Kalevipoeg is an epic poem by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald held to be the Estonian national epic.
It was written by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald on motives of Estonian folklore. The main material is taken from legends on a giant hero named Kalevipoeg ("Kalev's Son"). They mainly interpret various natural objects as traces of Kalevipoeg's deeds and have similarities with giant stories from neighbouring countries, including Scandinavia.
..... Click the link for more information. , mythological hero
Julius Aamisepp, plant breeder
Johannes Aavik, linguist
Jüri Adams, politician
Valmar Adams, writer
Amandus Adamson, sculptor
Urmas Alender, rock singer
Jüri Allik (born on March 3 1949 in Tallinn, Estonia), is an eminent Estonian psychologist.
Allik holds Ph.D. degrees in psychology both from the University of Moscow, Russia (1976) and Tampere University, Finland (1991). Spending his academic career at the University of Tartu (with the exception of a stint at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland), he became Professor of Psychophysics in 1992 and is since 2002 Professor of Experimental Psychology. He is also the head of the University of Tartu’s Department of Psychology and the chairman of the Estonian Science Foundation, as well as an editor of Estonia’s most important social science and humanities journal in English, Trames.
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Artur Alliksaar, poet
Betti Alver, poet
Ants Antson, Speed skater Olympic champion
Paul Ariste, linguist
Jüri Arrak, painter
Lauri Aus, cyclist
Nikolai Baturin, writer
Maimu Berg, writer and politician
Thomas Edur (Toomas Edur), ballet dancer
Kaarel Eenpalu, politician
Jaan Ehlvest (born 14 October 1962 at Tallinn in Estonia) is a chess player. He was made a grandmaster in 1987 and was Estonian sportsman of the year in 1987 and 1989.
..... Click the link for more information. , chess player
Jüri Ehlvest, writer
Jaan Einasto (born 23 February 1929) is an eminent Estonian astrophysicist and one of the discoverers of Dark Matter and of the cellular structure of the Universe.
Born in Tartu, he attended the University of Tartu, where he received the Ph.D. equivalent in 1955 and a senior research doctorate in 1972. From 1952, he has worked as a scientist at the Tartu Observatory (1977-1998 Head of the Department of Cosmology; in 1992-1995, he was Professor of Cosmology at the University of Tartu. For a long time, he was Head of the Division of Astronomy and Physics of the Estonian Academy of Sciences in Tallinn. Einasto is a member of the Academia Europaea, the European Astronomical Society and the Royal Astronomical Society; he has received three Estonian National Science Awards.
..... Click the link for more information. , astrophysicist
Heino Eller, composer
Olari Elts, conductor
Ene Ergma, astronomer, politician
Gustav Ernesaks, composer and conductor
Ants Eskola (1908 - 1989) was an Estonian actor.
Ita Ever, actress
Friedrich Robert Faehlmann, writer
August Gailit, writer
Tiit Härm, ballet dancer and choreographer
Miina Härma, composer
Johannes Hint, inventor
Carl Abraham Hunnius, doctor
Jakob Hurt, collector of folklore
Toomas Hendrik Ilves, journalist, politician
Ivar Ivask, critic and poet
Ernst Jaakson, diplomat
Carl Robert Jakobson, journalist
Johann Voldemar Jannsen, journalist
Jüri Järvet, actor
Neeme Järvi (born June 7, 1937) is a Estonian-born conductor.
Järvi was born in Tallinn and studied first there and then in Leningrad under Evgeny Mravinsky among others. Early in his career, he held posts with the Estonian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, the Estonian State Symphony Orchestra and the Opera in Tallinn. In 1971 he won first prize in the International Conductors Competition at the Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome.
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Jaak Joala, singer
Steve Jurvetson, US businessman, ethnic Estonian
Fred Jüssi, journalist
Anu Kaal, opera singer
Johannes Käbin, communist politician
Raimo Kangro, composer
Jaan Kaplinski, writer
Tõnu Kaljuste, conductor
Siim Kallas (born on October 2, 1948 in Tallinn) is an Estonian politician, the leader of the libertarian Estonian Reform Party.
Career
1991-95: President of the Bank of Estonia
1995-96: minister of Foreign Affairs.
1999-2002: minister of Finance
2002-2003: Prime minister.
2004- EU Commisioner without portfolio
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Edgar Kant, geographer
Tõnu Kark, actor
Carmen Kass was born September 14, 1978, in Tallinn, Estonia and raised in Paide.
A 14-year-old Carmen had already received recognition by the time she was discovered in a supermarket in Tallinn by an Italian modeling scout. She was ready to set her sights higher and go for the Miss Estonia title, but the offer to fly to Milan to jump start a modeling career seemed like a more glamorous and lucrative option.
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Tunne Kelam, politician
Paul Keres (January 71916 - June 51975) was an Estonian chess player, one of the stronger chess players of all times apart from the World chess champions. He was dubbed "The Crown Prince of Chess".
