Philosophers through history
The atlas holds 85 people and 2,215 moments here, from 620 BC to 2025. The most recorded lives are Albert Einstein, Aristotle and Confucius. Across the Ancient World and the Age of Exploration.
Notable people
Albert Einstein
from 1879 to 1955
85 moments here
German-born theoretical physicist who transformed modern physics through special and general relativity, foundational work on quantum theory, and…
Aristotle
from 384 BC to 322 BC
9 moments here
Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath whose surviving biography is reconstructed from sparse and sometimes conflicting ancient traditions.…
Confucius
from 551 BC to 479 BC
23 moments here
Confucius, born Kong Qiu, was a teacher, political thinker, and sometime official of the Chinese state of Lu.…
Karl Marx
from 1818 to 1883
53 moments here
German philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. Born in Trier, Marx studied in Bonn and Berlin, worked in Cologne, and…
Isaac Newton
from 1643 to 1727
16 moments here
English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian, alchemist, author, and public official.…
Plato
from 428 BC to 347 BC
18 moments here
Ancient Greek philosopher of Classical Athens, student of Socrates, teacher of Aristotle, and founder of the Academy.…
Mahatma Gandhi
from 1869 to 1948
69 moments here
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, political ethicist, and leader of mass nonviolent resistance.…
Leo Tolstoy
from 1828 to 1910
21 moments here
Russian novelist, essayist, educator, religious thinker, and social critic. Born at Yasnaya Polyana, Tolstoy studied in Kazan, served in the Caucasus…
Charles Darwin
from 1809 to 1882
110 moments here
English naturalist, geologist, and biologist whose observations during the global voyage of HMS Beagle and subsequent research led to his theory of…
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
from 1749 to 1832
78 moments here
German poet, dramatist, novelist, scientist, theatre director, and statesman. Born in Frankfurt, Goethe studied in Leipzig and Strasbourg, practiced…
Socrates
from 469 BC to 399 BC
8 moments here
Classical Athenian philosopher known chiefly through Plato, Xenophon, Aristophanes, and later ancient testimony.…
The Buddha
from 563 BC to 483 BC
18 moments here
Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and teacher who founded Buddhism in the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plain.…
Dante Alighieri
from 1265 to 1321
26 moments here
Florentine poet, prose writer, philosopher, and statesman whose Divine Comedy became a foundational work of Italian and European literature.…
Galileo Galilei
from 1564 to 1642
35 moments here
Italian astronomer, physicist, engineer, mathematician, and natural philosopher. Born in Pisa, Galileo was educated in Tuscany, taught mathematics at…
Martin Luther
from 1483 to 1546
29 moments here
German Augustinian friar, priest, theologian, professor, translator, and leading figure of the Protestant Reformation.…
Voltaire
from 1694 to 1778
51 moments here
François-Marie Arouet, known as Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, dramatist, and philosopher.…
Friedrich Nietzsche
from 1844 to 1900
32 moments here
German philosopher, classical philologist, cultural critic, poet, and author. Born in Röcken, Nietzsche was educated at Schulpforta and Leipzig,…
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
from 1821 to 1881
86 moments here
Russian novelist, journalist, essayist, and former military engineer whose life moved between Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Siberian imprisonment and…
Immanuel Kant
from 1724 to 1804
15 moments here
German Enlightenment philosopher whose critical philosophy transformed epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, and political thought.…
René Descartes
from 1596 to 1650
45 moments here
French philosopher, mathematician, and natural philosopher whose methodic doubt, mind-body distinction, analytic techniques, and mechanical account…
Archimedes
from 287 BC to 212 BC
5 moments here
Ancient Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor associated above all with Syracuse in Sicily.…
Rabindranath Tagore
from 1861 to 1941
56 moments here
Bengali poet, novelist, dramatist, composer, painter, philosopher, social reformer, and educationist.…
Pope Francis
from 1936 to 2025
71 moments here
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis, was an Argentine Jesuit priest, archbishop of Buenos Aires, cardinal, and head of the Catholic Church and…
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
from 1712 to 1778
39 moments here
Genevan philosopher, writer, composer, and a major figure of the European Enlightenment. Rousseau’s documented movements ranged across Geneva, Savoy,…
Moments
- 570 BC Birth and early years on Samos Pythagoras
- 563 BC Born at Lumbini The Buddha
- 501 BC Governs Zhongdu Confucius
- 468 BC First Dionysia victory Sophocles
- 432 BC Serves at Potidaea Socrates
- 399 BC Attends Socrates’ trial Plato
- 367 BC Studies at Plato’s Academy Aristotle
- 269 BC Studies in Alexandria Archimedes
- 90 BC Serves in the Social War Cicero
- 365 Schooling at Madaurus Augustine of Hippo
- 705 Childhood relocation to Sichuan Li Bai
- 999 Departure from Bukhara Avicenna
- 1230 Early education at Monte Cassino Thomas Aquinas
- 1283 Exchanged greetings with Beatrice in Florence Dante Alighieri
- 1359 English campaign in France Geoffrey Chaucer
- 1484 Family relocates to Mansfeld Martin Luther
- 1491 Studies at the University of Kraków Nicolaus Copernicus
- 1498 First diplomatic mission Niccolò Machiavelli
- 1564 Baptized at Pisa Cathedral Galileo Galilei
- 1573 Student at Trinity College Francis Bacon
- 1577 Family move to Leonberg Johannes Kepler
- 1607 Enters the College of La Flèche René Descartes
- 1631 Family relocation to Paris Blaise Pascal
- 1652 Christ Church residence and study John Locke
- 1654 Boards and studies in Grantham Isaac Newton
- 1658 Study at Leiden University Baruch Spinoza
- 1687 Stay at Rheinfels Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
- 1704 Studies at Louis-le-Grand Voltaire
- 1722 Boarding at Bossey Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- 1730 Attends the Hospitalschule Immanuel Kant
- 1737 Student at Glasgow Adam Smith
- 1761 College of William & Mary student Thomas Jefferson
- 1763 Childhood and primary schooling in Lorch Friedrich Schiller
- 1765 Takes lodgings as a Leipzig student Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- 1788 Entered the Tübinger Stift Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
- 1813 Family holiday at Abergele Charles Darwin
- 1831 Childhood summers at Darovoye Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- 1835 Enrolls at Bonn University Karl Marx
- 1836 Family moves to Moscow Leo Tolstoy
- 1838 Commercial apprenticeship Friedrich Engels
- 1850 Family relocates to Naumburg Friedrich Nietzsche
- 1872 Countryside stay at Panihati Rabindranath Tagore
- 1876 Family settles in Rajkot Mahatma Gandhi
- 1880 Family moves to Munich Albert Einstein
- 1912 Studies in Changsha Mao Zedong
- 1933 University of Algiers enrollment Albert Camus
- 1942 Underground seminary in occupied Kraków Pope John Paul II
- 1945 Visit to General Marshall at the Pentagon Jean-Paul Sartre
- 2005 Inauguration Mass Pope Benedict XVI
- 2013 Papal inauguration Mass Pope Francis