Enlightenment Thinkers
500 people
Abraham de Moivre
French mathematician (*1667 – †1754)
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Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur
Khan of Khiva from 1643 to 1663
Adam Ferguson
Scottish philosopher and historian; (1723-1816)
Adam Smith
Scottish moral philosopher and political economist (1723–1790)
Adamantios Korais
Greek humanist scholar (1748–1833)
Adolphe Quetelet
Belgian astronomer, mathematician, statistician and sociologist (1796-1874)
Adolphe Thiers
President of France from 1871 to 1873 (1797-1877)
Adrien-Marie Legendre
French mathematician (1752–1833)
Aimé Bonpland
French physician, botanist and explorer (1773-1858)
Albert Gallatin
Swiss and American politician, diplomat and scholar (1761-1849)
Albrecht von Haller
Swiss anatomist, physiologist, naturalist and poet (1708-1777)
Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov
Russian general (1777–1861)
Alessandro Cagliostro
Italian occultist, alchemist, and impostor (1743–1795)
Alessandro Volta
Italian chemist and physicist (1745–1827)
Alexander Hamilton
American Founding Father and statesman (1755/1757–1804)
Alexander Pope
English poet (1688–1744)
Alexander Pushkin
Russian poet, playwright, and novelist (1799–1837)
Alexander Radishchev
18th century Russian author and social critic
Alexander von Humboldt
Prussian geographer, naturalist and explorer (1769-1859)
Alexandre Brongniart
French chemist, mineralogist, and zoologist (1770–1847)
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Alexandre-Théophile Vandermonde
French mathematician
Alexis Bouvard
French astronomer (1767-1843)
Alexis Clairaut
French mathematician, astronomer, and geophysicist (*1713 – †1765)
Alphonse de Lamartine
French author, poet and statesman (1790-1869)
Amedeo Avogadro
Italian scientist
Anders Celsius
Swedish astronomer, physicist, and naturalist (1701-1744)
Anders Gustaf Ekeberg
Swedish chemist
Anders Sparrman
Swedish naturalist (1748-1820)
André Marie Constant Duméril
French zoologist
André-Marie Ampère
French physicist and mathematician (1775–1836)
Andrés Bello
Venezuelan humanist, diplomat, poet, legislator, philosopher, educator and philologist...
Anna Maria van Schurman
artist, scientist and philosopher from the Northern Netherlands (1607-1678)
Anne Robert Jacques Turgot
French economist and statesman (1727–1781)
Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest
French zoologist (1784–1838)
Anselme Payen
French chemist
Antoine César Becquerel
French scientist and pioneer in the study of electric and luminescent phenomena (1788-1878)
Antoine Destutt de Tracy
French philosopher (1754-1836)
Antoine François Prévost
French novelist (1697–1763)
Antoine Laurent de Jussieu
French botanist (1748–1836)
Antoine Lavoisier
French nobleman and chemist (1743–1794)
Antoine-Augustin Parmentier
French agronomist, naturalist, nutritionist, and hygienist; promoter of the potato as...
Anton Bernolák
Slovak linguist and roman catholic priest
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
Dutch scientist known as "the Father of Microbiology", and one of the first...