Paul Keres was born in Narva, Estonia.
From 1937 to 1941 he studied mathematics at the University of Tartu.
In 1938 he won the AVRO tournament. It was supposed that the winner of this tournament would be the challenger for the World champion title, but the outbreak of the Second World War brought negotiations with the current champion, Alekhine, to an end. In the 1948 World Championship tournament, arranged to find a champion following Alekhine's death in 1946, Keres finished fourth, with 10.5 out of 20.
..... Click the link for more information. , chess player
Jaan Kirsipuu, cyclist
August Kitzberg, writer
Eri Klas, conductor (Jewish)
Paul Kogerman, oil-shale chemist
Johann Köler, painter
Madis Kõiv, physicist, writer
Jaan Koort, sculptor
Kaie Kõrb, ballerina
Johannes Kotkas, Olympic champion
Peeter Kreitzberg, educationalist, politician
Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, author of the national epic
Jaan Kross (born 19 February 1920) is the most eminent contemporary Estonian writer.
Born in Tallinn, he attended the University of Tartu, graduated from its School of Law in 1944, and taught there as a lecturer until 1946 (and again as Professor of Artes Liberales in 1998). He was arrested by the Nazis in 1944 and by the Soviets in 1946, who deported him to Siberia, where he remained in the Gulag until 1954. Upon his return to Estonia, then a Soviet republic, he became a professional writer.
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Hendrik Krumm, opera singer
Tiiu Kuik, model
Eerik Kumari, ornitologist
Julius Kuperjanov, war hero
Mart Laar, politician
Johan Laidoner, general
Ants Laikmaa, painter
First version of the portrait of Dr. Kreutzwald by Laikmaa was painted in 1903 already. The portrait was ordered by the society "Estonia" and was situated at the "Estonia" theatre house later. That portrait was perished by fire on March, 9th, 1944, when the Soviet air forces attacked Tallinn.
On the painting, Laikmaa presents Kreutzwald as mighty Awakening figure. The idea to create Estonian nation by culture was easily understood in early 20th century and the painting became a symbol. The "Noor-Eesti" movement reproduced the painting on the first page of "Noor-Eesti" I album (1905).
Popularity of the painting encouraged the painter to repeat it in several similar versions. One repeating version is presented in the Art Museum of Estonia now. The heading of the portrait consists a verse from the national epic "Kalevipoeg".
Lembitu (year of birth unknown; died on September 21, 1217) was one of the best-known Estonian leaders in the fight against the conquest of German Sword Brethren in the beginning of the 13th century.
Lembitu, also referred to in Estonian as Lembit and in Latin as Lambite, Lembito or Lembitus, was first mentioned in chronicles in the year 1211 with regard to a military expedition. In 1211, troops led by Lembitu destroyed a troop of missionaries in the historical Estonian region of Sakala and made a raid to the Russian town of Pskov. In 1215, Lembitu's Lehola stronghold (situated near the present town of Suure-Jaani) was taken by Germans and Lembitu was captured as a prisoner. He was released in 1217.
..... Click the link for more information. , ancient leader of Estonians' fight for freedom
Juhan Liiv, poet
Ivo Linna, singer
Heino Lipp, athlete
Endel Lippmaa, physicist and politician
Tõnu Luik, philosopher
Viivi Luik, writer
Georg Lurich, athlete
Oskar Luts, writer
Konrad Mägi (November 1, 1878 - August 15, 1925) was an Estonian landscape painter.
Mägi received his elementary art education in 1899–1902 from the drawing courses of the German Artisans' Society of Tartu. At the same time, he was keenly engaged in theater, violin play and different sports.
He continued his art education in 1903–1905 as an unattached student in Saint Petersburg. In the autumn of 1907 he went to Paris. There he studied at a free academy. In 1908–1910 he lived in Norway.
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Tõnis Mägi, singer
Linnart Mäll, Buddhologist, politician
Rein Maran, film-maker
Markko Märtin, rally pilot
Uku Masing, poet and theologian
Alo Mattiisen, composer
Lennart Georg Meri (born March 29, 1929), is a writer who served as president of Estonia from 1992 to 2001.
He was born in Tallinn, a son of the Estonian diplomat and later Shakespeare translator Georg Meri. With his family, Lennart left Estonia at an early age and studied abroad, in nine different schools and in four different languages. His warmest memories are from his school years
..... Click the link for more information. , writer, film-maker, diplomat and politician
Jakob Mihkelson, businessman and cultural figure
Arne Mikk Opera
Sven Mikser, politician
Felix Moor, radio journalist
Harri Moora, archeologist
Mai Murdmaa, choreographer
Mihkel Mutt, writer, critic, essayist
Erki Nool, Olympic champion
Elmo Nüganen, stage producer (ethnic Finn)
Ülo Nugis, politician
Pent Nurmekund, polyglot
Evald Okas, painter
Agnes Oaks (Age Oks), ballerina
Lembit Oll, chess player
Ernst Öpik (October 23, 1893 - September 10, 1985) was a notable Estonian astronomer and astrophysicist, who spent the last part of his career (1948-1981) at the Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland.
