in the shootout, from José Ramón Alexanko, Ángel Pedraza, Pichi Alonso and Marcos, being the first one to do so in an official European competition. Steaua won the shootout 2–0 and Europe's most important club trophy for the first time, and much of the credit for the surprise victory was given to him; he scored one goal for his main club, through a penalty kick against AFC Progresul Bucureşti in the domestic cup.^[1]


In 1986, Duckadam suffered a rare blood disorder only few weeks after the Seville performance,^[2] and would only resume his career three years later, finishing it with lowly Vagonul Arad in the second division. According to a personal interview given in 1999, he had become a major with the Romanian Border Police (Poliția de Frontieră) in his hometown; additionally, he opened a football school in the city, named after himself.^[3]
 
On 25 March 2008, Duckadam was decorated by the President of Romania, Traian Băsescu, with Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – ("The Sportive Merit" Order – class II), for his part in winning the 1986 European Cup. Two years later, on 11 August, he was named Steaua's president.

Mario Andretti, an Italian-born American former racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport

Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is an Italian-born American former racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport.^[1] He is one of only two drivers to have won races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship, and NASCAR (the other being Dan Gurney). He also won races in midget cars and sprint cars.

During his career, Andretti won the 1978 Formula One World Championship, four IndyCar titles (three under USAC-sanctioning, one under CART), and IROC VI. To date, he remains the only driver ever to win the Indianapolis 500 (1969), Daytona 500 (1967) and the Formula One World Championship, and, along with Juan Pablo Montoya, the only driver to have won a race in the NASCAR Cup Series, Formula One, and an Indianapolis 500. No American has won a Formula One race since Andretti's victory at the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix.^[2] Andretti had 109 career wins on major circuits.^[3]

Andretti had a long career in racing. He was the only person to be named United States Driver of the Year in three decades (1967, 1978, and 1984).^[4] He was also one of only three drivers to have won major races on road courses, paved ovals, and dirt tracks in one season, a feat that he accomplished four times.^[4] With his final IndyCar win in April 1993, Andretti became the first driver to have won IndyCar races in four different decades^[5] and the first to win automobile races of any kind in five.^[4]
In American popular culture, his name has become synonymous with speed, as with Barney Oldfield in the early twentieth century and Stirling Moss in the United Kingdom.
In 1986, he was inducted into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame. In 2000, the Associated Press and RACER magazine named him Driver of the Century.^[53] He was the Driver of the Year (in the United States) for three years (1967, 1978, and 1984),^[54] and is the only driver to be Driver of the Year in three decades.^[16] Andretti was named the U.S. Driver of the Quarter Century in 1992.^[3] He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2001,^[3] the United States National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1996,^[7] the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America^[55] in 1990, the Hoosier Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1970,^[7] the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Diecast Hall of Fame in 2012.
On October 23, 2006, Andretti was awarded the highest civilian honor given by the Italian government, the Commendatore dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (known as the Commendatore), in honor of his racing career, public service, and enduring commitment to his Italian heritage.^[53] Enzo Ferrari is the only other recipient of the Commendatore from the world of automobile racing.
In 2007, Andretti was honored with the "Lombardi Award of Excellence" from the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation. The award was created to honor Coach Lombardi's legacy, and is awarded annually to an individual who exemplifies the spirit of the Coach.
From 2007 Mario Andretti is the "Mayor" (Sindaco) of the "Free Commune of Motovun in Exile" (Libero Comune di Montona in esilio), an association of Italian exiles from Motovun.

Taco Ockerse, singer that reached No. 1 on the american Cashbox charts with the single "Puttin' on the Ritz"

Taco Ockerse (born July 21, 1955), better known by his stage name Taco, is an Indonesian-born Dutch singer and entertainer who started his career in Germany.
Taco Ockerse born in Jakarta, Indonesia on July 21, 1955, has spent many of his childhood years moving around the world residing in the Netherlands, the United States, Singapore, Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany.He attended the International School of Brussels, Belgium, and graduated in 1973. Afterward, he studied interior decoration and finished acting school in Hamburg. He held lead roles in numerous school productions, including You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Carousel, The Fantasticks, and Fiddler on the Roof.
In 1975, he began his first professional theatrical engagements in Hamburg. This included roles in Children's Theater, and roles as an ensemble member of the Thalia Theater in a number of plays, including Sweet Charity, Chicago, and Three Musketeers. He also directed and choreographed for the musical Nightchild. In 1979, he played "Chino" in John Neumeier's West Side Story at Hamburg Opera House. He founded his first band, Taco's Bizz, in 1979.

