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1202
Transmission of Greek Text during 4th Crusader
Opens the door to listening and discovery -
1449
Birth of Lorenzo de’ Medici
the most powerful and enthusiastic patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. -
1455
Gutenberg prints the first Bible
holds the distinction of being the inventor of the movable-type printing press -
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, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world -
1504
Michelangelo sculpts the David
David is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture created in marble between 1501 and 1504 by the Italian artist Michelangelo -
1516
Thomas More writes Utopia
Sir Thomas More, venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist -
1517
Martin Luther posts 95 Theses on the door of Castle Church
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. -
1534
King Henry VIII begins Protestant Anglican church
Under King Henry VIII in the 16th century, the Church of England broke with Rome, largely because Pope Clement VII refused to grant Henry an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. ... Upon Henry's death, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer began changes that allied the Church of England with the Reformation -
1543
Nicolas Copernicus publishes On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the revolutions of the heavenly spheres), written by Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) and 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 -
1564
William Shakespeare is born
According to tradition, the great English dramatist and poet William Shakespeare is born in Stratford-on-Avon on April 23, 1564. -
Galileo invents a thermometer
Although named after the 16th–17th-century physicist Galileo, the thermometer described in this article was not invented by him
