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
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…
Aesop
from 620 BC to 564 BC
2 moments here
Greek fabulist and storyteller traditionally credited with Aesop’s Fables. His historical existence and biography are uncertain; this atlas records…
Albert Camus
from 1913 to 1960
29 moments here
French writer, philosopher, journalist, and political activist, born in French Algeria. Camus studied and worked in Algiers, moved between Algeria…
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…
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,…
Al-Ghazali
from 1058 to 1111
14 moments here
Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghazali was a Persian Sunni jurist, theologian, philosopher, logician, and mystic.…
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.…
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.…
Arthur Schopenhauer
from 1788 to 1860
38 moments here
German philosopher and writer, born in Danzig and dead in Frankfurt am Main. His documented movements included childhood residences in Hamburg and Le…
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.…
Averroes
from 1126 to 1182
6 moments here
Averroes, also known as Ibn Rushd, was an Andalusian jurist, physician, philosopher, and commentator on Aristotle.…
Avicenna
from 980 to 1037
17 moments here
Ibn Sina (Avicenna; c. 980–22 June 1037) was a Persian philosopher, physician, and court official.…
Baruch Spinoza
from 1632 to 1677
10 moments here
Dutch philosopher Baruch (Benedictus) de Spinoza lived entirely in the Dutch Republic. His securely documented locations trace a life centered on…
Blaise Pascal
from 1623 to 1662
11 moments here
French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic writer. Pascal spent his life principally between Clermont-Ferrand, Paris,…
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…
Cicero
from 106 BC to 43 BC
83 moments here
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BC) was a Roman lawyer, orator, philosopher, consul, provincial governor, and defender of the late Republic.…
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.…
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.…
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…
Desiderius Erasmus
from 1466 to 1536
27 moments here
Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, theologian, editor, and author. Erasmus was born in the Burgundian Netherlands, educated in the Low…
Epicurus
from 341 BC to 270 BC
7 moments here
Ancient Greek philosopher and founder of Epicureanism. The securely documented outline of his movements runs from his birth and upbringing on Samos…
Euripides
from 480 BC to 406 BC
6 moments here
Euripides was an Athenian tragic playwright traditionally born on Salamis around 480 BC and conventionally said to have died in Macedon around 406…
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.…
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