Öpik specialized in the study of minor bodies, such as asteroids, comets, and meteors.
In 1932 he postulated a theory concerning the origins of comets in our solar system. He believed that they originated in a cloud orbiting far beyond the orbit of Pluto. This cloud is now known to us as the Oort Cloud.
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Lembit Öpik (born March 2, 1965) is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom. He is member of Parliament for Montgomeryshire, and is Lib Dem shadow Secretary of State for Wales and Northern Ireland.
His parents were refugees from Estonia, and he entered Parliament at the 1997 election. He was President of University of Bristol Union, and was on the National Union of Students executive.
..... Click the link for more information. , British politician, ethnic Estonian
Karl Orviku, geologist
Georg Ots, singer
Siiri Oviir, politician
Mati Palm, opera singer
Kristjan Palusalu, double Olympic champion
Voldemar Panso, stage producer
Valdo Pant, radio and television journalist
Arvi Parbo, Australian businessman, ethnic Estonian
Erast Parmasto, mycologist
Priit Pärn, film maker
The composer Arvo Pärt (pronounced "pairt") was born in Estonia in 1935. Although at that time Estonia was a nascent independent republic, the Soviet Union took control of it in 1940, and stayed except for a brief period under the Nazis, for the next 54 years.
Pärt's musical education began at age 7, and by 14 or 15 he was writing his own compositions. While studying composition at the Tallinn Conservatory it was said of him that: "he just seemed to shake his sleeves and notes would fall out". There were very few influences from outside the Soviet Union at this time, just a few illegal tapes and scores.
..... Click the link for more information. , composer
Konstantin Päts, president
Juhan Parts is an Estonian politician, Prime Minister, and leader of the Res Publica party.
He was born on 27 August 1966 in Tallinn, Estonia, and graduated from Tallinn Secondary School No. 1 (the present Gustav Adolf Gymnasum) and from the University of Tartu with a degree in Law.
Finding a high-level entry position right away with the Ministry of Justice, where he belonged to the "Young Turks" around the Deputy Minister Mihkel Oviir, he was in spring 1998 appointed to become Auditor General. He held this office until 2002. From this office, which is virtually unimpeachable and a unique feature in the Estonian Constitution, he frequently criticized the government and became for some a popular figure.
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Annely Peebo is a mezzosoprano from Estonia. She gained a diploma for choral conducting and completed vocal studies in song and opera class. She also studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Austria, where she also started her singing career in 1997. That was the year she became a permanent ensemble member of the Volksoper Wien . She sang in Rigoletto and many other opera roles.
..... Click the link for more information. , opera singer
Juhan Peegel historian of journalism
Kristian Jaak Peterson, poet
Paul Pinna, actor
Johan Pitka, admiral, war hero, politician
Mart Poom, football player
Jaan Poska, diplomat
Jaan Puhvel, linguist
Helmi Puur, ballerina
Ludvig Puusepp, innovative surgeon
Kalle Randalu, pianist
Tiiu Randviir, ballerina
Rein Rannap, composer, pianist
Kristjan Raud, black-and-white artist
Rein Raud, japonologist, intellectual
Toomas Raudam, writer
Anna Raudkats, collector of folk dances
Anto Raukas, geologist
Alfons Rebane (born June 24, 1908; died March 8, 1976) was an Estonian military commander.
He served in the Estonian army until Soviet troops occupied the country in 1940. Rebane joined the German army when it entered Estonia the following year. He was serving in the Estonian Legion of the German army: under the Waffen-SS, he fought against the Soviets. Rebane became one of Estonia's most
..... Click the link for more information. , war hero
Liina Reiman, actress
Villem Reiman, nationalist activist
Günther Reindorff, black-and-white artist
Karl Ristikivi, novelist and poet
Jaanus Rohumaa, stage producer
Hando Runnel, poet
Balthasar Russow, chronicler (ethnic descent unknown)
Arnold Rüütel (born May 10, 1928) is the President of the Republic of Estonia. He was born in Saaremaa, Estonia.
In 1949 he graduated from Agricultural College. He worked as an agronome and teacher of agriculture from 1949 to 1957. 1957-1963 he was the head expert of livestock and director of the experimental farm of Estonian Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Institute. 1963 he was appointed the director of Tartu Model Sovkhoz (state farm). At the same time he managed to graduate from Estonian Academy of Agriculture in 1964, obtaining higher education.