Antonio de Ulloa
Spanish explorer, naval officer, colonial official, and naturalist
Arai Hakuseki
Japanese scholar and official (1657–1725)
Arthur Schopenhauer
German philosopher (1788-1860)
Athanasius Kircher
German Jesuit scholar (1601 or 1602-1680)
August Ferdinand Möbius
German mathematician and astronomer (1790–1868)
August Wilhelm Schlegel
German poet, translator, critic, and writer (1767–1845)
August von Kotzebue
German dramatist and writer (1761–1819)
Auguste Comte
French philosopher, mathematician and sociologist (1798–1857)
Augustin-Jean Fresnel
French engineer and physicist (1788-1827)
Augustin-Louis Cauchy
French mathematician (1789–1857)
Axel Fredrik Cronstedt
Swedish mineralogist and chemist (1722-1765)
Baron d'Holbach
German-born French philosopher (1723–1789)
Barthold Georg Niebuhr
Danish-German statesman and historian (1776–1831)
Benedict XIV
pope of the Catholic Church from 1740 to 1758
Benedictus de Spinoza
Dutch philosopher (1632-1677)
Benjamin Banneker
free African American scientist, surveyor, almanac author and farmer (1731–1806)
Benjamin Rush
American physician, educator, and author (1746-1813)
Benoît Paul Émile Clapeyron
French physicist (1799-1864)
Bernard Bolzano
Bohemian mathematician and priest (1781–1848)
Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle
French writer and philosopher of the enlightenment (1657–1757)
Bernard Mandeville
Anglo-Dutch writer and physician (1670-1733)
Blaise Pascal
French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and Christian philosopher (1623-1662)
Blasius Merrem
German naturalist (1761-1824)
Brook Taylor
English mathematician (1685–1731)
Carl Adolph Agardh
Swedish cleric and botanist (1785–1859)
Carl Friedrich Gauss
German mathematician and physicist (1777–1855)
Carl Gustaf Mosander
Swedish chemist and mineralogist (1797–1858)
Carl Gustav Carus
German philosopher, physician, painter (1789–1869)
Carl Linnaeus
Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist (1707–1778)
Carl Linnaeus the Younger
Swedish naturalist (1741–1783)
Carl Ludwig Koch
German entomologist and arachnologist (1778–1857)
Carl Ludwig Willdenow
German botanist (1765-1812)
Carl Peter Thunberg
Swedish naturalist (1743-1828)
Carl Wilhelm Scheele
Swedish German chemist who discovered oxygen
Carl von Clausewitz
German-Prussian general and military theorist
Carlo Allioni
Italian physician and professor of botany (1728-1804)
Caroline Herschel
German-British astronomer (1750-1848)
Carsten Niebuhr
German mathematician, botanist, cartographer and explorer in Danish service (1733–1815)
Caspar Friedrich Wolff
German psychologist
Cesare Beccaria
jurist, philosopher and politician from Italy (1738-1794)
Charles Alexandre de Calonne
French statesman and art collector (1734-1802); his collection was sold in Paris,...
Charles Babbage
English mathematician, philosopher, and engineer (1791–1871)
Charles Bell
Scottish physician, painter and theologian (1774–1842)
Charles Fourier
French utopian socialist and philosopher (1772–1837)
Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel
Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel
Charles James Fox
British Whig statesman (1749–1806)
Charles Marie de La Condamine
French explorer, geographer, and mathematician (1701-1774)
Charles Messier
18th- and 19th-century French astronomer
Charles-Augustin de Coulomb
French physicist (1736-1806)
Christiaan Huygens
Dutch mathematician, physicist and astronomer (1629–1695)
Christian Friedrich Schönbein
German-Swiss chemist, discoverer of guncotton and ozone (1799-1868)
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Christian Goldbach
German mathematician
Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg
German biologist (1795–1876)
Christian Wolff
German philosopher (1679–1754)
Christina of Sweden
Queen of Sweden, ruled from 1632 until abdication in 1654 (1626–1689)
Christopher Wren
English architect (1632–1723)
Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon
French early socialist theorist (1760-1825)
Claude Louis Berthollet
French chemist (1748-1822)
Claude Perrault
French architect and doctor of medicine (1613–1688)
Claude-Louis Navier
French engineer and physicist (1785–1836)
Colin MacLaurin
Scottish mathematician (1698–1746)
Cotton Mather
American religious minister and scientific writer (1663–1728)
Cyrano de Bergerac
French novelist and dramatist (1619–1655)
Daniel Bernoulli
Swiss mathematician and physicist (1700-1782)
Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
German-Polish physicist and engineer (1686-1736)
