Intellectual lives (L-Z)

May 23, 2008
Brief biographies of the 100 men and women who made it into the Prospect/Foreign Policy 2008 global intellectuals list.This list runs from L to Z; bios from A to K here.

Click here to vote for your top intellectuals. Discuss our selection on First Drafts, the Prospect blog.

Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore

Politician, national patriarch

Lee stepped down as prime minister in 1990, but he remains a towering figure in Singaporean politics. His current post is "minister mentor," a job created just for him. He wrote "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: Laissez-Faire Procreation" for the September/October 2005 issue of FP.

Lawrence Lessig, United States

Legal scholar, activist

Widely known for his efforts to reduce restrictions on intellectual property, Lessig is professor of law at Stanford University and author of The Future of Ideas. He wrote "The Internet Under Siege" for the November/December 2001 issue of FP.

Steven Levitt, United States

Economist, author

Best known for co-authoring Freakonomics with Stephen J Dubner, Levitt is Alvin Baum professor of economics at the University of Chicago. A 2003 winner of the John Bates Clark award for economists under 40, his most famous work links the rise in abortions to the drop in crime rates in the United States.

Bernard Lewis, Britain/United States

Historian

Eminent scholar of the Ottoman empire, the middle east and Islam, Lewis is Cleveland E Dodge professor emeritus of near eastern studies at Princeton University. His most recent book is From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting the Middle East.

Bjørn Lomborg, Denmark

Environmentalist, statistician

Lomborg defied the green establishment with his view, as expounded upon in The Skeptical Environmentalist, that combating global crises such as HIV/Aids ought to take precedence over fighting climate change. Click here to read his Prospect pieces.

James Lovelock, Britain

Environmental scientist

Lovelock's great contribution to science is the famous Gaia hypothesis, the idea that Earth can be thought of as a giant organism. A developer of numerous scientific instruments used by Nasa, Lovelock is author most recently of The Revenge of Gaia: Why the Earth Is Fighting Back—and How We Can Still Save Humanity. Click here to read his Prospect pieces.

Mahmood Mamdani, Uganda

Cultural anthropologist

Mamdani is the Herbert Lehman professor of government in the anthropology, political science and international affairs departments at Columbia and director of the university's Institute of African Studies. He is the author most recently of Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War and the Roots of Terror.

Minxin Pei, China

Political scientist

A senior associate and director of the China program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, he is author of China's Trapped Transition: The Limits of Developmental Autocracy and wrote "The Dark Side of China's Rise" for the March/April 2006 issue of FP.

Ashis Nandy, India

Political psychologist

A scholar at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in New Delhi, Nandy studies "political psychology, mass violence, cultures and politics of knowledge, utopias and visions."

Sunita Narain, India

Environmentalist

Director of India's Centre for Science and Environment, Narain is a leading advocate of sustainable development and a strong supporter of fairness in environmental negotiations. She won the 2005 Stockholm Water Prize for the center's work on water management.

Martha Nussbaum, United States

Philosopher

Nussbaum, currently the Ernst Freund distinguished service professor of law and ethics at the University of Chicago, is a classicist with a special interest in female equality. She is author most recently of Liberty of Conscience: In Defense of America's Tradition of Religious Equality and wrote "The World's Most Dangerous Ideas: Religious Intolerance" for the September/October 2004 issue of FP.

Sari Nusseibeh, Palestine

Diplomat, philosopher

Nusseibeh is professor of philosophy and president of Al-Quds University in Jerusalem. A leading Palestinian moderate, Nusseibeh worked with Israeli former Shin Bet chief Amy Ayalon in 2002 and 2003 to develop "The People's Voice" peace initiative.

Amos Oz, Israel

Novelist, journalist

A professor of literature at Ben-Gurion University, Oz was among the first to advocate a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He co-founded Peace Now in 1978. His most recent non-fiction book is How to Cure a Fanatic.

Orhan Pamuk, Turkey

Novelist

Pamuk won the Nobel prize in literature in 2006 after a year in which he faced criminal charges in Turkey for his frank comments about the Armenian genocide. His most famous novels are My Name Is Red and Snow. Click here to read an interview with Pamuk in Prospect.

