The Renaissance polymath Nicolaus Copernicus created a model of the universe that put the Sun, not the Earth, at its cen... View More

The Renaissance polymath Nicolaus Copernicus created a model of the universe that put the Sun, not the Earth, at its center. Just before he passed away in 1543, Copernicus published his model in his book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres). This was a significant moment in the history of science, as it sparked the Copernican Revolution and made a groundbreaking contribution to the Scientific Revolution. Copernicus most certainly came up with his heliocentric model on his own, even though the ancient Greek astronomer Aristarchus of Samos had created a comparable model eighteen centuries previously. View Less

Leon Battista Alberti was an Italian Renaissance humanist, writer, poet, architect, architect, linguist, philosopher, an... View More

Leon Battista Alberti was an Italian Renaissance humanist, writer, poet, architect, architect, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer. He embodied the characteristics of those who are now referred to as polymaths. He and Johannes Trithemius are regarded as the founders of European cryptography. View Less

Pier Paolo Pasolini was an Italian dramatist, actor, filmmaker, poet, and writer. He is regarded as one of the most impo... View More

Pier Paolo Pasolini was an Italian dramatist, actor, filmmaker, poet, and writer. He is regarded as one of the most important public intellectuals in Italian history of the 20th century, having a significant impact on both politics and the arts. View Less

Italian physician, scientist, biologist, and philosopher Luigi Galvani investigated animal electricity. He found in 1780... View More

Italian physician, scientist, biologist, and philosopher Luigi Galvani investigated animal electricity. He found in 1780 that an electrical spark caused the muscles in the legs of dead frogs to quiver. View Less

Placido Giovanni An iconic character in late nineteenth-century Italian literature, Agostino Pascoli was an Italian poet... View More

Placido Giovanni An iconic character in late nineteenth-century Italian literature, Agostino Pascoli was an Italian poet and classical scholar. He was one of the finest Italian decadent poets, along with Gabriele D'Annunzio. View Less