20 TIME December 21/December 28, 2020
AMERICAN SCIENTISTS, 1960 TWENTY-FIVE AND UNDER, 1966 THE MIDDLE AMERICANS, 1969
Fifteen scientists
were recognized as
“Men of the Year”
for advancements
across a range of
fi elds that TIME
predicted would
shape society in
years to come.TIME tapped a
generation of eager
young people as
inheritors of a
transforming world,
describing them as
uniquely prepared
to “embrace change
as a virtue in itself.”At the close of
the tumultuous
’60s, TIME argued
“Middle Americans”
who felt overlooked
by their government
had begun to
“shape the course
of the nation.”U.S. scientists,
along with
scientists around
the globe, are
working with
incredible speed
to develop several
promising COVID-19
vaccines.Gen Z also fi nd
themselves calling
for sociocultural
change, with young
adults protesting
racism, demanding
climate action and
navigating a fragile
job market.Diminishing
prospects for
the American
middle class are
understood as a
major driver of the
country’s increasing
political and cultural
polarization.POPE JOHN PAUL II, 1994 KENNETH STARR, 1998 VLADIMIR PUTIN, 2007
The fi rst non-
Italian Pope in
455 years was
recognized for
harnessing the
papacy to “impose”
his ideals on
“a world that often
differs with him.”The independent
counsel was named
alongside President
Bill Clinton, who
was impeached
following Starr’s
investigation into
his affair with
Monica Lewinsky.As the Russian
President made
plans to hold power
after his second
term, TIME noted
Russia’s return to
stability, despite
Putin’s disdain for
civil liberties.Sainted in 2014,
John Paul II this year
was cited in a 449-
page Vatican report
for promoting a now
disgraced Cardinal
despite being aware
of accusations of
sexual abuse.Demoted by Baylor
University after
failing to investigate
sexual assaults,
Starr this year
served on President
Trump’s legal team,
decrying “the age of
impeachment.”With the approval
in July of a change
to the constitution,
Putin looks set to
stay in power until
2036, living up to
the prescient 2007
cover line: “Tsar of
the New Russia.”ANGELA MERKEL, 2015 DONALD TRUMP, 2016 MARIA RESSA, 2018
The German
Chancellor was
recognized for her
judicious leadership
of Europe and
the bold risk of
opening Germany’s
borders to 1 million
refugees.Trump won the
2016 presidential
election, fl ipping the
“blue wall”states
of Pennsylvania,
Michigan and
Wisconsin, and was
“poised to preside,
for better or worse.”The Filipino-American
journalist was among
“The Guardians”
selected for taking
great risks in the
pursuit of facts
obscured
by autocrats and
social media.Now in her 15th
and likely fi nal year
of power, Merkel
has seen her
hitherto stagnating
popularity receive
a boost from her
deft handling of the
pandemic.Trump lost all
three states—
plus Arizona and
Georgia—in the
2020 election,
after presiding
over a disastrous
U.S. response to
COVID-19.In what human-rights
groups labeled a
political prosecu-
tion, a Philippine
judge in June found
Ressa guilty of
“cyberlibel” for her
news site’s reporting
on corruption.Then & Now