The Most Influential People Across History
Find the most influential people in 24 academic disciplines and numerous subdisciplines
Find famous and important people related to your research. This is an excellent tool for research papers, topic papers, and building a bibliography. Using our influence-based algorithm, our rankings synthesize data from Wikipedia, Wikidata, Semantic Scholar, and CrossRef.
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List of the most influential people in Theology,
#2801
Johann Spörlein
1814 - 1873 (59 years)
Johann Spörlein was a German Catholic church historian who was a native of Burk, today a neighborhood in the city of Forchheim. He was a prominent supporter of philosopher Anton Günther . He studied philosophy and theology in Bamberg, receiving his ordination in 1837. From February 1849, he was a professor of church history and church law at the Lyceum in Bamberg. Among his written works are the following:Einige Grundsätze des Clemens von Alexandrien über griechische Philosophie und christliche Wissenschaft, aus seinen Schriften dargelegt , 1840Die Gegensätze in der Lehre des hl. Cyrillus und...
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Claude D'Espence
1511 - 1571 (60 years)
Claude D'Espence was a French theologian and diplomat, born in 1511 at Châlons-sur-Marne; died 5 Oct., 1571, at Paris. He entered the Collège de Navarre in 1536, and later became the rector of the Sorbonne before he got his doctorate. He was involved with the Council of Trent and argued against the Protestant apologist Theodore Beza about the value of tradition.
Go to Profile#2803
Petrus Cunaeus
1586 - 1638 (52 years)
Petrus Cunaeus was the pen name of the Dutch Christian scholar Peter van der Kun. His book The Hebrew Republic is considered "the most powerful statement of republican theory in the early years of the Dutch Republic."
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Gabriel Skagestad
1879 - 1952 (73 years)
Gabriel Skagestad was a Norwegian theologian and priest. He served as a bishop of the Diocese of Stavanger from 1940 until 1949. Skagestad was a key figure in the resistance movement of the church during the German occupation of Norway.
Go to Profile#2805
Jure Radić
1920 - 1990 (70 years)
Jure Radić was Croatian Catholic priest and scientist. He was born in Baška Voda. He taught as a professor of liturgy at the Faculty of Theology in Makarska. He explored the flora of Biokovo and Makarska littoral, and benthic fauna of Makarska underwater. In 1963 he founded the Malacological museum in Makarska, and in 1979 the Institute "Mountains and Sea", in which he collaborated with Edita Marija Šolić. He also founded conference proceedings series Acta Biocovica . He co-founded and edited the first Croatian journal in liturgical-pastoral theology Služba Božja in 1960.
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John Foster
1770 - 1843 (73 years)
John Foster was an English Baptist minister and essayist. The son of a weaver, born in Halifax, Yorkshire, and educated for the ministry at the Baptist college in Bristol, Foster served as a minister for a number of years. Becoming a full-time writer, he contributed nearly 200 articles to the Eclectic Review. His works include Essays, in a Series of Letters , and Essay on the Evils of Popular Ignorance , in which he urged the necessity of a national system of education.
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Henry Lawrence Hitchcock
1813 - 1873 (60 years)
Rev. Henry Lawrence Hitchcock was an American minister and the third President of Western Reserve College, now Case Western Reserve University. He was mayor of the village of Hudson, Ohio in 1861. Biography Hitchcock was born in Burton, Geauga County, Ohio, October 31, 1813. His father, Hon. Peter Hitchcock, a native of Cheshire, Conn., was a member of the US Congress and Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. His mother was Nabby, daughter of Elam Cook, of Cheshire.
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Aleksandr Glagolev
1872 - 1937 (65 years)
Alexander Alexandrovich Glagolev was a Russian Orthodox priest and religious philosopher as well as professor of the Kiev Theological Seminary. Biography Alexander Glagolev was born to a priestly family. He graduated from the Tula theological seminary and the Kiev theological seminary with a doctoral degree in theology. His thesis was called "Angels in the Old Testament". In the review of his thesis, professor Olesnitsky noted that: "Glagolev's dissertation has both breadth and depth of research covering all points in the Old Testament angelology... and should be considered a real contribut...
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Walter A. Maier
1893 - 1950 (57 years)
Walter Arthur Maier was a noted radio personality, public speaker, prolific author, university professor, scholar of ancient Semitic languages and culture, Lutheran theologian and editor. He is best known as the speaker for The Lutheran Hour radio broadcast from 1930 to 1950.
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Carl Victor Ryssel
1849 - 1905 (56 years)
Karl Victor Ryssel, also Carl Victor Ryssel was a Protestant theologian and professor in Leipzig and Zürich. Life Ryssel was born in Reinsberg, Germany, near the town of Nossen. From 1861 to 1868 he went to the Gymnasium in Freiberg. From 1867 to 1871 he studied theology and oriental studies at the University of Leipzig. Subsequently, he became a teacher in Leipzig . In 1874 he married Clara Friederici, and they had a daughter Else.
