17th Century Geniuses

Explore 92 geniuses born in the 17th Century (1600–1699), a transformative era in human knowledge and achievement.

Athanasius Kircher

1602–1680 · Germany

IQ 190

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Christiaan Huygens

1629–1695 · Netherlands

Explanation of Saturn's rings • Centrifugal force • Collision formulae • Gambler's ruin • Pendulum c

IQ 190

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Isaac Newton

1643–1727 · England

Newtonian mechanics • Universal gravitation • Calculus • Newton's laws of motion • Optics • Binomial

IQ 190

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Otto von Guericke

1602–1686 · Germany

vacuum, atmospheric pressure, Electrostatics

IQ 185

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Pierre Louis Maupertuis

1698–1759 · France

Principle of least action, precursor of transmutation

IQ 185

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Robert Boyle

1627–1691 · Ireland

Boyle's law and Corpuscularianism

IQ 185

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Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

1646–1716 · Germany

Discourse on Metaphysics,Théodicée, integral calculus

IQ 182

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Alexander Pope

1688–1744 · United Kingdom

The Dunciad, The Rape of the Lock, An Essay on Criticism, His translation of Homer.

IQ 180

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François Fénelon

1651–1715 · France

The Adventures of Telemachus

IQ 180

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George Berkeley

1685–1753 · United Kingdom

An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision

IQ 180

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Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

1627–1704 · France

IQ 180

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John Toland

1670–1722 · Ireland

Christianity not Mysterious (1696)

IQ 180

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John Locke

1632–1704 · United Kingdom

Being known as the "Father of Liberalism"

IQ 180

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Willem Jacob 's Gravesande

1688–1742 · Netherlands

Developing experimental demonstrations of the laws of classical mechanics.

IQ 180

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Antoine Arnauld

1612–1694 · France

Being one of the leading intellectuals of the Jansenist group of Port-Royal.

IQ 175

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Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

1632–1723 · Netherlands

Being the first acknowledged microbiologist.

IQ 175

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Baruch Spinoza

1632–1677 · Netherlands

Ethics, epistemology, metaphysics, Hebrew grammar

IQ 175

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Edmond Halley

1656–1742 · United Kingdom

For the prediction of Halley’s comet, solving the riddle of accurate navigation for all sea-going ve

IQ 175

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Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke

1678–1751 · United Kingdom

Supporting the Jacobite rebellion of 1715

IQ 175

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Jacob Bernoulli

1655–1705 · Switzerland

Ars Conjectandi

IQ 175

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Nicolas Malebranche

1638–1715 · France

His doctrines of vision in God, occasionalism and ontologism.

IQ 175

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Pierre de Fermat

b. 1607 · France

Fermat's Last Theorem

IQ 175

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Thomas Browne

1605–1682 · England

Religio Medici, Urne-Burial and The Garden of Cyrus, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, Christian Morals

IQ 175

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Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury

1671–1713 · England

IQ 170

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Christian Thomasius

1655–1728 · Germany

Essays on Church, State, and Politics • Institutes of Divine Jurisprudence: With Selections from Fou

IQ 170

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Francis Atterbury

1663–1732 · England

IQ 170

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François de La Rochefoucauld (writer)

1613–1680 · France

MemoirsMaximes

IQ 170

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Georg Ernst Stahl

1659–1734 · Germany

Phlogiston theory • Fermentation

IQ 170

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Jean Meslier

1664–1729 · France

Being one of the earliest proponents of atheism

IQ 170

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Jean Racine

1639–1699 · France

Andromaque, Phèdre, Athalie

IQ 170

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Johann Joachim Becher

1635–1682 · Germany

Phlogiston theory

IQ 170

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John Ray

1627–1705 · United Kingdom

Being one of the earliest of the English parson-naturalists

IQ 170

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Nicolaas Hartsoeker

1656–1725 · Netherlands

Contributions to microscopy, preformationism

IQ 170

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Pedro Calderón de la Barca

1600–1681 · Spain

IQ 170

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Pietro Metastasio

1698–1782 · Italy

Demetrio, Olimpiade, Demofoonte, La clemenza di Tito, and Attilio Regolo

IQ 170

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Richard Bentley

1662–1742 · England

Dissertation on the Letters of Phalaris (1699)

IQ 170

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William Penn

1644–1718 · United Kingdom

IQ 170

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Montesquieu

1689–1755 · France

Separation of state powers: executive, legislative, judicial • Classification of systems of governme

IQ 165

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Christopher Wren

1632–1723 · United Kingdom

Designer of 54 London churches, including St Paul's Cathedral, as well as many notable secular build

IQ 165

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Daniel Defoe

1660–1731 · United Kingdom

Robinson Crusoe

IQ 165

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Emanuel Swedenborg

1688–1772 · Sweden

Hs book on the afterlife, Heaven and Hell (1758)

IQ 165

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François Quesnay

1694–1774 · France

IQ 165

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George Frideric Handel

1685–1759 · Germany

Messiah

IQ 165

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Gilbert Burnet

1643–1715 · Scotland

IQ 165

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Herman Boerhaave

1668–1738 · Netherlands

Founder of clinical teaching

IQ 165

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Jean de La Bruyère

1645–1696 · France

French philosopher, moralist, and satirist,

IQ 165

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Johann Sebastian Bach

1685–1750 · Germany

Goldberg Variations, The Well-Tempered Clavier and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor

IQ 165

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John Law

1671–1729 · Scotland

Scottish economist; believed that money was only a means of exchange that did not constitute wealth

IQ 165

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Joseph Addison

1672–1719 · England

Founding the The Spectator magazine.

