Writers through history
The atlas holds 180 people and 5,946 moments here, from 620 BC to 2025. The most recorded lives are William Shakespeare, Albert Einstein and Confucius. Across the Cold War and the Interwar Period.
Notable people
Pope John Paul II
from 1920 to 2005
31 moments here
Karol Józef Wojtyła (1920–2005), Pope John Paul II from 1978, was a Polish Catholic priest, bishop, cardinal, and pope.…
Prince
from 1958 to 2016
46 moments here
Prince Rogers Nelson was an American singer, songwriter, musician, producer, actor, and filmmaker associated with the Minneapolis sound.…
Ptolemy
from 127 to 141
2 moments here
Claudius Ptolemy was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and music theorist.…
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
from 1840 to 1893
46 moments here
Russian Romantic composer whose career ranged from civil-service work and conservatory teaching in Saint Petersburg and Moscow to international…
Pythagoras
from 570 BC to 490 BC
5 moments here
Ancient Greek philosopher and founder of the Pythagorean way of life. The surviving evidence for his biography is sparse and often contradictory;…
Rabindranath Tagore
from 1861 to 1941
56 moments here
Bengali poet, novelist, dramatist, composer, painter, philosopher, social reformer, and educationist.…
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…
Richard Wagner
from 1813 to 1883
20 moments here
German composer, conductor, theatre director, and essayist whose movements included early work in German theatre, exile in Switzerland, stays in…
Robin Williams
from 1951 to 2014
31 moments here
Robin McLaurin Williams was an American actor and comedian, born in Chicago and raised in Illinois, Michigan, and California.…
Ronald Reagan
from 1911 to 2004
120 moments here
American broadcaster, actor, labor leader, governor of California, and 40th president of the United States.…
Rudyard Kipling
from 1865 to 1936
27 moments here
English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. Born in Bombay, Kipling spent his childhood in India and England, worked as a journalist…
Rumi
from 1207 to 1273
9 moments here
Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi was a Persian-language poet, jurist, teacher, and Sufi mystic. Born at Wakhsh in the Khwarazmian Empire, he moved with his…
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…
Sappho
in 600 BC
2 moments here
Archaic Greek lyric poet from Lesbos, active from the late seventh into the early sixth century BC.…
Sarah Bernhardt
from 1844 to 1923
47 moments here
French stage and early film actress, born Henriette-Rosine Bernard in Paris. Bernhardt became an international theatrical star through performances…
Seneca the Younger
from 5 to 65
9 moments here
Lucius Annaeus Seneca, commonly called Seneca the Younger, was a Roman Stoic philosopher, writer, and statesman.…
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…
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).…
Socrates
from 469 BC to 399 BC
8 moments here
Classical Athenian philosopher known chiefly through Plato, Xenophon, Aristophanes, and later ancient testimony.…
Sophocles
from 480 BC to 406 BC
5 moments here
Ancient Athenian tragic playwright, probably born at Colonus in Attica and active chiefly in Athens.…
Stephen Hawking
from 1942 to 2018
23 moments here
English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author whose work on singularities, black-hole thermodynamics, and Hawking radiation reshaped modern…
Sun Tzu
from 544 BC to 496 BC
2 moments here
Sun Tzu (traditionally Sun Wu) was a Chinese military strategist traditionally placed in the late Spring and Autumn period.…
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…
The Buddha
from 563 BC to 483 BC
18 moments here
Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and teacher who founded Buddhism in the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plain.…