David Petraeus, United States

Military strategist

The commanding general of US forces in Iraq, Petraeus is the architect of the US military's revised field manual on counterinsurgency.

Steven Pinker, Canada/United States

Linguist, psychologist

Pinker is the Johnstone family professor at Harvard University and author of seven books, including The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature. A frequent essayist for such publications as the New York Times and Time, Pinker focuses on language and cognition in his research. Click here to read his pieces for Prospect.

Richard Posner, United States

Judge, author

Richard Posner is a judge on the US court of appeals for the seventh circuit and the author of dozens of influential works on everything from legal philosophy and jurisprudence to climate change. His most recent book is How Judges Think.

Samantha Power, United States

Academic, journalist

A former foreign-policy adviser to the Barack Obama campaign, Power is best known for her Pulitzer prize-winning book, A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide. She is the Anna Lindh professor of practice of global leadership and public policy at Harvard University's Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy.

Robert Putnam, United States

Political scientist

Putnam, a Harvard professor of political science, is best known for Bowling Alone, his study of the decline in civic participation in the United States. Click here to read his pieces for Prospect.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Egypt/Qatar

Cleric

Perhaps the most influential preacher in Sunni Islam, Qaradawi hosts the weekly show Sharia and Life on Al-Jazeera.

VS Ramachandran, India

Neuroscientist

Ramachandran directs the centre for brain and cognition at the University of California, San Diego. Richard Dawkins calls him the "Marco Polo of neuroscience" for his work on behavioural neurology. His best-known book is Phantoms in the Brain.

Tariq Ramadan, Switzerland

Philosopher, scholar of Islam

Born in Switzerland, Ramadan is a prominent advocate for a "European" version of Islam. Click here to read a Prospect interview with Ramadan.

Gianni Riotta, Italy

Journalist, political commentator

A columnist for the Corriere Della Sera newspaper and one of Italy's foremost pundits, Riotta is a contributing editor to Foreign Policy. He is author of the novel Prince of the Clouds and wrote "Who Wins in Iraq? Old Europe" for the March/April 2007 issue of FP.

Nouriel Roubini, Italy/United States

Economist

A widely cited expert on international macroeconomics and finance, Roubini is chairman of RGE Monitor and professor of economics at New York University's Stern school of business. He wrote "The Coming Financial Pandemic" in the March/April 2008 issue of FP.

Olivier Roy, France

Political scientist

One of the world's top scholars of political Islam and terrorist movements, Roy is research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research. His 1992 book The Failure of Political Islam remains essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand contemporary Islamism.

Salman Rushdie, Britain

Novelist

His second novel, Midnight's Children, won the Booker prize in 1981. But Rushdie wasn't catapulted to international fame until Ayatollah Khomenei condemned him to death for writing The Satanic Verses in 1989. Rushdie was knighted in 2007. Click here to read his pieces for Prospect.

Jeffrey Sachs, United States

Development economist

A former special adviser to Kofi Annan, Sachs directs the Earth Institute at Columbia University. He is author of The End of Poverty and wrote "21 Solutions to Save the World: How to Stop a Serial Killer" for the May/June 2007 issue of FP.

Fernando Savater, Spain

Essayist, philosopher

Best known for his insights on ethics, religion and terrorism, Savater is philosophy professor at the Complutense University of Madrid.

Amartya Sen, India

Development economist

Sen is an Indian-born economist whose influence spans the globe and ranges far beyond his field. He won the 1998 Nobel prize in economics for his work on poverty, development and democracy. He is currently the Lamont University professor at Harvard University. Click here to read his pieces for Prospect.

Lilia Shevtsova, Russia

Political scientist

A senior associate at the Moscow centre of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Shevtsova is author of Putin's Russia and Russia's Hybrid Regime. She wrote "Think Again: Vladimir Putin" for the January/February 2008 issue of FP.

