-
1455
Gutenberg prints the first Bible
The Gutenberg Bible was among the earliest major books printed using mass-produced movable metal type in Europe. It marked the start of the "Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of printed books in the West. -
1473
Nicolas Copernicus publishes On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres
Published just before his death, placed the sun at the center of the universe and argued that the Earth moved across the heavens as one of the planets. -
1492
Columbus discovers the new world
Columbus set sail from Palos, Spain, with three small ships, the Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Nina. On October 12, the expedition reached land, probably Watling Island in the Bahamas. -
1499
Birth of Lorenzo de' Medici
Lorenzo de' Medici was an Italian statesman, de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic and the most powerful and enthusiastic patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. -
1501
Michelangelo sculpts the David
It's 5.16 meters (almost 17 feet, a shy short at 16 feet and 11.15 inches). It's made up of one single block of marble from the quarries in Carrara in Tuscany, one of the whitest in the world. -
1503
Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa
The Mona Lisa is a half-length portrait painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci that has been described as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about. -
1517
Martin Luther posts 95 Theses on the door of the castle
On this day in 1517, the priest and scholar Martin Luther approaches the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, and nails a piece of paper to it containing the 95 revolutionary opinions that would begin the Protestant Reformation. -
1532
Niccolo Machiavelli writes The Prince
The Prince is a 16th-century political treatise by the Italian diplomat and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli. From correspondence a version appears to have been distributed in 1513, using a Latin title, De Principatibus. -
1534
Founding of the Society of Jesus by Ignatius of Loyola
The Jesuit movement was founded by Ignatius de Loyola, a Spanish soldier turned priest, in August 1534. The first Jesuits–Ignatius and six of his students–took vows of poverty and chastity and made plans to work for the conversion of Muslims. -
1563
John Calvin publishes Institutes of the Christian Religion
Institutes of the Christian Religion is John Calvin's seminal work of Protestant systematic theology. -
1564
William Shakespeare is born
William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's greatest dramatist. -
Galileo invents the thermometer
Although named after the 16th–17th-century physicist Galileo, the thermometer described in this article was not invented by him. Galileo did invent a thermometer, called Galileo's air thermometer (more accurately termed a thermoscope).
