Natural philosophers

Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, and the arts. As the founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy in the Lyceum in Athens, he began the wider Aristotelian tradition that followed, which set the groundwork for the development of modern science.

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.

German writer, artist, natural scientist and politician (1749–1832)

Italian polymath (1564-1642)

German philosopher (1724-1804)

French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist (1596–1650)

English philosopher and statesman (1561–1626)

German mathematician and astronomer (1571–1630)

ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician

American philosopher (1803–1882)

Italian Dominican friar, philosopher and mathematician (1548–1600)

Heraclitus (; ; ) was an ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from the city of Ephesus, which was then part of the Persian Empire. He exerts a wide influence on Western philosophy, both ancient and modern, through the works of such authors as Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Martin Heidegger.

Titus Lucretius Carus ( ; ;  – October 15, 55 BC) was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is the philosophical poem De rerum natura, a didactic work about the tenets and philosophy of Epicureanism, which usually is translated into English as On the Nature of Things—and somewhat less often as On the Nature of the Universe. Very little is known about Lucretius's life; the only certainty is that he was either a friend or client of Gaius Memmius, to whom the poem was addressed and dedicated. De rerum natura was a considerable influence on the Augustan poets, particularly Virgil

Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (2 May 1772 – 25 March 1801), better known by his pen name Novalis (; ), was a German aristocrat and polymath, who was a poet, novelist, philosopher and mystic. He is regarded as an influential figure of Jena Romanticism.

Anaxagoras (; , Anaxagóras, 'lord of the assembly'; ) was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. Born in Clazomenae at a time when Asia Minor was under the control of the Persian Empire, Anaxagoras came to Athens. In later life he was charged with impiety and went into exile in Lampsacus.

Anaximander ( ; Anaximandros; ) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who lived in Miletus, a city of Ionia (in modern-day Turkey). He belonged to the Milesian school and learned the teachings of his master Thales. He succeeded Thales and became the second master of that school, where he counted Anaximenes and, arguably, Pythagoras amongst his pupils.

Irish idealist philosopher and Anglican bishop (1685–1753)

Empedocles (; ; , 444–443 BC) was a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a native citizen of Akragas, a Greek city in Sicily. Empedocles' philosophy is known best for originating the cosmogonic theory of the four classical elements. He also proposed forces he called Love and Strife which would mix and separate the elements, respectively.

Persian physicist, mathematician and astronomer (c. 965 – c. 1040)

English natural philosopher, architect and polymath (1635 — 1703)

Theophrastus (; ; c. 371 – c. 287 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher and naturalist. A native of Eresos in Lesbos, he was Aristotle's close colleague and successor as head of the Lyceum, the Peripatetic school of philosophy in Athens. Theophrastus wrote numerous treatises across all areas of philosophy, working to support, improve, expand, and develop the Aristotelian system. He made significant contributions to various fields, including ethics, metaphysics, botany, and natural history. Often considered the "father of botany" for his groundbreaking works "Enquiry into Plants" () and "On the

German-Dominican friar and saint (c. 1200–1280)

English polymath, philosopher and friar (c.1219/20–c.1292)

Greek philosopher, founder of Stoicism

German philosopher (1775–1854)

Mozi, personal name Mo Di,

Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Yaḥya ibn aṣ-Ṣā’igh at-Tūjībī ibn Bājja (), known simply as Ibn Bajja () or his Latinized name Avempace (;  – 1138), was an Arab polymath, whose writings include works regarding astronomy, physics, and music, as well as philosophy, medicine, botany, and poetry.

medieval philosopher (ca. 1300-1358)

thumb|200px|A modern imagining of the appearance of Aristoxenus. Aristoxenus of Tarentum (; born 375, fl. 335 BC) was a Greek Peripatetic philosopher, and a pupil of Aristotle. Most of his writings, which dealt with philosophy, ethics and music, have been lost, but one musical treatise, Elements of Harmony (Greek: ; Latin: Elementa harmonica), survives incomplete, as well as some fragments concerning rhythm and meter. The Elements is the chief source of our knowledge of ancient Greek music.

Scottish philosopher and historian; (1723-1816)

French zoologist and natural philosopher

German chemist, physicist and philosopher

Secretary of the Royal Society and Bishop of Chester

English writer and antiquarian (1626-1697)

German philosopher

German theologian and philosopher (c.1320-1390)

Scottish surgeon, hypnotist, and hypnotherapist (1795–1860)

thumb|Cover of Vitellonis Thuringopoloni opticae libri decem (Ten Books of Optics by the Thuringo-Pole Witelo) Vitello (; ; – 1280/1314) was a Polish friar, scientist, theologian, natural philosopher and an important figure in the history of philosophy in Poland.

German-Russian mathematician (1724-1802)

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

Italian scholar and natural scientist (1658-1730)

Member of the Royal Society

German theologian

ancient Greek philosopher

British painter and scientist (1721-1788)

12th century Iraqi Islamic philosopher, physicist and physician

Belgian philosopher of science and scientist (born 1949)

Dutch physicist

French scientist (1735-1820)

French geophysicist, astronomer and most notably, chronobiologist

Italian singer and composer

Italian writer

Italian writer and philosopher, titular archbishop of Patrae

Pantheistic philosopher

English clergyman and natural philosopher

14th century English scholastic philosopher and logician

Italian mathematician and scientist

Italian academic and philosopher (1550–1631)

Irish natural philosopher and writer on politics

Dutch alchemist