18th-century English male writers

Sir Isaac Newton was an English polymath who was a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, author and inventor. He was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment that followed. His book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, first published in 1687, achieved the first great unification in physics and established classical mechanics. Newton also made seminal contributions to optics, and shares credit with the German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz for formulating infinitesimal calculus, although he developed calculus years before Leibniz. Newton contributed to and refined the scientific method, and his work is considered the most influential in bringing forth modern science.

English trader, writer, and journalist (1660–1731)

English Romantic poet (1770–1850)

American Founding Father, philosopher, and political activist (1737–1809)

English writer and lexicographer (1709–1784)

Anglo-Irish statesman, political theorist and conservative philosopher (1729–1797)

English poet (1688–1744)

British political economist (1766–1834)

English historian and politician (1737–1794)

British philosopher, jurist, and social reformer (1748–1832)

British chemist

English chemist, theologian, educator, and political theorist (1733–1804)

English essayist, poet, playwright and politician (1672–1719)

English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic and editorial cartoonist (1697-1764)

English novelist and dramatist (1707–1754)

Anglo-Irish novelist and Anglican cleric (1713–1768)

English journalist, political philosopher and novelist

English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, early Quaker and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania (1644-1718)

English writer and printer (1689–1761)

British botanist (1627–1705)

19th-century prime minister of the United Kingdom (1762–1812)

English poet and classical scholar (1716–1771)

British pirate and explorer (1651-1715)

English jurist, judge and Tory politician (1723-1780)

Anglo-Dutch writer and physician (1670-1733)

English novelist and dramatist (1775–1818)

English poet (1683–1765)

British noble (1735-1811)

English writer, poet, and activist (1775–1864)

English slaver, art collector, and novelist (1760–1844)

British writer (1709-1789)

English bishop and philosopher (1692–1752)

English Methodist and hymn writer (1707-1788)

English poet, surgeon, and clergyman (1754-1832)

English botanist, founder of the Linnean Society of London (1759–1828)

English hymnwriter, theologian and logician (1674-1748)

British chemist, mineralogist, author (1771/73 - 1854)

British poet laureate (1671–1757)

theologian, historian, mathematician, and translator (1667-1752)

British philosopher, preacher and mathematician (1723–1791)

English music historian (1726-1814)

18th-century English priest and naturalist; (1720-1793)

British diplomat, poet (1664-1721)

British chemist (1753-1815)

English historian, abolitionist, art collector, politician, lawyer, banker, botanist and writer (1753-1831)

English literary historian, critic, poet (1728-1790)

English poet and physician

English author and botanist (1716-1775)

English botanist (1758-1796)

English geographer, historian and oceanographer (1742–1830)

British poet (1732–1764)

English poet and landscape gardener (1714-1763)

English clergyman and natural philosopher

English poet, writer (1674-1718)

English publisher and bookseller (1713-1767)

English poet (c. 1697- 1743)

Thomas Day, English author and political campaigner (1748-1789)

American Quaker activist

English author and music historian (1719-1789)

English medical doctor, surgeon and naturalist (1747–1822)