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📘 Kharidar syllabus: Paper I, Section A, Unit 5.2 (Noted personalities and thinkers) · Open the full Kharidar course
Unit 5.2 asks about current affairs and “noted personalities and thinkers”. Current affairs are updated monthly in our Current Affairs notes. This note covers the world personalities and thinkers that appear again and again. For Nepali personalities, see Famous Personalities of Nepal.
1. Religious teachers and ancient philosophers
| Person | Why famous |
|---|---|
| Gautam Buddha | Founder of Buddhism; born in Lumbini, Nepal; “Light of Asia” |
| Confucius | Chinese philosopher of ethics and good government |
| Socrates | Greek philosopher; teacher of Plato |
| Plato | Wrote “The Republic”; teacher of Aristotle |
| Aristotle | “Father of political science”; teacher of Alexander the Great |
| Kautilya (Chanakya) | Wrote “Arthashastra” on statecraft |
2. Political leaders and freedom fighters
| Person | Why famous |
|---|---|
| Abraham Lincoln | US President who ended slavery; defined democracy as “government of the people, by the people, for the people” |
| Mahatma Gandhi | Led India’s freedom movement with non-violence; “Father of the Nation” in India |
| Nelson Mandela | Fought apartheid; first Black President of South Africa (1994); Nobel Peace Prize 1993 |
| Martin Luther King Jr. | US civil rights leader; “I have a dream” speech (1963) |
| Mao Zedong | Founder of the People’s Republic of China (1949) |
| Winston Churchill | British PM during the Second World War |
3. Economists and political thinkers
- Adam Smith: “Father of economics”; wrote The Wealth of Nations (1776).
- Karl Marx: wrote Das Kapital and, with Engels, The Communist Manifesto (1848).
- John Maynard Keynes: modern macroeconomics; government spending to fight unemployment.
- Niccolò Machiavelli: wrote The Prince on power politics.
- Rousseau, Locke, Hobbes: social contract theorists.
4. Management and administration thinkers
| Thinker | Contribution |
|---|---|
| Henri Fayol | “Father of modern management”; 14 principles of management |
| F.W. Taylor | “Father of scientific management” |
| Max Weber | Theory of bureaucracy |
| Luther Gulick | POSDCORB (functions of the chief executive) |
| Abraham Maslow | Hierarchy of needs (motivation) |
| Woodrow Wilson | Founder of public administration as a study (1887 essay) |
5. Scientists and humanitarians
- Marie Curie: first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the only person to win in two sciences (Physics and Chemistry).
- Albert Einstein: theory of relativity; Nobel Prize in Physics 1921.
- Mother Teresa: served the poor in Kolkata; Nobel Peace Prize 1979.
- Malala Yousafzai: girls’ education activist from Pakistan; youngest Nobel laureate (2014).
- Florence Nightingale: founder of modern nursing (“Lady with the Lamp”).
- Henry Dunant: founder of the Red Cross; first Nobel Peace Prize (1901).
6. Who said or wrote what
| Person | Known for |
|---|---|
| Kautilya (Chanakya) | Arthashastra, ancient work on statecraft and administration |
| Adam Smith | The Wealth of Nations (1776), father of economics |
| Karl Marx | Das Kapital and The Communist Manifesto |
| Woodrow Wilson | “The Study of Administration” (1887), father of public administration |
| F. W. Taylor | Scientific management, father of scientific management |
| Henri Fayol | 14 principles of management |
| Max Weber | Theory of bureaucracy |
| Luther Gulick | POSDCORB |
| Mahatma Gandhi | Non-violence (ahimsa) and satyagraha |
| Nelson Mandela | Ended apartheid; first Black president of South Africa |
7. Memory tips
- Link each management thinker to one keyword: Taylor – time study, Fayol – principles, Weber – bureaucracy, Gulick – POSDCORB.
- Link each economist to one book.
- For scientists, remember one discovery and one century.
8. How this topic is asked in the exam
Questions are mostly direct: who is the father of a subject, who wrote a famous book, or who gave a theory. Management thinkers appear in both the GK paper and the public management paper, so learn them carefully.
📌 Key points to remember
- Buddha was born in Lumbini, Nepal.
- Aristotle: father of political science; Plato wrote The Republic; Kautilya wrote Arthashastra.
- Lincoln: “of the people, by the people, for the people”.
- Mandela: first Black President of South Africa (1994).
- Adam Smith: father of economics; Marx: Das Kapital and Communist Manifesto.
- Fayol: 14 principles; Taylor: scientific management; Weber: bureaucracy; Gulick: POSDCORB; Maslow: need hierarchy.
- Marie Curie: two Nobel Prizes; Malala: youngest Nobel laureate.
📝 Quiz
Test yourself: Famous World Personalities and Thinkers
Practise Religious teachers and ancient philosophers, Economists and political thinkers and Scientists and humanitarians with 50 questions. Each attempt picks 25 at random.
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