In 1981, Taco signed his first record contract with Polydor (Germany) for two record releases, whereon he released his first single, "Puttin' on the Ritz". Not long after, in 1982, his single, "Puttin' on the Ritz" was picked up by RCA for US release. The single was widely played throughout the U.S. by late summer of 1983 eventually peaking at no. 4 in September, 1983 on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as no. 1 on the Cashbox charts.Although the single eventually earned him a Gold-certification in USA for selling over one million copies, it was Taco's only top-40 hit in the U.S. Between 1983 and 1984, he performed extensive touring throughout Europe. While the single "Puttin' on the Ritz" topped the charts in Sweden and New Zealand, it entered the Top-5 in numerous countries including Norway, Austria and Canada. His subsequent album release of After Eight was released in over 40 countries and managed to reach no. 4 in Norway, no. 5 in Canada, no. 11 in Austria, no. 17 in New Zealand and no. 23 in U.S. and no. 59 in Germany. The album earned Taco number of Gold certifications including one in Finland for selling over 25,000 copies.
Taco's second single "Singing in the Rain" was only a moderate success peaking at No. 49 in Germany and No.46 in Canada.

He appeared as a guest on The Bob Hope Show, The Merv Griffin Show, Alan Thicke, Solid Gold, Good Morning America, and many other TV shows while touring.
Taco's follow-up album, Let's Face the Music was recorded in 1984 for Polydor (Germany) which peaked at no. 58 at his home of Germany and managed to enter the top-100 in Canada peaking at no. 92. Taco continued to record, focusing mostly on the German market with albums Swing Classics/In the Mood of Glenn Miller in 1985 and Tell Me That You Like It in 1986 for Polydor. In 1987 he recorded the self-titled album Taco.
In 1989 he briefly flirted with contemporary dance music by releasing a pair of singles, "Love Touch" and "Got to Be Your Lover", that were styled after the high energy disco sound popularized by Stock Aitken Waterman. Afterwards, he repositioned himself as a swing/soul singer. He has collaborated with Geff Harrison of Kin Ping Meh fame.

Between 1989 to 1996, Taco worked intensively as an actor. He had television acting roles in Friedrichstadt Palast and Das Erbe der Guldenburgs, and an appearance in the film Karniggels. He also appeared as "Chico" in the theater production of Marx Brothers Radio Show, and played lead roles in Shakespeare Rock n Roll in Berlin and Shakespeare as We Like It in Austria.
He currently resides in Germany, performing with his band and as a gala artist.
On October 11, 2009 the first channel of Russian TV, 1TV, filmed the program Songs of the 20th Century. Taco appears with "Puttin' on the Ritz" in the sequence about the 1930s. The show was broadcast in January 2010. On November 27, 2009 he performed "Puttin' on the Ritz" and "Singin' in the Rain" at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Russia. Furthermore, he was the star guest in the "New Year's Eve Show 2009" of Russian TV, which had about 84 million viewers in more than 20 countries.
In July 2010 Cleopatra Records - Los Angeles released an entirely new re-recording of "Puttin' on the Ritz". Taco's vocals were recorded in Germany and the backing tracks with top studio musicians in their studio in L.A.
On March 1, 2011 DingDing Music released the original song "Timeless Love" that was written and produced by Edgar Rothermich and Matthias Muentefering in the late 1980s. The studio recording that Taco performed as a duet with the female singer Rozaa Wortham in Berlin was remixed in late 2010 in the U.S. and is now available for download.

Robert Woodrow Wilson, an American astronomer who, along with Arno Allan Penzias, discovered cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) in 1964. The pair won the 1978 Nobel prize in physics for their discovery

Robert Woodrow Wilson (born January 10, 1936) is an American astronomer who, along with Arno Allan Penzias, discovered cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) in 1964. The pair won the 1978 Nobel prize in physics for their discovery.

While working on a new type of antenna at Bell Labs in Holmdel Township, New Jersey, they found a source of noise in the atmosphere that they could not explain.^[1] After removing all potential sources of noise, including pigeon droppings on the antenna, the noise was finally identified as CMB, which served as important corroboration of the Big Bang theory.

Robert Woodrow Wilson was born on January 10, 1936, in Houston, Texas. He graduated from Lamar High School in River Oaks, in Houston,^[2] and studied as an undergraduate at Rice University, also in Houston, where he was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa society. He then earned a PhD in physics at California Institute of Technology.
Wilson and Penzias also won the Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences in 1977.^[3]
Wilson remained at Bell Laboratories until 1994, when he was named a senior scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts.^[4]
Wilson has been a resident of Holmdel Township, New Jersey.^[5]
Wilson married Elizabeth Rhoads Sawin^[6] in 1958.

