Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand (Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum, 1905–1982), was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her best-selling novels and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism.

Born and educated in Russia, Ayn Rand emigrated to the United States in 1926. She worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood and had a play produced on Broadway in 1935–1936. She first achieved fame with The Fountainhead, published in 1943, which in 1957 was followed by her best-known work, the philosophical novel Atlas Shrugged.