Historical Archives & Public Figures

William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham

Great Britain

1708 – 1778 (69 years old)

Revered as 'The Great Commoner', British wartime Prime Minister whose global grand strategy in the Seven Years' War secured British dominance in North America and India.

London, United Kingdom

38 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

40

🕯️ 910

Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné)

Carl von Linné

Sweden

23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778 (70 years old)

Swedish naturalist whose Systema Naturae founded modern biological taxonomy, introducing binomial nomenclature (genus and species, e.g. Homo sapiens) to classify all living organisms.

Uppsala, Sweden

40 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

13

🕯️ 0

Ahmad al-Damanhuri

أحمد الدمنهوري

Egypt

1689 – 1778 (89 years old)

Remarkable 18th-century polymath and Grand Imam of Al-Azhar who was simultaneously a practicing physician, mathematician, and philosopher, lecturing on anatomy and algebra at Al-Azhar.

Cairo, Egypt

13 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

32

🕯️ 0

Albrecht von Haller

Switzerland

1708 – 1777 (69 years old)

Swiss polymath, anatomist, and poet celebrated as the 'Father of Modern Experimental Physiology', who discovered the distinction between muscular irritability (contractility) and nervous sensibility in animal tissues.

Bern, Switzerland

32 Full Record →

Philosophy & Thought

42

🕯️ 820

David Hume

Great Britain

7 May 1711 – 25 August 1776 (65 years old)

Foremost thinker of the Scottish Enlightenment whose radical empiricism dismantled the rational basis of causality, personal identity, and induction, waking Kant from his 'dogmatic slumber'.

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

42 Full Record →

Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

18

🕯️ 0

Ali Bey al-Kabir

علي بك الكبير

Georgia

1728 – 1773 (45 years old)

Mamluk ruler of Egypt who declared independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1768, minted coins in his own name, conquered the Hijaz and Syria, and sought to modernize Egyptian military power.

Cairo, Egypt

18 Full Record →

Humanitarian & Peace

39

🕯️ 0

John Woolman

United States

1720 – 1772 (51 years old)

Prédicateur quaker itinérant américain, artisan majeur de l'abandon de l'esclavage par la Société des Amis et pionnier de la justice économique.

York, United Kingdom

39 Full Record →

Philosophy & Thought

6

🕯️ 0

Emanuel Swedenborg

Sweden

1688-01-29 – 1772-03-29 (84 years old)

Polymathic Swedish scientist, metallurgist, and inventor who at age fifty-six experienced visionary awakenings, authoring monumental theological treatises like 'Heaven and Hell'.

Uppsala, Sweden

6 Full Record →

Philosophy & Thought

6

🕯️ 0

Claude-Adrien Helvétius

France

1715 – 1771 (56 years old)

French Enlightenment philosopher whose sensationalist 1758 treatise De l'esprit was publicly condemned by the Sorbonne and burned by the Parlement of Paris, asserting that human intelligence is shaped solely by education.

Paris, France

6 Full Record →

Religion

3

🕯️ 0

Marguerite d'Youville

Marie-Marguerite Dufrost de Lajemmerais

Canada

1701 – 1771 (70 years old)

First Canadian-born person canonized as a Catholic saint, who overcame poverty and widowhood to found the Grey Nuns and revitalize the General Hospital of Montreal.

Varennes (Quebec), Canada

3 Full Record →

Religious Figures & Theologians

47

🕯️ 0

George Whitefield

Great Britain

1714 – 1770 (55 years old)

English evangelist whose booming voice, dramatic oratory, and thirteen transatlantic journeys fueled the First Great Awakening across Britain and the American colonies.

Newburyport, Massachusetts, United States

47 Full Record →

Arts & Music

31

🕯️ 0

François Boucher

France

1703 – 1770 (66 years old)

Premier French Rococo painter, engraver, and tapestry designer whose pastoral mythologies, sensuous pastels, and portraits of Madame de Pompadour epitomized the elegance of Louis XV.

Paris, France

31 Full Record →

Arts & Music

28

🕯️ 0

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Giambattista Tiepolo

Italy

1696 – 1770 (74 years old)

Supreme decorative fresco genius of the 18th century whose breathtaking ceiling in the Würzburg Residenz created the largest continuous ceiling fresco in the world.

Madrid, Spain

28 Full Record →

Resistance & Human Rights

41

🕯️ 0

Chico Rei

Galanga (Chico Rei)

Congo

c. 1700 – c. 1770 (70 years old)

African monarch (Galanga) captured into slavery in Minas Gerais who hid gold dust in his hair to purchase his own freedom, bought the richest gold mine in Ouro Preto (Encardideira), and purchased the freedom of hundreds of his enslaved countryfolk.

Ouro Preto (Minas Gerais), Brazil

41 Full Record →

Resistance & Human Rights

35

🕯️ 0

Pontiac

Obwandiyag

United States

c. 1720 – 1769 (~49 years old)

Ottawa war leader who organized Pontiac's War, a monumental multi-tribal rebellion against British post-Seven Years' War military occupation in the Great Lakes.

Detroit, United States

35 Full Record →

Religious Figures & Theologians

36

🕯️ 0

Hakuin Ekaku

白隠慧鶴

Japan

1686 – 1769 (82 years old)

Great reformer of Japanese Rinzai Zen, painter, and calligrapher who systematized koan study and created the legendary riddle 'What is the sound of one hand clapping?'.

Numazu (Shizuoka), Japan

36 Full Record →

Arts & Music

30

🕯️ 0

Giovanni Antonio Canal

Canaletto

Italy

1697 – 1768 (70 years old)

Foremost Venetian veduta (view) painter whose sparkling, geometrically precise paintings of the Grand Canal and London palaces defined the visual souvenir of the Grand Tour.

Venice, Italy

30 Full Record →

Politics

3

🕯️ 0

Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville

Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, sieur de Bienville

Canada

1680 – 1767 (87 years old)

Canadian-born explorer and statesman who accompanied his brother Iberville to the Mississippi Delta, founded New Orleans in 1718, and served four terms as Governor of Louisiana.

Paris (Memorial in Montreal), France

3 Full Record →

Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries