Paulo Freire, Brazilian philosopher, theorist, and academic (died 1997)

Paulo Reglus Neves Freire was a Brazilian educator and philosopher whose work revolutionized global thought on education. He is best known for Pedagogy of the Oppressed, in which he reimagines teaching as a collaborative act of liberation rather than transmission. A founder of critical pedagogy, Freire’s influence spans literacy movements, liberation theology, postcolonial education, and contemporary theories of social justice and learning. He is widely regarded as one of the most important educational theorists of the twentieth century, alongside figures such as John Dewey and Maria Montessori, and considered "the Grandfather of Critical Theory."