All articles starting with B
27,400 articles
Bill Joy
Bill Joy (William Nelson Joy), born 1954, is an American computer scientist who built BSD UNIX and vi at Berkeley, then co-founded Sun Microsystems, contributing to SPARC and Java.
Bill Kaulitz
Bill Kaulitz (born 1989, Leipzig) is a German singer and the frontman of Tokio Hotel, the band he co-founded in 2001 with twin brother Tom; known for the 2005 hit 'Durch den Monsun', his BILLY solo project, and the Netflix series Kaulitz & Kaulitz.
Bill Kazmaier
Bill Kazmaier (born 1953, Burlington, Wisconsin), American powerlifter and strongman; three-time consecutive World's Strongest Man champion 1980-82, two-time IPF world powerlifting champion, 1,100 kg total record holder, later ESPN commentator.
Bill Keating
Bill Keating, born 1952, is the Democratic U.S. Representative for Massachusetts's 9th district since 2013, after one term representing the 10th district from 2011.
Bill Kenwright
Bill Kenwright (William Kenwright, 1945–2023) was a British theatre producer behind Blood Brothers and over 500 productions, founder of Bill Kenwright Ltd, and chairman of Everton FC from 2004 until his death.
Bill Kirby
Bill Kirby (William Ashley Kirby, born 1975, Perth) is an Australian swimmer, Olympic gold medalist in the 4x200 m freestyle relay at Sydney 2000 with a world record, and founder of Kirby Swim; not the footballer or other namesakes.
Bill Knecht
Bill Knecht (William Joseph Knecht, 1930–1992), American rower, Vesper Boat Club; 1964 Olympic gold in eights, 1960 Olympian in double sculls, three Pan Am golds, and creator of the Cooper River rowing course.
Bill Koch (businessman)
Bill Koch, born William Ingraham Koch, is an American billionaire industrialist who founded Oxbow Carbon, won the 1992 America's Cup, and is known for litigating against counterfeit wine.
Bill Kreutzmann
Bill Kreutzmann (born 1946) is the founding drummer of the Grateful Dead, 1965-1995, half of the Rhythm Devils with Mickey Hart, author of Deal, and after Bob Weir's death the band's only surviving original member.
Bill Kristol
Bill Kristol (William Kristol, born 1952) is an American neoconservative commentator, Weekly Standard co-founder and editor, PNAC co-founder with Robert Kagan, Iraq war advocate, Quayle chief of staff, and later Never Trump Bulwark editor-at-large.
Bill Kurtis
Bill Kurtis (William Horton Kuretich, born 1940) is an American broadcast journalist, WBBM-TV Chicago anchor, CBS Morning News co-anchor, and documentary producer of Cold Case Files, American Justice, and Wait Wait judge.
Bill Laimbeer
Bill Laimbeer (born 1957), NBA center and two-time champion with the Detroit Pistons "Bad Boys," later a three-time WNBA championship coach with the Detroit Shock.
Bill Lancaster
Bill Lancaster (William Henry Lancaster, 1947–1997), American screenwriter and son of actor Burt Lancaster; wrote The Bad News Bears (1976) and The Thing (1982), married Kippie Kovacs, died of cardiac arrest at 49.
Bill Lawrence (TV producer)
Bill Lawrence, born William Van Duzer Lawrence IV in 1968, is the American TV creator of Scrubs and co-creator of Spin City, Cougar Town, Ted Lasso, and Shrinking; Emmy-winning showrunner behind Doozer Productions.
Bill Lear
Bill Lear, born William Powell Lear, was a self-taught American engineer and inventor known for the Learjet, the first mass-produced business jet, and the 8-track tape cartridge.
Bill Lee (left-handed pitcher)
Bill "Spaceman" Lee (born 1946) is an American left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox (1969-78) and Montreal Expos (1979-82), 119-90 with a 3.62 ERA, 1973 All-Star, 1975 World Series starter, later Vermont gubernatorial candidate.
Bill Lee (Tennessee politician)
Bill Lee, 50th governor of Tennessee (Republican, since January 2019), businessman and president of Lee Company since 1992; won 59.6% in 2018 and 64.9% in 2022; known for TISA education funding reform, Education Freedom Scholarships, and conservative social legislation.
Bill Leushner
Bill Leushner (William David Franz Leushner, 1863-1935), Canadian-born American sport shooter; Olympic gold 1908 military rifle team, silver and two bronzes 1912; long US National Guard career.
Bill Lienhard
Bill Lienhard (William Barner Lienhard, 1930-2022) was an American basketball forward who won the 1952 NCAA title with Kansas under Phog Allen and a 1952 Helsinki Olympic gold medal with Team USA, then became a Kansas banker.
Bill Lynch
Bill Lynch was an Irish-born South African transport entrepreneur who joined Imperial Holdings in 1971 and built it into South Africa's largest transport and mobility conglomerate.
Bill Macy
Bill Macy (born Wolf Martin Garber, 1922–2019), American character actor best known as Walter Findlay, Bea Arthur's husband, on the CBS sitcom Maude (1972–78); also Oh! Calcutta! original cast and films The Jerk and My Favorite Year. Distinct from William H. Macy.
Bill Magnarelli
Bill Magnarelli is an American politician, a Democrat in the New York State Assembly who represented Syracuse's 129th district from 1998 to 2026 and chaired the Transportation Committee.
Bill Maher
Bill Maher (born 1956) is an American comedian and political satirist, host of Politically Incorrect (1993–2002) and HBO's Real Time, recipient of the 2026 Mark Twain Prize.
Bill Manhire
Bill Manhire, born in 1946, is a New Zealand poet, fiction writer, and teacher who was the country's first Poet Laureate and founded its first creative writing program.
Bill Mantlo
Bill Mantlo, American comic book writer of Marvel's 1970s-1980s Bronze Age, co-creator of Rocket Raccoon, Cloak and Dagger, and Marvel's Micronauts; later a public defender, disabled by a 1992 hit-and-run.
Bill Marriott
Bill Marriott, born John Willard Marriott Jr., is an American hotel executive who led Marriott International as chief executive from 1972 to 2012 and built it into the world's largest hotel operator.
Bill Maynard
Bill Maynard (Walter Frederick George Williams, 1928-2018), English comedian and actor; Terry Scott double act, Selwyn Froggitt, The Gaffer, and Claude Greengrass in ITV's Heartbeat.
Bill Mazeroski
Bill Mazeroski (1936–2026), Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman 1956–1972, hit the only walk-off home run in World Series Game 7 history (1960) and holds the MLB record of 1,706 double plays at second base; Hall of Fame 2001.
Bill McCartney
Bill McCartney (1940-2025), 'Coach Mac,' Colorado football head coach 1982-94, 93-55-5, won the 1990 national championship and three Big Eight titles, and founded the Promise Keepers ministry in 1990.
Bill McDermott
Bill McDermott (William R. McDermott) is an American technology executive who rose from selling Xerox copiers door-to-door to lead SAP from 2010 to 2019 and ServiceNow since 2019.