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1445
Gutenberg prints the first Bible
First book ever printed. It was a Latin language Bible. -
Jan 1, 1449
Birth of Lorenzo de’ Medici
Patron of the arts -
Nov 21, 1503
Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa
a half-length portrait painting 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" -
Feb 13, 1504
Michelangelo sculpts the David
17 foot statue made of marble. -
Dec 25, 1516
Thomas More writes Utopia
A work of satire, indirectly criticizing Europe's political corruption and religious hypocrisy. More was a Catholic Humanist. -
Oct 31, 1517
Martin Luther posts 95 Theses on the door of Castle Church
Luther defiantly nailed a copy of his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle church. -
Jun 21, 1534
King Henry VIII begins Protestant Anglican church
Declared himself to be supreme head of the Church of England -
Jul 16, 1543
Nicolas Copernicus publishes On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres
Placed the sun at the center of the universe and argued that the Earth moved across the heavens as one of the planets. -
Sep 9, 1564
William Shakespeare is born
An English poet, playwright and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. -
Galileo invents a thermometer
Merely indicated temperature differences.
