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
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,…
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.…
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…
Galen
from 129 to 169
16 moments here
Galen of Pergamon was a Greek physician, surgeon, medical author, and philosopher active in the Roman Empire.…
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…
Geoffrey Chaucer
from 1359 to 1400
16 moments here
English poet, courtier, diplomat, and civil servant, best known for The Canterbury Tales. His documented career included military service in France,…
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
from 1770 to 1831
32 moments here
German philosopher and a central figure of German idealism. His documented movements include formative study in Stuttgart and Tübingen; tutoring…
Giordano Bruno
from 1548 to 1600
31 moments here
Italian Renaissance philosopher, Dominican friar, writer, and cosmological theorist. Born at Nola, Bruno studied and lived in Italy, Switzerland,…
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
from 1646 to 1716
54 moments here
German polymath, philosopher, mathematician, jurist, diplomat, court councillor, historian, and librarian.…
Hannibal
from 247 BC to 183 BC
43 moments here
Hannibal Barca was a Carthaginian general and statesman best known for leading an army from Iberia across the Alps into Italy during the Second Punic…
Heraclitus
in 500 BC
2 moments here
Heraclitus was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher associated with Ephesus in Ionia, active around 500 BC.…
Horace
from 65 BC to 8 BC
15 moments here
Quintus Horatius Flaccus, known as Horace, was a Roman lyric poet, satirist, and former republican military tribune.…
Hypatia
from 370 to 415
5 moments here
Hypatia was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, and teacher. Her birth is disputed, with estimates ranging from about 350 to…
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.…
Immanuel Kant
from 1724 to 1804
15 moments here
German Enlightenment philosopher whose critical philosophy transformed epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, and political thought.…
Isaac Newton
from 1643 to 1727
16 moments here
English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian, alchemist, author, and public official.…
James Madison
from 1751 to 1836
29 moments here
James Madison (1751–1836) was a Virginia planter, revolutionary politician, delegate to the Continental and Confederation congresses, architect of…
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,…
Jean-Paul Sartre
from 1905 to 1980
31 moments here
French philosopher, writer, and political activist associated with existentialism. His documented movements include education and teaching across…
Johannes Kepler
from 1571 to 1630
16 moments here
German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher, and music theorist. Kepler’s documented life moved from Württemberg schooling…
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…
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,…
Jonathan Swift
from 1667 to 1745
21 moments here
Anglo-Irish writer, satirist, political pamphleteer, and Church of Ireland cleric, best known for Gulliver's Travels, A Tale of a Tub, and A Modest…
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…