Scientists through history
The atlas holds 62 people and 1,917 moments here, from 563 BC to 2023. The most recorded lives are Albert Einstein, Karl Marx and Leonardo da Vinci. Across the Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment.
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…
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…
Leonardo da Vinci
from 1452 to 1519
27 moments here
Italian Renaissance painter, draftsman, engineer, architect, anatomist, and natural philosopher.…
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…
Joseph Stalin
from 1878 to 1953
16 moments here
Soviet revolutionary and political leader, born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili in Gori, Georgia.…
George Washington
from 1732 to 1799
45 moments here
George Washington was a Virginia surveyor, planter, military commander, revolutionary leader, constitutional statesman, and the first president of…
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…
Immanuel Kant
from 1724 to 1804
15 moments here
German Enlightenment philosopher whose critical philosophy transformed epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, and political thought.…
Thomas Edison
from 1847 to 1931
39 moments here
American inventor and industrialist whose laboratories developed and commercialized technologies in telegraphy, recorded sound, electric lighting and…
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…
Charles Dickens
from 1812 to 1870
94 moments here
English novelist, journalist, editor, social reformer, actor and celebrated public reader. This chronology traces documented residences, workplaces,…
Marie Curie
from 1867 to 1934
37 moments here
Polish-born, naturalized-French physicist and chemist who pioneered research on radioactivity. With Pierre Curie she discovered polonium and radium.…
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.…
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,…
Adam Smith
from 1723 to 1790
25 moments here
Scottish moral philosopher and political economist of the Scottish Enlightenment, author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the…
Nikola Tesla
from 1856 to 1943
34 moments here
Serbian-American engineer and inventor best known for foundational work on alternating-current power systems, the induction motor, high-frequency…
Benjamin Franklin
from 1706 to 1790
28 moments here
American printer, scientist, civic leader, colonial agent, revolutionary statesman, and diplomat.…
Carl Linnaeus
from 1707 to 1778
29 moments here
Swedish botanist, physician, and naturalist who formalized binomial nomenclature and devised an influential system for classifying organisms.…
Nicolaus Copernicus
from 1473 to 1543
15 moments here
Renaissance astronomer, canon, physician, administrator, and economist whose heliocentric model placed the Sun rather than Earth at the center of the…
Louis Pasteur
from 1822 to 1895
24 moments here
French chemist and microbiologist whose work on molecular asymmetry, fermentation, germ theory, pasteurization, and vaccines transformed modern…
John Locke
from 1632 to 1704
28 moments here
English philosopher, physician, and political writer. Locke was born in Somerset, educated in London and Oxford, served Lord Shaftesbury in London,…
Moments
- 563 BC Born at Lumbini The Buddha
- 269 BC Studies in Alexandria Archimedes
- 820 Works at the House of Wisdom Muḥammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi
- 999 Departure from Bukhara Avicenna
- 1068 Library visit in Bukhara Omar Khayyam
- 1283 Exchanged greetings with Beatrice in Florence Dante Alighieri
- 1325 Enters Tunis Ibn Battuta
- 1359 English campaign in France Geoffrey Chaucer
- 1365 Political office at Béjaïa Ibn Khaldun
- 1469 Moves to Florence Leonardo da Vinci
- 1491 Studies at the University of Kraków Nicolaus Copernicus
- 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
- 1687 Stay at Rheinfels Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
- 1700 Student at the College of Juilly Montesquieu
- 1707 Baptism at St. Martin's Church Leonhard Euler
- 1722 Boarding at Bossey Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- 1723 Move to Philadelphia Benjamin Franklin
- 1727 Studies at Lund University Carl Linnaeus
- 1730 Attends the Hospitalschule Immanuel Kant
- 1735 Lives at Little Hunting Creek George Washington
- 1737 Student at Glasgow Adam Smith
- 1758 Present at surrender of Louisbourg James Cook
- 1765 Takes lodgings as a Leipzig student Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- 1784 Elementary schooling Carl Friedrich Gauss
- 1804 Bookbinder's apprenticeship Michael Faraday
- 1813 Family holiday at Abergele Charles Darwin
- 1815 Moves to Norfolk Street Charles Dickens
- 1835 Enrolls at Bonn University Karl Marx
- 1838 Commercial apprenticeship Friedrich Engels
- 1841 Pupil at Jacobs Apologistic School Alfred Nobel
- 1849 Journey to Moscow for university admission Dmitri Mendeleev
- 1854 Dean at Lille Louis Pasteur
- 1854 Childhood in Port Huron Thomas Edison
- 1861 Primary school attendance Nikola Tesla
- 1876 Entered Harvard University Theodore Roosevelt
- 1880 Family moves to Munich Albert Einstein
- 1887 Anne Sullivan arrives at Ivy Green Helen Keller
- 1889 Returns to Warsaw Marie Curie
- 1890 Student at Canterbury College Ernest Rutherford
- 1894 Enrolls at Tiflis Theological Seminary Joseph Stalin
- 1896 Childhood move to Sarehole J. R. R. Tolkien
- 1950 Arrival for Moscow State University Mikhail Gorbachev
- 1954 Student at Mfantsipim School Kofi Annan
- 1966 PhD and fellowship at Gonville and Caius Stephen Hawking
- 1975 Meeting President Ford Margaret Thatcher