Fayette County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2010 census, the population was 295,803, making it the second-most populous county in the commonwealth. Its territory, population and government are coextensive with the city of Lexington, which also serves as the county seat.
Carolyn Jean Spellmann Shoemaker is an American astronomer and is a co-discoverer of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9. She once held the record for most comets discovered by an individual.
Jeremy Beck is an American composer who "knows the importance of embracing the past while also going his own way." The critic Mark Sebastian Jordan has said that "Beck was committed to tonality and a recognizable musical vernacular long before that became the hip bandwagon it is today. Indeed, [he is] ... an original voice celebrating music."
Lexington Theological Seminary is a graduate theological institution in Lexington, Kentucky. Although the seminary is related to the Christian Church, it is intentionally ecumenical with almost 50 percent of its enrollment coming from other denominations. Lexington Theological Seminary is accredited by Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada to award Master of Divinity, Master of Theological Studies, Master of Pastoral Studies, and Doctor of Ministry degrees.
Richard Hawes Jr. was a United States Representative from Kentucky and the second Confederate Governor of Kentucky. He was part of the politically influential Hawes family. His brother, uncle, and cousin also served as U.S. Representatives, and his grandson Harry B. Hawes was a member of the United States Senate.
Simon J. Bronner is an American folklorist, ethnologist, historian, sociologist, educator, and author.
Richard S. Westfall was an American academic, biographer and historian of science. He is best known for his biography of Isaac Newton and his work on the scientific revolution of the 17th century.
Michael M. Crow is an American academic and university administrator. He is the 16th and current president of Arizona State University, having succeeded Lattie F. Coor on July 1, 2002. He was previously Executive Vice Provost of Columbia University, where he was also Professor of Science and Technology Policy in the School of International and Public Affairs. He is also chairman of the board for In-Q-Tel, the Central Intelligence Agency's venture capital firm.
Kentucky was a border state of key importance in the American Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln recognized the importance of the Commonwealth when, in a September 1861 letter to Orville Browning, he wrote:
I think to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game. Kentucky gone, we cannot hold Missouri, nor Maryland. These all against us, and the job on our hands is too large for us. We would as well consent to separation at once, including the surrender of this capitol.
Frank Luther Mott was an American historian and journalist, who won the 1939 Pulitzer Prize for History for Volumes II and II of his series, A History of American Magazines.
Harry Barkus Gray is the Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry at California Institute of Technology.
The Midway Historic District of Midway, Kentucky, was designated by the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district on November 17, 1978. In 2003, faced with a declining downtown, a major streetscape renovation project began as part of the Kentucky Main Street Program.
Richard C. Powell is an American professor emeritus of physics and vice president emeritus of the University of Arizona (UA), whose career focused on research in materials science and laser optics. He served as president of the Optical Society of America in 2000.
Adam Edelen is an American businessman, solar energy entrepreneur and politician who served as the Auditor of Public Accounts for the Commonwealth of Kentucky from January 2, 2012 to January 4, 2016. Prior to that, he was the Chief of Staff for Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear from July 2008 until September 15, 2010, when he resigned to work as a business consultant, before deciding to run for the Auditor of Public Accounts for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He is a Democratic candidate for Governor of Kentucky in 2019.
Andre Morris is an American former sprint runner. He was part of American 4 × 400 m relay teams that won gold medals at the 1995 Summer Universiade and 1999 IAAF World Indoor Championships, setting a world indoor record in 1999.
Constantine W. "Deno" Curris is an American educator who, at 32, became the youngest university president in Kentucky history. He held that office at three universities for a total of 26 years, after which he became president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities an organization of more than 400 colleges and universities. The New York Times said that Curris “is a strong advocate for higher education and its students and a proponent of the qualitative strengthening of public higher education institutions in order to meet public needs and expectations in the 21st century.”
James C. Klotter is an American historian who has served as the State Historian of Kentucky since 1980. Klotter also is a history professor at Georgetown College and one of the co-authors of Kentucky's staple history book A New History of Kentucky. Klotter received a Ph.D. in History from the University of Kentucky, and he has been awarded honorary degrees from Eastern Kentucky University and Union College. Klotter was the Executive Director of the Kentucky Historical Society for many years, and he was an associate editor of the Kentucky Encyclopedia. In 2015, the Boyd County High School chapter of the Rho Kappa National Social Studies Honor Society was named in his honor. Today Klotter lives with his wife in Lexington, Kentucky.
Ben Self is the current chairman of the Kentucky Democratic Party, having been elected in November 2017. He was a co-founder for digital strategy firm Blue State Digital and is co-founder of West Sixth Brewery in Lexington, Kentucky.
Roy P. Peterson was an American academic administrator. He served as the president of Tennessee State University, a historically black public university in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1985 to 1986.
