enlightenment thinkers

nicolae copernicus

Renaissance polymath from Torun, Poland. He was an active mathematician, and his biggest accomplishment was proposing the heliocentric system, in which planets orbit around the sun.

johannes kepler

German astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer. He was from weil der stadt germany. His biggest accomplishment was discovering that the Earth and planets travel about the sun in elliptical orbits.

galileo galilei

Italian astronomer born in the city of Pisa. He discovered the laws of free fall, projectile motion, and the concept of inertia.

francis bacon

 English philosopher born in York House Strand. His biggest accomplishment was serving as attorney general and lord chancellor of England.

rene descartes

French philosopher who was born in Descartes, France. His biggest accomplishments were developing rules for deductive reasoning, developing a system for using letters as mathematical variables, and discovering how to plot points on a Cartesian plane.

isaac newton

English polymath and mathematician who was born in Woolsthrope Manor, United Kingdom. His biggest accomplishment was forming the laws of motion and gravitation.

zacharias jannsen

Dutch spectacle maker who lived most of his life in Middleburg. His biggest accomplishment was making one of the earliest compound microscopes.

evangelista torricelli

Italian physicist and mathematician. He was born in Rome Italy. His biggest accomplishment was inventing the barometer.

andreas vesalius

anatomist and physician born in Brussels Belgium his biggest accomplishment was writing The De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem which is one of the most influential books on human anatomy.

william harvey

 English physician born in Folkestone United Kingdom. His biggest accomplishment was being the first person to correctly describe blood circulation in the body.

edward jenner

English physician and scientist who pioneered the concept of vaccines. He was born in Berkeley United Kingdom.

robert boyle

Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, he was born in Lismore Ireland. His biggest accomplishment was investing in the vacuum pump.

joseph priestly

English chemist and natural philosopher he was born in Birstall United Kingdom his biggest accomplishment was inventing carbonated water.

antoine lavoisier

French nobleman and chemist he was born in Paris France his biggest accomplishment was establishing the law of conservation of mass.

thomas hobbes

English philosopher from Malmesbury, United Kingdom. He was best known for his book Leviathan which is about how he expounds an influential formulation of social contract theory.

john locke

English philosopher and physician from Wrington, United Kingdom. His most famous work was an essay concerning human understanding, he developed the ideas of human knowledge.

voltaire

French enlightenment writer from Paris France. His biggest accomplishment was the fictitious lettres philosophiques a series of essays on English government and society.

baron de montesquieu

French judge and historian from La brède, France his biggest accomplishment was making the theory of separation of powers which is now implemented in many constitutions throughout the world.

jean jacques rousseau

Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer from Geneva Switzerland. His biggest accomplishment was his work on the social contract which questioned the purpose and place of government.

casare beccaria

 Italian criminologist, jurist, and philosopher from Milan, Italy his biggest accomplishment was his work on crimes and punishments in which he advocated an end to torture and the death penalty.

mary wollstonecraft

British writer, philosopher, and advocate for women's rights she was from Spitalfields London. She wrote a vindication of the rights of women in 1792