2. Vasili Arkhipov and Stanislav Petrov.



These 2 people may be responsible for preventing nuclear war! Stanislav Petrov was the man on the Russian side that on September 26, 1983, as the office on duty at the secret bunker where the Soviet Union was monitoring its early warning satellite system, did not believe the alerts that said the US was launching a nuclear strike.
It was his decision NOT to retaliate, because he didn't believe the reports to be true, and he was right. He was never rewarded for this decision, and was actually interrogated about his part in the story. Vasili Arkhipov was the Soviet navy officer who, in 1962, during the Cuban missile crisis, prevented the launch of a nuclear torpedo by overzealous comrads. There were 3 people allowed to launch that nuke, and he was the only one against it. Much credit him for saving the world from a nuclear holocaust at the most tense and explosive time in our history, by convincing the others not to launch.

4. Chuck Feeney.



Chuck Feeny is one of the richest people on the planet. In fact, he's accumulated over 7.5 billion dollars in his lifetime. Why is he such a good guy you may ask, being a fat cat and all. Well, Chuck isn't holding on to his money. In fact, he plans on getting rid of ALL of it - to charity. The Atlantic Philanthropies, his foundation, has given $6.2 billion into education, health care, aging, science and civil rights in the United States, Australia, South Africa, Bermuda, Vietnam and Ireland. Both Bill Gates and Warren Buffet credit Feeney with the inspiration for their own charitable endeavors, so all in all he's made a huge difference in millions of lives. Now that's using your money for good.
 

6. Henrietta Lacks



This woman didn't DO anything per se, and yet she has advanced medical science a huge amount due to very special cells that were extracted from a cancerous tumor she had. The cells extracted were unique in that they were immortal (meaning they didn't die after a number of cell divisions but continued on). Because these cells didn't die, they were of immense help to researchers testing out medical solutions. In 1954, a vaccine for polio was invented based on tests made on her cells. In 1955 they were the first cells successfully cloned. In the 60 years that have passed since, more than 11,000 medical patents were registered involving Henrietta's cells, and over 20 tons (!!) of her cells were grown for experiments.
 
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