..... Click the link for more information. , president
Evar Saar lives in the south-east corner of Estonia, in the county of Vorumaa. Voru was the original language of Estonia, and is sometimes known as Southern-Estonian. What is today known as Estonian or the "Written-language" is a relative of Voru that diverged many years ago.
Mr. Saar has traveled extensively around the county of historical Vorumaa and documented the original names of all major geographical features there. In total, he has collected over 50,000 names from the Voru language.
..... Click the link for more information. , place-name specialist and Võro language activist
Erika Salumäe, double Olympic champion
Edgar Savisaar (born May 31, 1950), is an Estonian politician and economist who served as the Prime Minister of Estonia from 1990-1992.
He was born in Harjumaa (Harju County). After graduating from high school he continued his studies in the University of Tartu. In 1973 he graduated from the university with a diploma in history. In 1980 he wrote his candidate thesis in philosophy on the topic "Social philosophical foundations of the global models of the Club of Rome".
..... Click the link for more information. , poltician
Arnold Seppo, innovative surgeon
Urmas Sisask, composer
Kristina Smigun, cross-country skiing
Anton Starkopf, sculptor
Otto August Strandman (30 November 1875 - 5 February 1941) was an Estonian Prime Minister and a Head of State. He was born in Vanda, Undla rural municipality, Virumaa and died in Kadrina, Virumaa.
He was Estonian Prime Minister 9 May 1919 - 18 November 1919 and Elder of State 25 January 1921 - 21 November 1922.
In 1917-1918 Chairman of the Estonian Province Assembly (Eesti Maanõukogu
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Toomas Sulling, heart surgeon
Lepo Sumera, composer
Mena Adrienne Suvari (born February 9, 1979) is an American actress of Estonian descent, currently best known for her work in American Beauty (1999) and the first two American Pie films.
Suvari was born in Newport, Rhode Island. By the age of 12, Mena was modeling and starred in a Rice-a-Roni commercial by 13. By age 16 she was making appearances in television shows such as Boy Meets World and ER.
..... Click the link for more information. , actress, ethnic Estonian
Rein Taagepera (born 28 February 1933) is an Estonian-American politician and political scientist.
Born in Tartu, Estonia, Taagepera fled from occupied Estonia in 1944. Taagepera graduated from high school in Marrakech, Morocco and then studied physics in Canada and the United States up to a Ph.D. from the University of Delaware in 1965. Working in industry until 1970, he received another M.A. in international relations in 1969 and switched to academe as a political scientist at the University of California, Irvine, where he stayed for his entire American career.
..... Click the link for more information. , political scientist, politician
Jaan Talts, Olympic champion
Aino Talvi, actress
Andres Tarand, climatologist, politician
Anton Hansen Tammsaare (born as Anton Hansen, 30 January, 1878 - 1 March, 1940), was an Estonian writer whose quintology Tõde ja õigus (Truth and Justice; 1926-1933) is considered one of the major works of Estonian literature and "The Estonian Novel". Tammsaare is depicted on the 25-Kroon banknote, one of Estonia's most ubiquitous (appr. US$ 1,50).
He was born
..... Click the link for more information. , novelist
Jüri Tarmak, Olympic champion
Enn Tarto, fighter for freedom
Rudolf Tobias, composer
Janek Tombak, cyclist
Jaan Tõnisson, politician
Veljo Tormis, composer
Friedebert Tuglas, writer
Peeter Tulviste, psychologist and politician
Endel Tulving, psychologist
Erkki-Sven Tüür (1959- ), who was born in Kärdla on the Estonian island of Hiiumaa. He studied flute and percussion at the Tallinn Music School from 1976 to 1980 and composition with Jaan Rääts at the Tallinn Academy of Music and privately with Lepo Sumera from 1980 to 1984. From 1979 to 1984 he headed the rock group In Spe, which quickly became one of the most popular in Estonia.
Tüür left In Spe to concentrate on composition, and with the advent of perestroika soon found an audience in the west. The Helsinki Philharmonic, the Hilliard Ensemble, the Stockholm Saxophone Quartet and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra are among those who have commissioned works from him. He was awarded the Cultural Prize of Estonia in 1991 and 1996.
..... Click the link for more information. , composer
Aarne Üksküla, actor
Jüri Uluots, politician
Marie Under, poetess
Mati Unt, writer, stage producer
Ida Urbel, choreographer
Jaak Uudmäe, Olympic champion
Voldemar Vaga, art historian
Raimond Valgre, composer
Andrus Veerpalu, cross-country skiing Olympic champion
Rein Veidemann, critic
Juhan Viiding, poet and actor
Eduard Viiralt, black-and-white artist
Ülo Vilimaa, choreographer
Eduard Vilde, novelist
Jüri Vilms, statesman
Margarita Voites, opera singer
Ülo Vooglaid, sociologist, politician
Vaino Väljas, politician
Märt Väljataga, intellectual
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