Daniel Rutherford
British physician, chemist, botanist and physicist (1749–1819)
David Brewster
Scottish astronomer and mathematician (1781–1868)
David Hartley
British philosopher
David Hume
Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian (1711-1776)
David Ricardo
British economist and politician (1772–1823)
Denis Diderot
French Enlightenment philosopher writer and encyclopædist (1713–1784)
Denis Fonvizin
Russian writer (1745-1792)
Denis Papin
French physicist, mathematician and inventor (1647–1713)
Dimitrie Cantemir
Prince of Moldavia
Dorothea Christiane Erxleben
physician (1715–1762)
Dositej Obradović
Serbian writer
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Eberhard August Wilhelm von Zimmermann
German scientist and zoologist
Edme Mariotte
French physicist, chemist, botanist and priest
Edmond Halley
English astronomer, mathematician, geophysicist, meteorologist and physicist (1656–1742)
Edmund Burke
Anglo-Irish statesman, political theorist and conservative philosopher (1729–1797)
Edward Gibbon
English historian and politician (1737–1794)
Edward Jenner
English physician, scientist and pioneer of vaccination (1749–1823)
Edward Robinson
American biblical scholar (1794-1863)
Edward Sabine
British Army general (1788-1883)
Elena Cornaro Piscopia
Venetian philosopher (1646–1684)
Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès
French priest and statesman (1748-1836)
Emmanuel Swedenborg
Swedish 18th century scientist and theologian (1688-1772)
Engelbert Kaempfer
German botanist (1651–1716)
Erasmus Darwin
English physician (1731-1802)
Erik Acharius
Swedish botanist (1757–1819)
Erik Pontoppidan
Danish author, bishop, historian and antiquary (1698–1764)
Ernst Chladni
German physicist, mathematician and musician (1756 – 1827)
Ernst Heinrich Weber
German psychologist (1795–1878)
Ernst Moritz Arndt
German historian, writer and politician (1769-1860)
Eva Ekeblad
Swedish scientist (1724-1786)
Evangelista Torricelli
Italian physicist and mathematician (1608-1647)
Evliya Çelebi
Turkish traveler and writer (1611–1682)
Farkas Bolyai
Hungarian mathematician
Ferdinand Verbiest
Flemish Jesuit missionary in Qing dynasty China (1623–1688)
Ferenc Kazinczy
Hungarian linguist and writer (1759-1831)
Francesco Maria Grimaldi
Italian physicist (1618–1663)
Francis Baily
British astronomer
Francis Beaufort
Irish hydrographer and naval officer (1774-1857)
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Francis Buchanan-Hamilton
Scottish physician, traveller and naturalist (1762-1829)
Francis Hutcheson
Scottish philosopher (1694–1746)
Francisco de Paula Martínez de la Rosa y Berdejo
Spanish dramatist and politician (1787-1862)
František Palacký
Czech philosopher, historian, publicist and writer (1798-1876)
Franz Aepinus
German-Russian mathematician (1724-1802)
Franz Anton Mesmer
German physician
Franz Bopp
German linguist (1791-1861)
Franz Joseph Gall
neuroanatomist, physiologist, and pioneer in the study of the localization of mental...
Franz Karl Achard
German chemist
François Arago
French mathematician, physicist, astronomer and politician (1786-1853)
François Guizot
French historian, orator and statesman (1787–1874)
François Quesnay
French economist
François-Auguste-René de Chateaubriand
French writer, politician and historian (1768–1848)
Frančesco Redi
Italian entomologist and poets
Friedrich August Wolf
German philologist
Friedrich Bessel
German astronomer and mathematician
Friedrich Christian Diez
German philologist (1794–1876)
Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve
Baltic German astronomer (1793–1864)
Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock
German poet, writer and linguist
Friedrich Hölderlin
German poet
Friedrich List
German economist
Friedrich Mohs
German geologist and mineralogist (1773-1839)
Friedrich Schiller
German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian (1759–1805)
Friedrich Schlegel
German poet, critic and scholar, editor
Friedrich Schleiermacher
German theologian, philosopher, and biblical scholar (1768-1834)
Friedrich Sertürner
German pharmacist (1783–1841)
Friedrich Wilhelm Argelander
German astronomer (1799–1875)
Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling
German philosopher (1775–1854)
Félix Savart
French physicist (1791–1841)
Gabriel Lamé
French mathematician and physicist (1795-1870)
Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos
Spanish neoclassical statesman, author, philosopher (1744-1811)
Gaspard Monge
French mathematician, inventor of descriptive geometry and father of differential...
Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis
French mathematician, mechanical engineer, and scientist (1792–1843)
Gavrila Derzhavin
Russian poet
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Georg Brandt
Swedish chemist and mineralogist
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
German scientist and satirist (1742-1799)
Georg Ernst Stahl
German physician and chemist (1659-1734)
Georg Friedrich Grotefend
German epigraphist and philologist
Georg Simon Ohm
German physicist and mathematician
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
German philosopher and theologian (1770–1831)
Georg Wilhelm Steller
Explorer and zoologist famous for discovering Steller's Sea Lion
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George Atwood
English mathematician (1745–1807)
George Berkeley
Irish idealist philosopher and Anglican bishop (1685–1753)
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George Green
British mathematical physicist (*1793 – †1841)
George Shaw
English botanist and zoologist (1751–1813)
Georges Cuvier
French naturalist, zoologist and paleontologist (1769–1832)
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon
French natural historian (1707-1788)
Germaine de Staël
Genevan-French author (1766-1817)
Giacomo Leopardi
Italian noble, poet, philosopher, and writer (1798-1837)
Giambattista Vico
Italian philosopher, rhetorician, historian and jurist
Gideon Mantell
British scientist and obstetrician (1790–1852)
Giovanni Alfonso Borelli
Italian physicist (*1608 – †1679)
Giovanni Antonio Scopoli
Tyrolean physician and naturalist (1723-1788)
Giovanni Battista Amici
Italian astronomer, microscopist, and botanist (1786-1863)
Giovanni Domenico Cassini
Italian/French mathematician, astronomer, engineer, and astrologer (*1625 – †1712)
Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti
Italian cardinal and hyperpolyglot
Giuseppe Piazzi
Italian Catholic priest, mathematician and astronomer (1746–1826)
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
German mathematician and philosopher (1646–1716)
Gotthelf Fischer von Waldheim
Saxon anatomist, entomologist and paleontologist
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
German writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic (1729-1781)
Gregory Potyomkin
Russian military leader and politician (1739–1791)
Gu Yanwu
Chinese philologist and geographer (1613–1682)
Guarino Guarini
Italian mathematician and architect (1624-1683)
Guillaume de l'Hôpital
French noble and mathematician (*1661 – †1704)
Guru Gobind Singh
tenth Sikh guru (1661–1708)
Hans Christian Ørsted
Danish physicist and chemist (1777-1851)
Hans Egede
missionary to Greenland, Lutheran pastor (1686-1758)
Hans Sloane
Irish botanist, doctor, and collector (1660-1753)
Heinrich Friedrich Link
German naturalist and botanist
Heinrich Kuhl
German naturalist and zoologist (1797–1821)
Heinrich Schwabe
German astronomer (1789-1875)
Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers
German physician and astronomer (1758-1840)
Hennig Brand
German merchant
Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville
French zoologist and anatomist (1777-1850)
Henry Cavendish
English natural philosopher, and scientist (1731–1810)
Herman Boerhaave
Dutch botanist, chemist, humanist, and physician (1668–1738)
Hinrich Lichtenstein
German physician, explorer, botanist and zoologist (1780-1857)
Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau
French writer, orator and statesman (1749-1791)
Humphry Davy
British chemist
Hyacinth
Russian sinologist, historian, and missionary (1777–1853)
Ignacy Krasicki
Polish writer and poet, Catholic archbishop
Immanuel Kant
German philosopher (1724-1804)
Ioannis Kapodistrias
Greek statesman and diplomat (1776–1831)
Isaac Barrow
English Christian theologian, and mathematician (1630-1677)
Isaac Newton
English mathematician and physicist (1642–1727)
Isabelle de Charrière
Dutch French-language writer and composer (1740-1805)
Ivan Krylov
Russian writer (1769–1844)
Jacob Bernoulli
Swiss mathematician (1655-1705)
Jacob Grimm
German philologist, linguist, jurist and mythologist (1785–1863)
Jacob van Ruisdael
Dutch painter and engraver (1628-1682)
Jacques Bénigne Bossuet
French bishop and theologian (1627-1704)
Jacques Cassini
French astronomer
Jakob Steiner
Swiss mathematician (1796-1863)
James Bradley
English astronomer; Astronomer Royal
James Bruce
Scottish explorer and botanist (1730–1794)
James Dunlop
Australian astronomer (1793–1848)
James Edward Smith
English botanist, founder of the Linnean Society of London (1759–1828)
James Gregory
Scottish mathematician and astronomer
James Harrington
English political theorist of classical republicanism
James Hutton
Scottish geologist, physician, chemical manufacturer, naturalist, and experimental...
