Georges Cuvier was a renowned French naturalist and zoologist considered the founder of comparative anatomy and vertebrate paleontology. He originated a system of zoological classification that comprised four phyla based on differences in s...

Alexander von Humboldt was a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher, and linguist, Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835). Humboldt's quantitative work on botanical geography was foundational...

Saint-Just was a military and political leader during the French Revolution. The youngest of the deputies elected to the National Convention in 1792, Saint-Just rose quickly in their ranks and became a major leader of the government of the...

John Dalton was an English chemist, meteorologist and physicist. He is best known for his pioneering work in the development of modern atomic theory, and his research into colour blindness. He developed the first useful atomic theory of...

William Wilberforce was a British politician, a philanthropist and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becoming the independent Me...

Gilbert Du Motier, marquis de La Fayette was a French aristocrat and military officer. La Fayette is considered a national hero in both France and the United States for his participation in the American and French revolutions. In 2002, he w...

Louis XVI was King of France and Navarre from 1774 until 1791, and then King of the French in 1791-1792. Suspended and arrested during the insurrection of the 10th of August, he was tried by the National Convention, found guilty of treason...

Vice-Admiral William Bligh FRS RN was an officer of the British Royal Navy and a colonial administrator. A notorious mutiny occurred during his command of HMS Bounty in 1789; Bligh and his loyal men made a remarkable voyage to Timor, after...

In 1795 Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre was admitted to the Bureau des Longitudes, becoming President in 1800. In 1801 he was appointed secretary to the Académie des Sciences making him the most powerful figure in science in France. In 17...

German poet, novelist, playwright, courtier, and natural philosopher, one of the greatest figures in Western literature. Throughout his life Goethe was interested in a variety of studies and pursuits. He made important discoveries in connec...

Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier was a French nobleman and chemist central to the 18th-century Chemical Revolution and a large influence on both the histories of chemistry and biology. He is widely considered to be the "Father of Modern Chemist...

Ivan VI Antonovich of Russia was Emperor of Russia in 1740–41. He was only two months old when he was proclaimed emperor and his mother named regent. Scarcely a year later his first cousin twice-removed, Elizabeth, seized the throne in...

Galvani was born, educated and taught anatomy in Bologna. The Italian physiologist made one of the early discoveries that advanced the study of electricity. His work with frogs led to his discovery in 1781 of galvanic or voltaic electricity...

Johann Heinrich Lambert (Jean-Henri Lambert in French) was a Swiss polymath who made important contributions to the subjects of mathematics, physics (particularly optics), philosophy, astronomy and map projections. Edward Tufte calls him an...

Guillaume Le Gentil was a French astronomer. He discovered what are now known as the Messier objects M32, M36 and M38, as well as the nebulosity in M8, and he was the first to catalogue the dark nebula sometimes known as Le Gentil 3 (in the...