Historians through history
The atlas holds 27 people and 801 moments here, from 460 BC to 1973. The most recorded lives are Karl Marx, Julius Caesar and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Across the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution.
Notable people
Al-Biruni
from 973 to 1048
9 moments here
Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni was a Khwarazmian polymath whose documented movements connect Kath and Khwarazm, Bukhara, Gurgan, Gurganj,…
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…
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.…
Democritus
in 460 BC
1 moment here
Greek atomist philosopher traditionally dated c. 460–c. 370 BC. Ancient biographical testimony is sparse, late, and sometimes contradictory; this…
Francis Bacon
from 1561 to 1626
13 moments here
English philosopher, lawyer, statesman, Attorney General, and Lord Chancellor under James I.…
Friedrich Engels
from 1820 to 1895
39 moments here
German philosopher, political theorist, revolutionary socialist, businessman, and Karl Marx’s lifelong collaborator.…
Friedrich Schiller
from 1759 to 1805
30 moments here
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German playwright, poet, philosopher, historian, and a central figure of Weimar Classicism.…
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
from 1646 to 1716
54 moments here
German polymath, philosopher, mathematician, jurist, diplomat, court councillor, historian, and librarian.…
Herodotus
from 447 BC to 443 BC
2 moments here
Greek historian and geographer, conventionally dated c. 484–c. 425 BC. The surviving biographical evidence is unusually sparse and often late or…
Ibn Khaldun
from 1332 to 1406
15 moments here
Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) was a Tunis-born historian, jurist, political official, teacher, and author of the Muqaddimah.…
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…
J. R. R. Tolkien
from 1892 to 1973
38 moments here
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was an English philologist, university professor, and author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.…
Julius Caesar
from 100 BC to 44 BC
50 moments here
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman politician, general, orator and author whose career spanned the late Roman Republic.…
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…
Montesquieu
from 1689 to 1755
29 moments here
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, was a French jurist, historian, and political philosopher.…
Muḥammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi
from 780 to 825
3 moments here
Persian mathematician, astronomer, geographer, and author active under the Abbasid caliphs. Biographical evidence is exceptionally sparse and his…
Niccolò Machiavelli
from 1469 to 1527
32 moments here
Florentine diplomat, civil servant, political theorist, playwright, and historian of the Italian Renaissance.…
Plutarch
from 66 to 95
4 moments here
Greek Platonist philosopher, biographer, essayist, magistrate, and Delphic priest. He was born at Chaeronea between 45 and 47 CE and died after 119…
Sima Qian
from 145 BC to 110 BC
9 moments here
Chinese historian of the early Han dynasty and author of the Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian).…
Tacitus
from 88 to 112
5 moments here
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a Roman historian, senator, orator, and provincial governor. His birth date and place are uncertain; he was probably…
Theodore Roosevelt
from 1858 to 1919
33 moments here
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (1858–1919) was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909.…
Thomas Hobbes
from 1588 to 1679
11 moments here
English philosopher and political theorist, best known for Leviathan (1651). Hobbes’s documented movements include study at Oxford, European travel…
Thomas Jefferson
from 1743 to 1826
29 moments here
Thomas Jefferson was an American lawyer, Virginia political leader, diplomat, secretary of state, vice president, and third president of the United…
Thomas More
from 1478 to 1535
22 moments here
English lawyer, humanist author, royal councillor, Speaker of the House of Commons, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and Lord Chancellor under…
Moments
- 460 BC Birth at Abdera Democritus
- 447 BC Migration to Athens Herodotus
- 126 BC Departure from Chang'an on research tour Sima Qian
- 82 BC Hides in the Sabine country Julius Caesar
- 66 Studies under Ammonius Plutarch
- 88 Secular Games service Tacitus
- 365 Schooling at Madaurus Augustine of Hippo
- 820 Works at the House of Wisdom Muḥammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi
- 995 Samanid patronage in Bukhara Al-Biruni
- 1365 Political office at Béjaïa Ibn Khaldun
- 1498 First diplomatic mission Niccolò Machiavelli
- 1515 Visit to Antwerp and meeting with Pieter Gillis Thomas More
- 1573 Student at Trinity College Francis Bacon
- 1603 Student at Magdalen Hall Thomas Hobbes
- 1687 Stay at Rheinfels Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
- 1700 Student at the College of Juilly Montesquieu
- 1704 Studies at Louis-le-Grand Voltaire
- 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
- 1799 Infancy in Saint Petersburg Alexander Pushkin
- 1807 Rejoins his father in Avellino Victor Hugo
- 1835 Enrolls at Bonn University Karl Marx
- 1838 Commercial apprenticeship Friedrich Engels
- 1876 Entered Harvard University Theodore Roosevelt
- 1896 Childhood move to Sarehole J. R. R. Tolkien
- 1896 Arrives in Bangalore Winston Churchill