IQ 165

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Ludvig Holberg

1684–1754 · Norway

Norwegian writer, essayist, philosopher, historian and playwright.

IQ 165

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Pierre Bayle

1647–1706 · France

Various Thoughts on the Occasion of the Comet

IQ 165

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Christian Wolff

1679–1754 · Germany

Theoretical philosophy has for its parts ontology (also philosophia prima or general metaphysics) an

IQ 160

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John Bunyan

1628–1688 · England

The Pilgrim's Progress, The Life and Death of Mr. Badman, The Holy War

IQ 160

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John Dryden

1631–1700 · England

The Hind and the Panther

IQ 160

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Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné

1626–1696 · France

Her 1,120 letters, addressed to her daughter over the course of 30 years, noted for their wit and vi

IQ 160

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Molière

1622–1673 · France

Tartuffe; The Misanthrope; The Learned Women; The School for Wives; L'Avare

IQ 160

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Ralph Cudworth

1617–1688 · England

IQ 160

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Samuel Clarke

1675–1729 · United Kingdom

English philosopher and Anglican clergyman; was a Boyle anti-atheism lecturer for two years.

IQ 160

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George Fox

1624–1691 · England

Founding the Religious Society of Friends,

IQ 155

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Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon

1635–1719 · France

Second wife of Louis XIV.

IQ 155

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Robert Walpole

1676–1745 · United Kingdom

English statesman.

IQ 155

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William Warburton

1698–1779 · United Kingdom

English prelate, theological controversialist, and critic.

IQ 155

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Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

1617–1682 · Spain

The Young Beggar, The Angel's Kitchen, Virgin of the Rosary, Two Women at a Window and The Vision of

IQ 150

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Rembrandt

1606–1669 · Netherlands

The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (1632) • Belshazzar's Feast (1635) • The Night Watch (1642)

IQ 150

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Giulio Alberoni

1664–1752 · Italy

Being the cardinal under Philip V of Spain

IQ 145

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John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough

1650–1722 · United Kingdom

Serving under 5 monarchs

IQ 145

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William Hogarth

1697–1764 · United Kingdom

A Harlot's Progress, A Rake's Progress and Marriage A-la-Mode

IQ 145

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George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle

1608–1670 · England

Restoration of the monarchy to King Charles II in 1660

IQ 140

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Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban

1633–1707 · France

French military engineer and marshal.

IQ 140

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Francesco Redi

1626–1697 · Italy

Experimental biology Parasitology Criticism of spontaneous generation

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Georg Brandt

1694–1768 · Sweden

Discovery of cobalt

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Hennig Brand

1630–1710 · Germany

Discovered phosphorus, becoming the first named person in history to discover a chemical element.

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John Wallis

1616–1703 · England

The development of infinitesimal calculus.

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John Milton

1608–1674 · United Kingdom

Paradise Lost

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Jonathan Swift

1667–1745 · United Kingdom

A Tale of a Tub Drapier's Letters Gulliver's Travels A Modest Proposal

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Nicolas Steno

1638–1686 · Denmark

A founder of modern geology; established some of its fundamental principles, including the law that

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Robert Hooke

1635–1703 · England

Hooke's law • Microscopy • Coining the term 'cell'

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William Wotton

1666–1727 · United Kingdom

The Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns.

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Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

1648–1695 · Mexico

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Guillaume de l'Hôpital

1661–1704 · France

Infinitesimal calculus Differential geometry of curves L'Hôpital's rule

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Jacob Bernoulli

1655–1705 · Switzerland

Bernoulli differential equationBernoulli numbersBernoulli's formulaBernoulli polynomialsBernoulli ma

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James Bernoulli

1654–1705 · Switzerland

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Isaac Barrow

1630–1677 · England

Fundamental theorem of calculusOptics

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How many geniuses were born in the 17th Century?

Geniuses.Club features 92 geniuses born during the 17th Century.

Who was the greatest genius of the 17th Century?

The 17th Century produced many extraordinary minds. Explore the full list to discover who made the greatest impact.

What major fields emerged in the 17th Century?

The 17th Century saw transformative developments across science, mathematics, art, philosophy, and technology.

17th Century Geniuses

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