Origins & Early Life

Benjamin Solomon Carson Sr. (born September 18, 1951) is an American retired neurosurgeon, academic, author, and government official serving as the National Nutrition Advisor at the Department of Agriculture since 2025. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 17th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2017 to 2021. Carson became the youngest chief of pediatric neurosurgery in the United States in 1984, when he took the job at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center at age 33.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

In 1987, he gained fame for leading a team of surgeons in the first-known separation of conjoined twins joined at the back of the head. He performed the first successful neurosurgical procedure on a fetus inside the womb, developed new methods to treat brain-stem tumors, and revitalized hemispherectomy techniques for controlling seizures. He has written more than 100 neurosurgical publications. He retired from medicine in 2013; at the time, he was professor of neurosurgery, oncology, plastic surgery, and pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Carson gained national fame among political conservatives after delivering a speech at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast that...

Enduring Legacy & Impact

The historical impact and works continue to influence the modern world.

Contemporary Figures & Related Historical Timelines

• Abanindranath Tagore — Contemporary (Died in 1951) (1951): Pioneering figure of the Bengal School, modernizing Indian art against Western influence.
• André Gide — Contemporary (Died in 1951) (1951): Pioneering French author, Nobel laureate known for exploring selfhood and transgression.
• Arnold Schoenberg — Contemporary (Died in 1951) (1951): Modernist composer who pioneered atonality and the twelve-tone technique.
• Adrien-Marie Legendre — Shared historical date (09-18 · Born) (1752): Pioneering French mathematician known for Legendre polynomials and least squares method.
• Bobby Jones (singer) — Shared historical date (09-18 · Born) (1939): Pioneering gospel singer and television host from Nashville, Tennessee.
• Arnold Sommerfeld — Historical peer (Died in 1951) (1951): Pioneering theoretical physicist known for quantum and atomic structure models.
• Barry Marshall — Historical peer (Born in 1951) (1951): Australian physician and Nobel Laureate for discovering H. pylori's role in ulcers.
• Alasdair MacIntyre — Historical peer (Died in 2025) (2025): Influential Scottish-American philosopher known for virtue ethics and political theory.
• Alfred Brendel — Historical peer (Died in 2025) (2025): Czech-born Austrian pianist, composer, and scholar renowned for Beethoven.
• Adnan Khashoggi — Historical peer (Died in 2017) (2017): Saudi businessman and arms dealer, known as 'The Great Gatsby of the Middle East'
• 1951 Historical Timeline & Archive — Explore world events and figures from 1951
• September 18 (09-18) On This Day — Historical birthdays and events on September 18