Peter Singer, Australia

Philosopher

Singer is the Ira W DeCamp professor of bioethics at Princeton and a controversial advocate of "animal liberation." His many books include Practical Ethics and Rethinking Life and Death: The Collapse of Our Traditional Ethics. Click here to read his pieces for Prospect.

Lee Smolin, United States

Physicist

Smolin is a theoretical physicist whose work on quantum gravity and "fecund universes" has established him as a leading thinker on some of the biggest questions in physics. He is the author of The Life of the Cosmos and The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science and What Comes Next.

Abdolkarim Soroush, Iran

Religious theorist

A leading figure on the Iranian left, Soroush is a visiting scholar at Georgetown University's Berkley centre for religion, peace and world affairs. His most important works are collected in Reason, Freedom and Democracy in Islam: Essential Writings of Abdolkarim Soroush.

Wole Soyinka, Nigeria

Playwright, activist

Winner of the 1986 Nobel prize in literature, Soyinka is one of Africa's most distinguished playwrights. Soyinka was imprisoned during the Nigerian civil war and became a fierce critic of subsequent Nigerian regimes. He is formerly the Elias Ghanem professor of creative writing at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Michael Spence, United States

Economist

Winner of the 2001 Nobel prize in economics, Spence is known for his work on signals and the job market. He is a Hoover Institution fellow, Philip H Knight professor emeritus, and former dean of Stanford University's graduate school of business.

Lawrence Summers, United States

Economist

A US treasury secretary under the Clinton administration and a former president of Harvard, Summers is a columnist for the Financial Times and a member of the editorial board of Foreign Policy.

Charles Taylor, Canada

Philosopher

Author most recently of A Secular Age, Taylor is known for his communitarian political philosophy. Click here to read a recent portrait of Taylor in Prospect.

Mario Vargas Llosa, Peru

Novelist, politician

A prolific author and essayist, Vargas Llosa is one of the giants of contemporary Latin American literature. His most acclaimed work is The Green House. He is the 1994 recipient of the prestigious Miguel de Cervantes prize.

Harold Varmus, United States

Medical scientist

A former director of the National Institutes of Health, Varmus won the Nobel prize in medicine (along with J Michael Bishop) for his cancer research. He now heads the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in Manhattan.

J Craig Venter, United States

Biologist, entrepreneur

Famous for competing with the human genome project, Venter currently heads Synthetic Genomics, a company that aims to produce alternative fuels using microorganisms. He was interviewed in the April 2006 issue of Prospect.

Michael Walzer, United States

Political theorist

A leading political theorist who has written extensively about the concept of "just war," Walzer is co-editor of the leftist quarterly Dissent. He is professor emeritus at Princeton and author most recently of Politics and Passion: Toward A More Egalitarian Liberalism.

Wang Hui, China

Political theorist

Wang is professor of Chinese language and literature at Tsinghua University. Sent for compulsory "re-education" for his role in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, Wang is a leading member of China's "new left" movement and a past editor of Dushu, one of China's most influential literary journals.

EO Wilson, United States

Biologist

A two-time Pulitzer prize-winner (for On Human Nature and The Ants) and naturalist, Wilson argues that human behaviour can largely be explained by biology. He is Pellegrino university professor emeritus of entomology at Harvard University.

Martin Wolf, Britain

Journalist, columnist

Perhaps the world's most influential economics commentator, Martin Wolf is associate editor and a columnist for the Financial Times. He is the author of Why Globalization Works. Click here to read his pieces for Prospect.

Yan Xuetong, China

Political scientist

Yan, a forceful advocate of China's national strength, is director of the Institute of International Studies at Tsinghua University.

Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh

Microfinancier, activist

Recipient of the 2006 Nobel peace prize, Yunus is the founder of the Grameen bank and a pioneer in the field of microfinance. Mark Hannam wrote about Yunus in the April 2008 issue of Prospect.

Fareed Zakaria, United States

Journalist, author

Zakaria is editor of Newsweek International and the author of The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad.?

Slavoj Zizek, Slovenia

Sociologist, philosopher

A self-described Marxist philosopher, sociologist, and cultural critic, Zizek is senior researcher at the Institute of Sociology at the University of Ljubljana.