Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Science

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Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon

Georges-Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon

France

1707 – 1788 (80 years old)

Monumental French naturalist, mathematician, and cosmologist who directed the Jardin du Roi (Muséum national d'histoire naturelle) and authored the monumental 36-volume Histoire Naturelle, establishing modern natural history.

Montbard (Burgundy), France

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Religious Figures & Theologians

37

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Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley

Great Britain

1707 – 1788 (80 years old)

Prolific English hymnographer and co-founder of Methodism who penned over 6,500 hymns, including 'Hark! The Herald Angels Sing', 'And Can It Be', and 'Love Divine, All Loves Excelling'.

London, United Kingdom

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Military Leaders & Strategists

39

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François Joseph Paul, Comte de Grasse

François-Joseph Paul, comte de Grasse

France

1722 – 1788 (65 years old)

French naval admiral whose victory over the British Royal Navy at the Battle of the Chesapeake sealed the fate of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown.

Paris, France

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Military

3

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François-Gaston de Lévis

François-Gaston, duc de Lévis

France

1719 – 1787 (68 years old)

Second-in-command to Montcalm who defeated the British at the Battle of Sainte-Foy in 1760 and ordered the burning of the French regimental flags on Île Sainte-Hélène rather than surrender them.

Arras (Memorial in Lévis), France

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Arts & Music

2,504

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Christoph Willibald Gluck

Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck

Germany

1714 – 1787 (73 years old)

Bohemian-German composer who reformed classical opera, subordinating vocal display to dramatic truth and theatrical unity.

Vienna, Austria

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Religious Figures & Theologians

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Ahmad al-Dardir

أحمد الدردير (أحمد بن محمد العدوي)

Egypt

1715 – 1786 (71 years old)

Supreme 18th-century Maliki jurist, theologian, and spiritual reformer of Al-Azhar whose legal compendium al-Sharh al-Saghir is studied throughout North and West Africa, known as the champion of Cairo's common folk.

Cairo, Egypt

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Military Leaders & Strategists

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Major General Nathanael Greene

Nathanael Greene

Thirteen Colonies (British America)

1742 – 1786 (43 years old)

Major General of the Continental Army and George Washington's most talented military strategist whose Southern Campaign of attrition wore out Cornwallis.

Savannah (Georgia), United States

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Science

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Carl Wilhelm Scheele

Carl Wilhelm Scheele

Sweden

1742-12-09 – 1786-05-21 (43 years old)

Genius Swedish pharmaceutical chemist who discovered oxygen (fire air), chlorine, molybdenum, tungsten, and barium, celebrated by Isaac Asimov as 'hard-luck Scheele'.

Köping, Sweden

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Philosophy & Thought

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Moses Mendelssohn

משה מנדלסזון

Germany

1729 – 1786 (56 years old)

German-Jewish philosopher hailed as the 'German Plato', leader of the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah), who translated the Torah into German and advocated religious tolerance in Jerusalem.

Berlin, Germany

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Literature & Poetry

5

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Johan Herman Wessel

Johan Herman Wessel

Norway

1742-10-06 – 1785-12-29 (43 years old)

Immortal Norwegian satirical poet and dramatist who became the witty centerpiece of The Norwegian Society in Copenhagen and penned the classic parody Kierlighed uden Strømper.

Copenhagen, Denmark

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Philosophy & Thought

5

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Gabriel Bonnot de Mably

Gabriel Bonnot de Mably

France

1709 – 1785 (76 years old)

Influential French political philosopher and historian, elder brother of Condillac, whose communal egalitarian critiques of private property and defense of popular sovereignty deeply influenced the French Revolution.

Paris, France

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Literature & Poetry

45

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Samuel Johnson (Dr. Johnson)

Samuel Johnson

Great Britain

18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784 (75 years old)

Preeminent English literary titan, moralist, and conversationalist who single-handedly compiled the monumental 1755 Dictionary of the English Language and inspired James Boswell's immortal biography.

London, Great Britain

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Science

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Torbern Bergman

Torbern Olof Bergman

Sweden

1735-03-20 – 1784-07-08 (49 years old)

Pioneering Swedish chemist and mineralogist who developed the largest tables of chemical affinities and established systematic qualitative chemical analysis.

Medevi, Sweden

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Humanitarian & Peace

33

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Anthony Benezet

Antoine Benezet

France

1713 – 1784 (71 years old)

French-born American Quaker educator and philosopher hailed as the 'Father of Atlantic Abolitionism', who founded the first public school for Black children in Philadelphia and convinced American and British Quakers to outlaw slavery.

Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), United States

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Literature & Poetry

40

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Yosa Buson

与謝蕪村 (Taniguchi Buson)

Japan

1716 – 1784 (68 years old)

Edo-period Japanese haiku master and painter (1716–1784), celebrated alongside Basho and Issa as one of the 'Great Three' haiku poets, renowned for his visually stunning, painterly imagery and romantic nostalgia.

Sakyo-ku (Kyoto), Japan

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Philosophy & Thought

5

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Jean le Rond d'Alembert

Jean Le Rond d'Alembert

France

1717 – 1783 (65 years old)

Foremost French mathematician, physicist, and Enlightenment philosopher who co-founded and co-edited the monumental Encyclopédie alongside Denis Diderot, and formulated d'Alembert's principle in fluid mechanics.

Paris, France

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Sciences & Discovery

45

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Leonhard Euler

Leonhard Euler

Russia

15 April 1707 – 18 September 1783 (76 years old)

Most prolific mathematician in history whose Euler's identity ($e^{ipi} + 1 = 0$) is hailed as the most beautiful formula in mathematics, and who standardized modern mathematical notation.

Saint Petersburg, Russia

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Resistance & Human Rights

42

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Bartolina Sisa

Bartolina Sisa Vargas

Peru

1753 – 1782 (29 years old)

Aymara military commander, queen, and strategist who co-led the 1781 indigenous rebellion in Bolivia alongside her husband Tupac Katari, commanding troops during the Siege of La Paz; September 5 is celebrated as International Indigenous Women's Day in her honor.

La Paz, Bolivia

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