Leading Men of Science
A. D. 800 to A. D. 1800
| Name. | Place and date of birth. | Died. | Speciality. |
| Geber (Djafer). | Mesopotamia, 830. | .... | Earliest known Chemist. |
| Avicenna (Ibu Sina). | Bokhara, 980. | 1037 | Expositor of Aristotle; Physician and Geologist. |
| Averroes (Ibu Roshd). | Spain, 1126. | 1198 | Translator and Commentator of Aristotle. |
| Roger Bacon. | Ilchester, 1214. | 1292 | First English Experimentalist. |
| Christopher Columbus. | Genoa, 1445. | 1506 | Discoverer of America, 1492. |
| Vasco de Gama. | Sines, 1469. (Portugal.) | 1525 | Sailed round the South of Africa, 1497. |
| Ferdinand Magellan. | Ville de Sabroza, 1470. | 1521 | Circumnavigator of the Globe, 1519. |
| Nicholas Copernicus. | Thorn, 1473. (Prussia.) | 1543 | Discoverer of the Sun as the Centre of our System. |
| Andreas Vesalius. | Brussels, 1514. | 1564 | Human Anatomist. |
| Conrad Gesner. | Zurich, 1516. | 1565 | Classification of Plants and Animals. |
| Andrew Caesalpino. | Arezzo, 1519. (Tuscany.) | 1603 | Comparative Botanist. |
| Tycho Brahe. | Knudstrup, 1546. (Sweden.) | 1601 | Collector of Astronomical Data. |
| Giordano Bruno. | Nola, 1550. | 1600 | Expounder of the Copernican System and Philosopher. |
| Francis, Lord Bacon. | London, 1561. | 1626 | Expounder of the Inductive Philosophy. |
| Galileo Galilei. | Pisa, 1564. | 1642 | Numerous Astronomical Discoveries. |
| Johann Kepler. | Würtemburg, 1571. | 1630 | Discoverer of the Three Laws of Planetary Movements. |
| Thomas Hobbes. | Malmesbury, 1588. | 1679 | One of the Founders of Modern Ethics. |
| René Descartes. | La Haye, 1596. (Touraine.) | 1650 | Resolution of all Phenomena into Terms of Matter and Motion. (Dualism.) |
| Benedict Spinoza. | Amsterdam, 1632. | 1677 | Resolution of all Phenomena into Terms of Substance=God. (Monism.) |
| John Locke. | Wrington, 1632. (Somerset.) | 1704 | Moral Philosopher. |
| Gottfrid Wilhelm Leibnitz. | Leipsic, 1646. | 1716 | Philosopher and Mathematician. |
| Sir Isaac Newton. | Woolsthorpe, 1642. (Lincoln.) | 1727 | Expounder of the Law of Gravitation. |
| Edmund Halley. | London, 1656. | 1741 | Astronomer. |
| David Hartley. | Illingworth, 1705. | 1757 | Psychology of Man. |
| Carl von Linnaeus. | Roeshult, 1707. (Sweden.) | 1778 | Systematic Botany and Zoology. |
| Count de Buffon. | Burgundy, 1707. | 1788 | Contributions from Biology toward Theory of Evolution and Geology. |
| David Hume. | Edinburgh, 1711. | 1776 | Philosophy of the Anti-supernatural; all Science Converging in Man. |
| Immanuel Kant. | Königsberg, 1724. | 1804 | Formulator of the Nebular Theory. |
| James Hutton. | Edinburgh, 1726. | 1797 | Geologist: Uniformitarian. |
| Erasmus Darwin. | Elton, 1731. (Lincolnshire.) | 1802 | (See Buffon.) |
| Sir William Herschel. | Hanover, 1738. | 1822 | Astronomer. |
| Jean Baptiste Lamarck. | Bazantium, 1744. | 1829 | Biologist: Contributions against fixity of Species. |
| Marquis de Laplace. | Beaumont-en-Ange, 1749. | 1827 | Expounder of the Nebular Theory. |
| Conrad Sprengel. | Pomerania, 1766. | 1833 | Botanist. |
| John Dalton. | Eaglesfield, 1767. (Cumberland.) | 1844 | Formulator of the Modern Atomic Theory. |
| Baron Cuvier. | Montbeliard, 1769. | 1832 | Palæontologist and Anatomist. |
| Geoff. St. Hilaire. | Etampes, 1772. | 1844 | Zoologist. |
| Alexander von Humboldt. | Berlin, 1769. | 1859 | Explorer. |
| William Smith. | Churchill, 1769. (Oxon.) | 1840 | Geologist: mapped Strata of Great Britain. |
| Boucher de Perthes. | 1788 | 1868 | Discoverer of Evidences of Man’s Antiquity. |
| Sir William Hooker. | Norwich, 1785. | 1865 | Botanist. |
| Sir Charles Lyell. | Kinnordy, 1797. (Forfarshire.) | 1875 | Geologist: developed Hutton’s Theory. |
| Ernst von Baer. | Esthonia, 1792. | 1876 | Embryologist: Law of Organic Development. |
| Sir Richard Owen. | Lancaster, 1804. | 1892 | Palæontologist. |
| Hugo von Mohl. | Germany, 1805. | 1872 | Discoverer of Protoplasm. |
| Theodor Schwann. | Neuss, 1810. (Prussia.) | 1882 | Founder of the Cell Theory. |
| Hermann von Helmholtz. | Potsdam, 1821. | 1894 | Formulator of the Doctrine of the Conservation of Energy. |