John Howard Payne was an American playwright, songwriter, composer, actor, & politician. During his lifetime he was very popular but found success in London

In his book A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (1828) Washington Irving gave birth to the myth that people during Columbus’ time thought the Earth was flat and Columbus set out to prove them wrong. (Inventing the Flat Earth by Jeffrey Russell) In the 1490s people argues about the size of the Earth, not its shape, in fact in 1492, when Columbus set sail, the first globes were produces.

Oliver Wendell Holmes (29 August, 1809 – 7 October, 1894) was a Cambridge, MA native known for his poetry and essays.