James Madison
President of the United States from 1809 to 1817 (1751–1836)
James Mill
Scottish historian, economist, political theorist and philosopher (1773-1836)
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James Parkinson
English surgeon, apothecary, geologist, paleontologist, and political activist
James Watt
British engineer (1736–1819)
Jan Evangelista Purkyně
Czech biologist, physiologist, doctor, inventor and politician (1787–1869)
Jan Ingenhousz
Dutch physiologist (1730–1799)
Jan Potocki
Polish nobleman, writer (creating in French), traveler, politician and historian (1761-1815)
Jan Swammerdam
Dutch entomologist and beekeeper
Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi
Swiss economist and historian (1773-1842)
Jean Le Rond d'Alembert
French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher and music theorist (1717-1783)
Jean Picard
French astronomer
Jean Racine
French dramatist (1639-1699)
Jean Sylvain Bailly
French astronomer, mathematician, freemason, and political leader (1736-1793)
Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat de Condorcet
French philosopher, mathematician, and political scientist (1743–1794)
Jean-Baptiste Biot
French scientist (1774-1862)
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
French statesman (1619–1683)
Jean-Baptiste Joseph Delambre
French mathematician and astronomer
Jean-Baptiste Say
French economist and businessman (1767–1832)
Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck
French naturalist (1744-1829)
Jean-François Pilatre de Rozier
French balloonist
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer (1712-1778)
Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière
French politician (1734-1793)
Jean-Paul Marat
politician and journalist during the French Revolution (1743-1793)
Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux
Swiss astronomer (1718–1751)
Jean-Victor Poncelet
French engineer and mathematician (1788-1867)
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Jeanne Villepreux-Power
French biologist (1794-1871)
Jeremiah Horrocks
English astronomer
Jeremy Bentham
British philosopher, jurist, and social reformer (1748–1832)
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Jernej Kopitar
Slovenian philologist
Johan August Arfwedson
Swedish chemist (1792-1841)
Johan Fabricius
Danish zoologist (1745–1808)
Johan Gadolin
Finnish chemist, physicist and mineralogist (1760–1852)
Johan Gottlieb Gahn
Swedish chemist (1745-1818)
Johan Rudolph Thorbecke
Dutch statesman (1798-1872)
Johan de Witt
Grand Pensionary of Holland (1625–1672)
Johann Bernoulli
Swiss mathematician (1667-1748)
Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben
German scientist
Johann Christoph Adelung
German philologist, linguist (1732-1806)
Johann Daniel Titius
German astronomer
Johann Elert Bode
Prusian astronomer (1747–1826)
Johann Franz Encke
German astronomer (1791–1865)
Johann Friedrich Blumenbach
German physician, naturalist, physiologist, and anthropologist (1752 – 1840)
Johann Friedrich Gmelin
German naturalist (1748–1804)
Johann Friedrich Herbart
German philosopher, psychologist, and founder of pedagogy as an academic discipline (1776-1841)
Johann Friedrich Pfaff
German mathematician (1765-1825)
Johann Friedrich Struensee
De facto regent of Denmark (1737-1772)
Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst
German naturalist and entomologist (1743-1807)
Johann Georg Gmelin
German and Russian scientist (1709-1755)
Johann Gottfried Herder
German philosopher, theologian, poet (1744–1803)
Johann Gottlieb Fichte
German philosopher (1762–1814)
Johann Gottlob Theaenus Schneider
German classicist and naturalist
Johann Hedwig
German botanist and physician (1730–1799)
Johann Heinrich Lambert
German mathematician, physicist and astronomer (1728-1777)
Johann Heinrich von Thünen
German economist
Johann Hieronymus Schröter
German selenographer (1745-1816)
Johann Joachim Becher
German physicist, scientific alchemist, pioneer of chemistry, scholar, courtier, and adventurer
Johann Joachim Winckelmann
German art historian and archaeologist, and conservator of the Vatican Library (1717–1768)
Johann Mattheson
German composer and theorist (1681-1764)
Johann Rudolf Glauber
German-Dutch alchemist (1604-1670)
Johann Wilhelm Ritter
German chemist, physicist and philosopher
Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner
German chemist
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
German writer, artist, natural scientist and politician (1749–1832)
Johannes Hevelius
astronomer setting up the cartography of the Moon
John Bowring
4th Governor of Hong Kong; hymnwriter; translator (1792-1872)
John Dalton
British chemist and mathematician (1766–1844)
John Dollond
English optician, known for his achromatic doublets
John Flamsteed
English astronomer and the first Astronomer Royal
John Frederic Daniell
English chemist and physicist
John Frederick William Herschel
English polymath, mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor and photographer (1792–1871)
John Goodricke
Dutch astronomer (1764-1786)
John Harrison
British clockworker
John Keats
English Romantic poet (1795–1821)
John Latham
English physician, naturalist and author (1740-1837)
John Law
Scottish economist and banker (1671-1729)
John Leslie
British mathematician and physicist (1766–1832)
John Locke
English philosopher and physician (1632-1704)
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John Michell
English philosopher
John Wallis
English mathematician (*1616 – †1703)
John Wesley
founder of the Methodist movement (1703-1791)
Jonathan Swift
Anglo-Irish satirist and essayist (1667–1745)
Josef Dobrovský
Czech historian, lexicographer, linguist, literature historian, religion writer,...
