Who are they?  To be generally accredited, they are Xie Jin(解縉), Xu Wei(徐渭), and Yang Shen(楊慎).  Certainly, prominence in writing and learning are applicable to all of them; simlilarly, they are all star-crossed geniuses. 

Attached below is an intriguing biography about the eldest one: Xie Jin   

https://www.toutiao.com/a6636932955270824455/

About the second one Xu Wei, please refer to my previous writing 試譯 徐文長傳(上) at http://blog.udn.com/kkuo0810/117307899 and 試譯 徐文長傳(下) at http://blog.udn.com/kkuo0810/111451052, respectively.

How about the third one Yang Shen?  You may not be familiar with his name, but most likely you have known an immortal poem of his before:

楊慎《臨江仙)

滾滾長江東逝水，
浪花淘盡英雄。
是非成敗轉頭空。
青山依舊在，幾度夕陽紅。

白髮漁樵江渚上，
慣看秋月春風。
一壺濁酒喜相逢。
古今多少事，都付笑談中。