Simona Halep, a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles twice between 2017 and 2019

Simona Halep (born 27 September 1991) is Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles twice between 2017 and 2019. In total, she has been No. 1 for 64 weeks, which ranks tenth in the history of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings. Halep was the year-end No. 1 in 2017 and 2018. She has finished each year ranked no lower than No. 4 since 2014 and has the longest active streak of being ranked in the top 10. She has won 19 WTA singles titles and has finished runner-up 17 times. Halep has won two Grand Slam singles titles: the 2018 French Open and the 2019 Wimbledon Championships.
a
Halep first broke into the world's top 50 at the end of 2011, reached the top 20 in August 2013, and then the top 10 in January 2014. She won her first six WTA titles in the same calendar year in 2013, and was the first to do so since Steffi Graf in 1986. This led to her being named the WTA Most Improved Player at the end of the year. Halep reached three Grand Slam finals at the 2014 French Open, the 2017 French Open, and the 2018 Australian Open before winning her first Grand Slam singles title at the 2018 French Open against Sloane Stephens. A former junior champion there, she became just the sixth player to win both the girls' singles and women's singles titles at the French Open. Halep also finished runner-up at the 2014 WTA Finals to Serena Williams despite inflicting the worst loss of Williams' career at that point in the round robin stage. She did not defeat Williams a second time until the final of the 2019 Wimbledon Championships.
Halep was the WTA Most Popular Player of the Year for two consecutive years in 2014 and 2015, as well as the WTA Fan Favorite Singles Player of the Year for three consecutive years in 2017, 2018, and 2019. She is a recipient of the Patriarchal Cross of Romania and the Order of the Star of Romania, and was named an honorary citizen of Bucharest. She is the third Romanian to be in the top 10 of the WTA rankings after Virginia Ruzici and Irina Spîrlea, and the second Romanian woman to win a Grand Slam singles title after Ruzici. She is also the first Romanian woman to be ranked No. 1 and the first Romanian player to win a Wimbledon singles title. Halep is regarded as one of the best returners on the WTA Tour, while also building her game around being aggressive and being able to hit winners from defensive positions.

Ranulph Fiennes, an English explorer and holder of several endurance records. He is also a writer, poet and co-creator of Sir Ranulph Fiennes' Great British Rum

Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet, OBE (born 7 March 1944), commonly known as Ranulph Fiennes, and sometimes as Ran Fiennes, is an English explorer and holder of several endurance records. He is also a writer, poet and co-creator of Sir Ranulph Fiennes' Great British Rum.
Fiennes served in the British Army for eight years, including a period on counter-insurgency service while attached to the Army of the Sultanate of Oman. He later undertook numerous expeditions and was the first person to visit both the North and South Poles by surface means and the first to completely cross Antarctica on foot. In May 2009, at the age of 65, he climbed to the summit of Mount Everest.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records in 1984, he was the world's greatest living explorer. Fiennes has written numerous books about his army service and his expeditions as well as a book defending Robert Falcon Scott from modern revisionists.
Since the 1960s Fiennes has been an expedition leader. He led expeditions up the White Nile on a hovercraft in 1969 and on Norway's Jostedalsbreen Glacier in 1970. One notable trek was the Transglobe Expedition he undertook between 1979 and 1982 when he and two fellow members of 21 SAS, Oliver Shepard and Charles R. Burton, journeyed around the world on its polar axis, using surface transport only. Nobody else has ever done so by any route before or since.^[9][10][11]
As part of the Transglobe Expedition, Fiennes and Burton completed the Northwest Passage. They left Tuktoyaktuk on 26 July 1981, in an 18 ft open Boston Whaler and reached Tanquary Fiord on 31 August 1981.^[12] Their journey was the first open boat transit from West to East and covered around 3,000 miles (2,600 nautical miles or 4,800 km) taking a route through Dolphin and Union Strait following the south coast of Victoria Island and King William Island, north to Resolute Bay via the Franklin Strait and Peel Sound, around the south and east coasts of Devon Island, through Hell Gate and across Norwegian Bay to Eureka, Greely Bay and the head of Tanquary Fiord.^[12] Once they reached Tanquary Fiord, they had to trek a further 150 miles via Lake Hazen to Alert before setting up their winter base camp.^{[citation needed]}
In 1992 Fiennes led an expedition that discovered what may be an outpost of the lost city of Iram in Oman. The following year he joined nutrition specialist Dr Mike Stroud to become the first to cross the Antarctic continent unsupported; they took 93 days. A further attempt in 1996 to walk to the South Pole solo, in aid of the Breast Cancer Campaign, was unsuccessful due to a kidney stone attack and he had to be rescued from the operation by his crew.
In 2000 he attempted to walk solo and unsupported to the North Pole. The expedition failed when his sleds fell through weak ice and Fiennes was forced to pull them out by hand. He sustained severe frostbite to the tips of all the fingers on his left hand, forcing him to abandon the attempt. On returning home, his surgeon insisted the necrotic fingertips be retained for several months before amputation, to allow regrowth of the remaining healthy tissue. Impatient at the pain the dying fingertips caused, Fiennes cut them off himself with an electric fretsaw,^[13] just above where the blood and the soreness was.