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
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…
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,…
Alfred Nobel
from 1833 to 1896
18 moments here
Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, and industrialist Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1833–1896) developed dynamite and other explosives, built businesses…
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.…
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.…
Benjamin Franklin
from 1706 to 1790
28 moments here
American printer, scientist, civic leader, colonial agent, revolutionary statesman, and diplomat.…
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,…
Carl Friedrich Gauss
from 1777 to 1855
35 moments here
German mathematician, astronomer, geodesist, and physicist. Gauss was born in Brunswick, studied there and at Göttingen, worked privately in…
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.…
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…
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,…
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.…
Dmitri Mendeleev
from 1834 to 1907
24 moments here
Russian chemist Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev formulated the periodic law and produced a foundational periodic table.…
Ernest Rutherford
from 1871 to 1937
21 moments here
New Zealand-born physicist and chemist whose research on radioactivity, the atomic nucleus, and nuclear transmutation helped establish nuclear…
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.…
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,…
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…
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.…
Helen Keller
from 1880 to 1968
60 moments here
Helen Adams Keller was an American deafblind author, lecturer, disability-rights advocate, and political activist.…
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