Josef Jungmann
Czech linguist and poet
Joseph Black
Scottish physicist and chemist (1728–1799)
Joseph Fourier
French mathematician and physicist (1768 – 1830)
Joseph Henry
American scientist and the 1st Secretary of the Smithsonian (1797-1878)
Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac
French chemist and physicist (1778–1850)
Joseph Pitton de Tournefort
French botanist (1656-1708)
Joseph Priestley
English chemist, theologian, educator, and political theorist (1733–1804)
Joseph Proust
French chemist
Joseph de Maistre
Savoyard philosopher, writer, lawyer, and diplomat (1753-1821)
Joseph von Fraunhofer
Bavarian physicist and optical lens manufacturer
Joseph-Ignace Guillotin
French physician (1738-1814)
Joseph-Louis Lagrange
Mathematician and astronomer (1736–1813)
Joseph-Nicolas Delisle
French astronomer
Josiah Warren
American social reformer, philosopher, inventor, musician, and author (1798–1874)
José María Bocanegra
Mexican politician (1787-1862)
Jules Michelet
French historian; popularized the historical concept of the Renaissance
Julien Offray de La Mettrie
French physician and philosopher
Jurij Vega
Slovene mathematician, physicist and artillery officer (1754-1802)
Ján Kollár
Slovak author writing in Czech (1793–1852)
Jérôme Lalande
French astronomer (*1732 – †1807)
Józef Maria Hoene-Wroński
Polish philosopher
Jöns Jacob Berzelius
Swedish chemist (1779–1848)
Jędrzej Śniadecki
writer, physician, chemist and biologist (1768-1838)
Karl Ernst von Baer
Baltic German scientist (1792-1876)
Karl Ludwig Harding
German astronomer (1765-1834)
Karl Ludwig Hencke
German astronomer (1793–1866)
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Kâtip Çelebi
Ottoman bibliographer, historian and geographer
Laura Bassi
Italian physicist (1711-1778)
Lazare Carnot
French political, engineering and mathematical figure (1753–1823)
Leonhard Euler
Swiss mathematician, physicist, and engineer (1707–1783)
Leopold von Ranke
German historian and founder of modern source-based history (1795-1886)
Louis Bonaparte
king of Holland, brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, member of the House of Buonaparte (1778-1846)
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Louis Claude Richard
French botanist (1754-1821)
Louis Daguerre
French scientist, artist and photographer (1787–1851)
Louis Jacques Thénard
French chemist (1777-1857)
Louis Nicolas Vauquelin
French professor of chemistry (1763-1829)
Ludvig Holberg
Danish-Norwegian writer, philosopher and historian (1684–1754)
Ludwig Uhland
German poet and politician (1787–1862)
Luigi Galvani
Italian physician, physicist, and philosopher
Madame de Lafayette
French writer (1634-1693)
Maine de Biran
French philosopher (1766-1824)
Manuel Belgrano
Argentine politician and military leader
Marcello Malpighi
Italian physician (1628-1694)
Marcus Elieser Bloch
German physician and zoologist (1723–1799)
Maria Gaetana Agnesi
Italian mathematician and philanthropist (1718–1799)
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Maria Margaretha Kirch
German astronomer (1670-1720)
Marquis de Sade
French nobleman, revolutionary politician, philosopher and writer of erotic works
Martin Heinrich Klaproth
German chemist (1743-1817)
Mary Somerville
Scottish scientist, writer and polymath (1780–1872)
Mary Wollstonecraft
English writer and intellectual (1759–1797)
Mary-Anne Paulzzze Lavoisier
French chemist and painter (1758-1836)
Mathurin Jacques Brisson
French zoologist and natural philosopher
Michael Faraday
British scientist (1791–1867)
