Writers through history
The atlas holds 180 people and 5,946 moments here, from 620 BC to 2025. The most recorded lives are Friedrich Nietzsche, Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Immanuel Kant. Across the Cold War and the Interwar Period.
Notable people
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.…
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
from 1881 to 1938
99 moments here
Ottoman officer, Turkish field marshal, revolutionary statesman, founder of the Republic of Turkey, and its first president.…
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…
Mark Twain
from 1835 to 1910
108 moments here
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known as Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, journalist, lecturer, riverboat pilot, and traveler.…
Sigmund Freud
from 1856 to 1939
27 moments here
Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis. This chronology traces documented locations from his Moravian birthplace and Viennese education…
John F. Kennedy
from 1917 to 1963
86 moments here
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was an American naval officer, journalist, congressman, senator, and the 35th president of the United States.…
Miguel de Cervantes
from 1547 to 1616
28 moments here
Spanish novelist, playwright, poet, soldier, purchasing agent and tax collector, best known for Don Quixote.…
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,…
Martin Luther King Jr.
from 1929 to 1968
68 moments here
American Baptist minister and civil-rights leader who advanced racial equality through nonviolent protest.…
Salvador Dalí
from 1904 to 1989
36 moments here
Spanish painter, sculptor, writer, designer, filmmaker, and leading exponent of Surrealism. Born in Figueres, Dalí trained in Madrid, joined the…
Hans Christian Andersen
from 1805 to 1875
77 moments here
Danish writer renowned for literary fairy tales including “The Little Mermaid,” “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” “The Snow Queen,” and “The Ugly…
Rabindranath Tagore
from 1861 to 1941
56 moments here
Bengali poet, novelist, dramatist, composer, painter, philosopher, social reformer, and educationist.…
Virgil
from 55 BC to 19 BC
15 moments here
Publius Vergilius Maro, known as Virgil, was a Roman poet of the Augustan age and the author of the Eclogues, Georgics, and Aeneid.…
Alexander Pushkin
from 1799 to 1837
58 moments here
Russian poet, novelist, playwright, and foundational figure of modern Russian literature. This chronology traces documented physical presences from…
Franz Kafka
from 1883 to 1924
69 moments here
German-language Jewish Czech writer whose fiction transformed modern literature. Born and educated in Prague, Kafka trained as a lawyer and worked…
Anton Chekhov
from 1860 to 1904
12 moments here
Russian playwright, short-story writer, and physician. Chekhov was born in Taganrog, studied and began his literary career in Moscow, undertook a…
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,…
Mao Zedong
from 1893 to 1976
38 moments here
Chinese communist revolutionary and political leader who led the Chinese Communist Party and founded the People’s Republic of China.…
Augustine of Hippo
from 354 to 430
26 moments here
Aurelius Augustinus, known as Augustine of Hippo, was a North African rhetorician, Christian theologian, philosopher, priest, and bishop.…
Niccolò Machiavelli
from 1469 to 1527
32 moments here
Florentine diplomat, civil servant, political theorist, playwright, and historian of the Italian Renaissance.…