Israeli historian and writer Yuval Noah Harari was BOTD in 1976. Born in Kiryat Ata and raised in a secular Jewish family, he studied history and international relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. After completing a doctorate at Oxford University, he returned to Jerusalem become a history lecturer. His first book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, based on his lecture series for an undergraduate world history course, was published in Hebrew in 2011. The 2014 English translation became an international sensation, remaining on the New York Times non-fiction bestseller list for 96 consecutive weeks, and translated into 65 languages. His follow-up book Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow was published in 2016, followed by 21 Lessons for the 21st Century in 2018. His most recent publication Unstoppable Us: How Humans Took Over the World, an adaptation of Sapiens for a younger readership, was released in 2022. Now one of the world’s most popular science writers, his work has been criticised by academics for being “info-tainment” that sacrifices accuracy for sales, while others have criticised his “nihilistic” views of human civilisation being taken over by artificial intelligence. He has been a prominent critic of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, drawing hostility from many of his critics, and has been a major donor to the World Health Organisation. Harari is married to his long-term partner Itzik Yahav, who works as his personal manager.