Michel Chasles
French mathematician (1793–1880)
Michel Eugène Chevreul
French chemist (1786-1889)
Mikhail Lomonosov
Russian polymath (1711-1765)
Mirza Ghalib
Indian poet (1797-1869)
Montesquieu
French philosopher (1689–1755)
Motoori Norinaga
Japanese scholar and philosopher (1730–1801)
Mungo Park
Scottish naturalist and explorer of the African continent
Nassau William Senior
British lawyer and economist (1790-1864)
Nevil Maskelyne
fifth Astronomer Royal (*1765 – †1811)
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux
French poet and critic (1636–1711)
Nicolas Carnot
French physicist, the "father of thermodynamics" (1796–1832)
Nicolas Fouquet
French politician (1615-1680)
Nicolas Leblanc
French chemist
Nicolas Louis de Lacaille
French astronomer
Nicolas Steno
Pioneer in anatomy and geology, bishop (1638–1686)
Nicole-Reine Lepaute
French astronomer (1723-1788)
Nicolás Joseph Jacquin
chemist, physician and botanist from the Netherlands (1727-1817)
Nicéphore Niépce
French inventor and photographer (1765-1833)
Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky
Russian mathematician (1792–1856)
Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig
Danish Lutheran pastor, theologian, hymn-writer and educator (1783-1872)
Nikolay Karamzin
Russian writer, poet, critic
Noah Webster
American lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English-language spelling reformer, writer,...
Novalis
German poet and writer (1772-1801)
Ole Rømer
Danish astronomer (*1644 – †1710)
Oliver Goldsmith
Anglo-Irish writer, poet, and physician (d. 1774)
Olof Swartz
Swedish botanist & taxonomist (1760 - 1818)
Olympe de Gouges
French playwright and political activist (1748–1793)
Otto Friedrich Müller
Danish zoologist (1730-1784)
Otto von Guericke
German scientist, inventor, and politician (1602-1686)
Paolo Ruffini
Italian mathematician and physician (1765-1845)
Pavel Jozef Šafárik
Slovak poet, linguist, literature historian, publicist, educator, publicist,...
Percy Bysshe Shelley
British Romantic poet (1792–1822)
Peter Simon Pallas
German zoologist and botanist (1741–1811)
Philippe Pinel
French psychiatrist (1745–1826)
Pierre Bayle
French philosopher and writer (1647–1706)
Pierre Bouguer
French astronomer and mathematician (1698-1758)
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Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre
French naturalist (1752–1804)
Pierre Louis Dulong
French scientist (1785-1838)
Pierre Méchain
French mathematician and astronomer (1744-1804)
Pierre de Fermat
French mathematician and lawyer
Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis
French mathematician, philosopher and man of letters
Pierre-Simon Laplace
French mathematician and astronomer (1749–1827)
Pieter Boddaert
Dutch physician and naturalist (1730-1795)
Pyotr Vyazemsky
leading personality of the Golden Age of Russian poetry (1792–1878)
Ram Mohan Roy
Indian religious, social, and educational reformer, and humanitarian
Rasmus Rask
Danish linguist
René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur
French scientist
René Just Haüy
French mineralogist
René Laennec
French physician, inventor of stethoscope (1781-1826)
René Lesson
French surgeon, naturalist, ornithologist, and herpetologist (1794-1849)
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Richard Cantillon
Irish-French economist and banker
Robert Boyle
Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, and inventor
Robert Brown
Scottish botanist (1773-1858), discoverer of the cell nucleus and of Brownian Motion...
