Yuval Noah Harari, born on February 24, 1976, in Kiryat Ata, Israel, is a prominent historian, philosopher, and professor of history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His academic focus spans from medieval military history to the evolutionary development of humankind, but he is best known for his work in popularizing history and science. 

Harari grew up in a secular Jewish family in Israel. From a young age, he displayed an interest in history. After finishing his military service in the Israeli Defense Forces, he earned an undergraduate degree at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a PhD at Jesus College, Oxford, in 2002. Harari’s early research focused on medieval military history, with particular attention to the history of warfare.

Despite his early academic work in medieval history, Harari’s interests evolved over time, leading him to investigate broader, more universal historical questions. This shift culminated in the publication of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind in Hebrew in 2011, which was later translated into English in 2014. The book became a bestseller. Sapiens charts the entire history of the human species, from the emergence of Homo sapiens about 200,000 years ago to the present day. Harari’s central thesis in Sapiens is that Homo sapiens’ unique ability to create and believe in shared fictions—such as religion, nations, and money—has allowed the species to dominate the planet.