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1449
Birth of Lorenzo de’ Medici
Lorenzo de' Medici was an Italian statesman and de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic, who was the most powerful and enthusiastic patron of the Renaissance. -
1455
Gutenberg prints the first Bible
The Gutenberg Bible was the first major book printed using mass-produced movable metal type in Europe. It marked the start of the "Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of the printed book in the West. -
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". The Mona Lisa is also one of the most valuable paintings in the world. -
1504
Michelangelo sculpts the David
David is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture created between 1501 and 1504 by Michelangelo. It is a 5.17 meter (17.0 ft) marble statue of a standing male nude. The statue represents the Biblical hero David, a favored subject in the art of Florence. -
1516
Thomas More writes Utopia
Sir Thomas More wrote Utopia in 1516. The work was written in Latin and it was published in Louvain (present-day Belgium). Utopia is a work of satire, indirectly criticizing Europe's political corruption and religious hypocrisy. More was a Catholic Humanist. -
1517
Martin Luther posts 95 Theses on the door of Castle Church
Acting on this belief, he wrote the “Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences,” also known as “The 95 Theses,” a list of questions and propositions for debate. Popular legend has it that on October 31, 1517 Luther defiantly nailed a copy of his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle church. -
1534
King Henry VIII begins Protestant Anglican church
In 1534 King Henry VIII declared himself to be supreme head of the Church of England. ... As a result of this schism, many non-Anglicans consider that the Church of England only existed from the 16th century Protestant Reformation. -
1543
Nicolas Copernicus publishes On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres
On the revolutions of the heavenly spheres, written by Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus 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, -
Galileo invents a thermometer
Although named after Italian physicist Galileo Galilei, the thermometer described in this article was not invented by him. Galileo did invent a thermometer, called Galileo's air thermometer.
