(So, filter the list of people writing about it too by author's lifetime.)
If there's no birthday, could just pick from list of authors also writing about that subject (and perhaps one or two others on the list of the primary author's subject areas).
Take top subject from the list here - https://wellcome-scalability.herokuapp.com/people/P14274 - and then look for any authors writing about that too - listed here: https://wellcome-scalability.herokuapp.com/subjects/7917 - that were alive within the author's lifetime and writing about that subject too.
(So, filter the list of people writing about it too by author's lifetime.)
If there's no birthday, could just pick from list of authors also writing about that subject (and perhaps one or two others on the list of the primary author's subject areas).