Curated playlist
Writers about religion and science
- VoltaireThe line Voltaire is most quoted for was written in 1906, long after he died.
- Thomas AquinasThomas Aquinas's family held him prisoner for nearly a year. At nineteen he chose to join the Dominican preachers.
- Stephen KingA minivan hit Stephen King on a Maine road in June 1999. A dog in the back distracted the driver.
- Mark TwainMark Twain predicted he would die with Halley's Comet, and he did. He died the day after it passed closest to the Sun.
- C. S. LewisC. S. Lewis died the same afternoon President Kennedy was shot. His death was almost swallowed by the news from Dallas.
- Immanuel KantA Prussian king's censors forbade Immanuel Kant to speak publicly about religion. The philosopher answered in 1798.
- Galileo GalileiGalileo watched four points of light move beside Jupiter. In January 1610 he realized they were moons circling it.
- Kurt VonnegutKurt Vonnegut survived the bombing of Dresden by hiding in an underground meat locker.
- René DescartesRené Descartes had three dreams in a heated room in 1619. He believed they revealed a new philosophy to him.
- Karl MarxKarl Marx left an estate valued at just 250 pounds when he died in 1883. He died stateless in London at 64.
- Leonhard EulerLeonhard Euler kept producing math after going almost totally blind. In 1775 he wrote about one paper a week.
- Carl SaganCarl Sagan once asked a librarian for a book on stars and got one about movie stars.
- Georg Wilhelm Friedrich HegelHegel watched Napoleon ride out of Jena the day before the 1806 battle. The philosopher called him "this world-soul."
- Isaac NewtonIsaac Newton was born so small, he said, that he could have fit inside a quart mug.
- Francis BaconFrancis Bacon may have died after stuffing a hen with snow. He wanted to test if cold could preserve meat like salt.
- Claude Lévi-StraussClaude Lévi-Strauss died in 2009, and for four days the world did not know.
- Isaac AsimovIsaac Asimov coined the word "robotics" in a 1941 story, thinking it was just a natural term.
- TaixuA Chinese Buddhist monk questioned whether God exists. Taixu asked how an all-powerful being could have a beginning.
- Pierre GassendiIn 1631, Pierre Gassendi became the first person on record to watch a planet cross the Sun. It was Mercury.
- David AttenboroughAt 11, David Attenborough sold newts to a university for three pence each.
- Al-KhwarizmiThe words algebra and algorithm both come from one scholar, al-Khwarizmi. One came from his book, one from his name.
- Michael FaradayMichael Faraday turned down a knighthood to stay plain Mr Faraday. He also twice declined to lead the Royal Society.
- James George FrazerJames George Frazer wrote about world cultures without ever doing fieldwork. He relied on mailed questionnaires.
- Fritjof CapraFritjof Capra's The Tao of Physics was finished one month after a discovery it missed.
- Michel WeberMichel Weber opened Belgium's first philosophical counseling service. He champions process philosophy.
- Theodosius DobzhanskyTheodosius Dobzhansky went from collecting butterflies in Kiev to writing a landmark book on evolution.