CivAtlas / Historical Figures

Lives through time and place

Follow selected lives through documented places, turning points and connections.

All figures

  1. 1643–1727 (Gregorian; born 1642 in the English calendar then in use) · Science and medicine

    Isaac Newton

    From a Lincolnshire farmhouse to a mathematical account of motion.

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  2. 1809–1882 · Science and medicine

    Charles Darwin

    A voyage supplied questions; years of study shaped an explanation.

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  3. 1867–1934 · Science and medicine

    Marie Curie

    From Warsaw to Paris: research, teaching and medical service.

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  4. 551–479 BCE · traditional chronology · Thought and culture

    Confucius

    Teaching and government across the states of early China

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  5. 1452–1519 · Thought and culture

    Leonardo da Vinci

    Drawing linked painting, observation and the making of things.

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  6. c. 600 or 602–664 · birth year disputed · Journeys and exchange

    Xuanzang

    From Buddhist study abroad to collaborative translation

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  7. 1304–c. 1368/1369 · 1377 also proposed · Journeys and exchange

    Ibn Battuta

    A pilgrim’s journeys, recalled and edited as a book

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  8. 1918–2013 · Public life

    Nelson Mandela

    From the Eastern Cape to imprisonment and democratic government

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