Curated playlist
Natural philosophers
- Immanuel KantA Prussian king's censors forbade Immanuel Kant to speak publicly about religion. The philosopher answered in 1798.
- AristotleOnly around a third of Aristotle's original writings survive, and none was meant to be published.
- Galileo GalileiGalileo watched four points of light move beside Jupiter. In January 1610 he realized they were moons circling it.
- Johann Wolfgang von GoetheWhen French soldiers broke into Goethe's home in 1806, his companion Christiane Vulpius defended it.
- René DescartesRené Descartes had three dreams in a heated room in 1619. He believed they revealed a new philosophy to him.
- 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.
- Francis BaconFrancis Bacon may have died after stuffing a hen with snow. He wanted to test if cold could preserve meat like salt.
- Robert HookeRobert Hooke built the air pump that made Boyle's Law possible. He also designed London's Monument to the Great Fire.
- LucretiusA Roman poem on atoms sat forgotten in a German monastery for over a thousand years.
- John AubreyWhile riding across Wiltshire in 1649, John Aubrey came upon the stones of Avebury. He later guided Charles II there.
- Giovanni Pico della MirandolaAt 23, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola offered to pay any scholar's way to Rome to debate his 900 theses.