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Jan 1, 1449
Birth of Lorenzo de’ Medici
the most powerful and enthusiastic patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. -
1455
Gutenberg prints the first Bible
Johann Gutenberg 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 was originally commissioned as one of a series of statues of prophets to be positioned along the roofline of the east end of Florence Cathedral, but was instead placed in a public square, outside the Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of civic government in Florence, in the Piazza della Signoria where it was unveiled on 8 September 1504. -
Oct 31, 1517
Martin Luther posts 95 Theses on the door of Castle Church
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
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. -
Jul 6, 1535
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. -
1543
Nicolas Copernicus publishes On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres
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
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. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" -
Galileo invents a thermometer
Although named after the 16th–17th-century physicist Galileo, the thermometer described in this article was not invented by him.
