ONE OF US

Daily Stories of Remarkable People

Discover a new short story every day about someone who changed the world— from scientists and poets to rebels and refugees.

February 16, 2025

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Author, Activist, and Relentless Critic

Somalia • 1969

Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born in Mogadishu, into a devout Muslim family. Her childhood stretched across continents—Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Kenya—as her family moved frequently, often in exile due to her father's political activism. When she was 22, escaping a forced marriage arranged by her clan, she sought asylum in the Netherlands. She told immigration officials that she was fleeing war, and soon found herself cleaning factories, then studying political science, and finally working at a think tank. Her intellect, clarity, and determination didn’t go unnoticed.

May 24, 2025

Alan Turing

Computer Scientist

United Kingdom • 1912-1954

As a young mathematician at Cambridge, Alan Turing proposed a theoretical machine—what we now call the “Turing machine”—capable of solving any problem that could be broken into logical steps. It was a foundational idea in computer science, though no one at the time could foresee its full impact. Turing, however, already had a sense. “Instead of trying to produce a program to simulate the adult mind,” he once wrote, “why not rather try to produce one which simulates the child’s?”