luminary

luminary \LOO-muh-nair-ee\, noun:

1. Any body that gives light, especially one of the heavenly bodies.
2. A person of eminence or brilliant achievement.

Example Quotes:

There's something comforting in those occasional lapses when a luminary lurches and trips over the humble stone his powerful torch somehow failed to reveal.
-- Brad Leithauser, "You Haven't Heard the Last of This", New York Times, August 30, 1998

. . .such jazz luminaries as Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford, Louis Armstrong, and Earl Hines.
-- Daniel Mark Epstein, Nat King Cole

Example Sentences:

Before winning the famous prize, she wasn't a luminary outside the scientific community.
-- Brought to you by the 3rd Generation Prius

Luminary derives from Latin luminare, "a window," from lumin-, lumen, "light."