Robert Hooke
English natural philosopher, architect and polymath (1635 — 1703)
Robert Kerr
Scottish scientific writer and translator (1757–1813)
Robert Morrison
British evangelist and first Christian Protestant missionary to China (1782-1834)
Robert Owen
Welsh textile manufacturer and social reformer (1771–1858)
Robert Southey
English romantic poet (1774–1843)
Roger Cotes
English mathematician
Rudolf Erich Raspe
German author and scientist (1736–1794)
Ruđer Josip Bošković
Croat physicist (1711–1787)
Samuel Adams
American statesman, political philosopher, governor of Massachusetts and Founding...
Samuel Finley Breese Morse
American inventor and painter (1791–1872)
Samuel Hahnemann
German physician known for creating homeopathy
Samuel Johnson
English writer and lexicographer (1709–1784)
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
English poet, literary critic and philosopher (1772–1834)
Samuel von Pufendorf
German philosopher (1632–1694)
Sequoyah
Cherokee silversmith and creator of the Cherokee syllabary
Siméon Denis Poisson
French mathematician, mechanician and physicist (1781–1840)
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Smithson Tennant
British chemist (1761-1815)
Sophie Germain
French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher (1776-1831)
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Mexican writer, philosopher, playwright and poet
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Stephen Gray
British chemist, physicist, astronomer
Stephen Hales
British scientist (1677-1761)
Sándor Kőrösi Csoma
Hungarian philologist and orientalist (1784-1842)
Thomas Bayes
British mathematician and Presbyterian minister (1702-1761)
Thomas Browne
English polymath and author (1605–1682)
Thomas Carlyle
Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher (1795–1881)
Thomas De Quincey
British author (1785-1859)
Thomas Gray
English poet and classical scholar (1716–1771)
Thomas Jefferson
president of the United States from 1801 to 1809 (1743–1826)
Thomas Paine
American Founding Father, philosopher, and political activist (1737–1809)
Thomas Robert Malthus
British political economist (1766–1834)
Thomas Young
English polymath (1773-1829)
Tobias Smollett
18th-century poet and author from Scotland
Torbern Bergman
Swedish chemist
Valentin Haüy
founder of the first school for the blind
Valentin Vodnik
Slovenian writer
Vasily Tatishchev
Russian historian (1686-1750)
Vasily Zhukovsky
Russian poet (1783-1852)
Vincenzo Viviani
Italian scientist (1622-1703)
Voltaire
French writer, historian and philosopher (1694–1778)
Vuk Karadžić
Serbian philologist and linguist
Walter Scott
Scottish novelist, poet and playwright (1771–1832)
Washington Irving
American writer, historian and diplomat (1783-1859)
Wilhelm Beer
Astronomer and banker (1797-1850)
Wilhelm Grimm
German author, philologist, collector of fairy tales and legends (1786–1859)
Wilhelm von Humboldt
Prussian philosopher, government official, diplomat, and educator (1767–1835)
William Blake
English poet and artist (1757–1827)
William Cranch Bond
American astronomer (1789-1859)
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William Elford Leach
English zoologist and marine biologist (1790/1–1836)
William Godwin
English journalist, political philosopher and novelist
William Herschel
German-born British astronomer and composer (1738–1822)
William Hyde Wollaston
English chemist and physicist (1766–1828)
William Jones
Anglo-Welsh philologist and scholar of ancient India (1746–1794)
William Jones
Welsh mathematician who named 'pi' (1675–1749)
William Lassell
English merchant and astronomer (1799–1880)
William Murdoch
Scottish engineer and inventor (1754-1839)
William Penn
English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, early Quaker and founder of the...
William Petty
English scientist, philosopher, statistician and economist (1623-1688)
William Prout
British chemist (1785-1850)
William Whewell
English philosopher and historian of science (1794–1866)
Xavier Bichat
French anatomist and pathologist (1771–1802)
Yekaterina Dashkova
Russian author and woman of letters (1743-1810)
Émilie du Châtelet
Era chiná physicist, and author (1706-1749)
Étienne Bonnot de Condillac
French academic
Étienne Bézout
French mathematician (1730-1783)
Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
French naturalist who established the principle of "unity of composition" (1772-1844)
Étienne-Louis Malus
French officer, engineer, physicist, and mathematician (1775-1812)
İbrahim Müteferrika
Ottoman polymath