Renaissance (1300-1600)

  • Jan 1, 1449

    Birth of Lorenzo de’ Medici

    Birth of Lorenzo de’ Medici
    Born in Italy on January 1st 1449
  • 1455

    Gutenberg prints the first Bible

    Gutenberg prints the first Bible
    Johann Gutenberg holds the distinction of being the inventor of the movable-type printing press. In 1455, Gutenberg produced what is considered to be the first book ever printed: a Latin language Bible, printed in Mainz, Germany
  • 1503

    Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa

    Half length painting.
  • 1504

    Michelangelo sculpts the David

    Michelangelo sculpts the David
    Made out of marble.
  • 1517

    Martin Luther posts 95 Theses on the door of Castle Church

    Martin Luther posts 95 Theses on the door of Castle Church
    Martin Luther posts his 95 theses. 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

    Thomas More writes Utopia

    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. He was also a councillor to Henry VIII, and Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to 16 May 1532
  • 1534

    King Henry VIII begins Protestant Anglican church

    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

    Nicolas Copernicus publishes On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres
    De revolutionibus orbium coelestium. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) is the seminal work on the heliocentric theory of the Renaissance astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus
  • 1564

    William Shakespeare is born

    William Shakespeare is born
  • Galileo invents a thermometer

    Galileo invents a thermometer
    In 1593, Galileo Galilei discovered that the density of liquids (how much they contract and expand) reacts predictably to changes in temperature. ... Because his device did not have a numerical temperature scale, it is not technically considered a thermometer. This early thermometer is more precisely called a thermoscope.