Curated playlist
17th-century writers in Latin
- Galileo GalileiGalileo watched four points of light move beside Jupiter. In January 1610 he realized they were moons circling it.
- René DescartesRené Descartes had three dreams in a heated room in 1619. He believed they revealed a new philosophy to him.
- John MiltonJohn Milton sold Paradise Lost for five pounds. The blind poet handed it to a publisher in April 1667.
- James VI and IJames VI and I was already a king at thirteen months old. His mother was forced out and his father was murdered.
- Baruch SpinozaBaruch Spinoza was expelled from his Jewish community at twenty-three, and it still refuses him back.
- Jean RacineJean Racine secretly sent his hit play to a rival theater company. Molière could not forgive the betrayal.
- Isaac NewtonIsaac Newton was born so small, he said, that he could have fit inside a quart mug.
- Johannes KeplerJohannes Kepler refused to accept a Mars orbit that was off by eight arcminutes. An ellipse finally fit.
- Christiaan HuygensChristiaan Huygens spotted Saturn's largest moon, Titan, in 1655. A probe that landed there in 2005 bears his name.
- Francis BaconFrancis Bacon may have died after stuffing a hen with snow. He wanted to test if cold could preserve meat like salt.
- Carolus ClusiusCarolus Clusius saw tulips suddenly grow flame patterns and called it "breaking."
- William CamdenIn 2023, imaging revealed passages William Camden had covered up in his history of Elizabeth.
- Pierre GassendiIn 1631, Pierre Gassendi became the first person on record to watch a planet cross the Sun. It was Mercury.
- Ole WormOle Worm proved in 1638 that unicorn horns were really narwhal tusks. Then he fed ground narwhal horn to poisoned pets.