Go to Profile#2811
Thomas Turton
1780 - 1864 (84 years)
Thomas Turton was an English academic and divine, the Bishop of Ely from 1845 to 1864. Life Thomas Turton was son of Thomas and Ann Turton of Hatfield, West Riding. He was admitted to Queens' College, Cambridge, in 1801 but migrated to St Catharine's College in 1804. In 1805 he graduated BA as senior wrangler and equal Smith's Prizeman. Elected a fellow of St Catharine's in 1806, he was Lucasian Professor of Mathematics from 1822 to 1826 and Regius Professor of Divinity from 1827 to 1842.
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Bernard Lamy
1640 - 1715 (75 years)
Bernard Lamy was a French Oratorian, mathematician and theologian. Life Lamy was born in Le Mans, France. After studying there, he went to join the Maison d'Institution in Paris, and to Saumur thereafter. In 1658 he entered the congregation of the Oratory.
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Franciscus Bonae Spei
1617 - 1677 (60 years)
Franciscus Bonae Spei was a Catholic scholastic theologian and philosopher. He was born in Lille under the name of François Crespin, and entered the Carmelite order in 1635 under the religious name of Franciscus Bonae Spei . During many years, he taught philosophy and theology in Leuven. He also held numerous charges within his order: he was Provincial, traveled three times to Rome and twice to Madrid, and died as prior of the Carmelite convent in Brussels. He wrote two vast philosophy and theology courses, of high quality. As all reformed Carmelites, he follows broadly the doctrine of Thomism, but discussed numerous contemporary issues.
Go to Profile#2814
Karl Eduard von Napiersky
1793 - 1864 (71 years)
Karl Eduard von Napiersky was a Latvian clergyman and historian. He studied theology at the University of Dorpat, and from 1814 onward, served as a pastor in the municipality of Neu-Pebalg. From 1829 to 1849 he was director of government schools and gymnasiums in Riga. In 1851 he became a member of the newly established censorship committee in Riga.
Go to Profile#2815
Adolphe Perraud
1828 - 1906 (78 years)
Adolphe Louis Albert Perraud was a French Cardinal and academician. Biography Perraud was born in Lyon to Leopold Perraud and Aglae Delametherie. A brilliant student at the lycées Henri IV and St Louis, he entered the École Normale, where he was strongly influenced by Joseph Gratry. In 1850 he secured the fellowship of history and for two years he taught at the lycée of Angers. In 1852 he abandoned teaching to become a priest. He returned to Paris where he joined the Oratory, which was then being reorganized by Gratry and Abbé Pététot, curé of St Roch.
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Isaac Penington
1616 - 1679 (63 years)
Isaac Penington was one of the early members of the Religious Society of Friends in England. He wrote about the Quaker movement and was an influential promoter and defender of it. Penington was the oldest son of Isaac Penington, a Puritan who had served as the Lord Mayor of London. Penington married a widow named Mary Springett and they had five children. Penington's stepdaughter Gulielma Springett married William Penn. Convinced that the Quaker faith was true, Penington and his wife joined the Friends in 1657 or 1658.
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Florens Radewyns
1350 - 1400 (50 years)
Floris Radewyns was the co-founder of the Brethren of the Common Life. Life Floris was born at Leerdam, near Utrecht, about 1350. He passed a brilliant university course and took his M.A. degree at Prague. Returning home, he was installed canon of St. Peter's, Utrecht. For some little time he led a life of pleasure, until converted by a sermon of Gerard Groote.
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Jakob Haartman
1717 - 1788 (71 years)
Jakob Haartman was the Bishop of Turku in Finland from 1776 till his death in 1788. Biography Haartman was born on 8 March 1717 in Stockholm, Sweden, the son of Finnish parents Johan Jakobsson Haartman, a priest, and Maria Kristoffersdotter Sundenius. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Turku in 1730 and from Uppsala University in 1733. He earned his master's degree from the Royal Academy of Turku in 1741. In 1742 he became an associate professor of Philosophy and a deputy librarian in 1750, a deputy secretary in 1755 and a professor of Philosophy and History in 1756. He was ordained a pri...
Go to Profile#2819
Georg Karl Mayer
1811 - 1868 (57 years)
Georg Karl Mayer was a German Roman Catholic theologian born in Aschbach, Upper Franconia. He studied philosophy and theology in Bamberg, then continued his education at the Universities of Munich and Vienna. In 1837 he received his ordination in Bamberg, and afterwards worked as a chaplain. From 1842 he was a professor at the Lyceum in Bamberg, where he taught classes in canon law, church history, dogmatics, exegesis and Hebrew language. In 1862 he was appointed Domcapitular at Bamberg.
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John Goucher
1845 - 1922 (77 years)
John Franklin Goucher was an American Methodist pastor and missionary and the namesake of Goucher College, formerly the Women's College of Baltimore City. He was one of the college's co-founders along with fellow clergyman John B. Van Meter and served as its second president.
Go to Profile#2821
Carlo Maria Curci
1809 - 1891 (82 years)
Carlo Maria Curci, SJ was an Italian theologian from Naples. A Jesuit from the age of 16, he was expelled from the Society of Jesus in 1884 after spending the preceding decade challenging perceived political and spiritual problems within the Catholic Church. After his expulsion, he was financially supported by Cardinal Henry Edward Manning. He was re-admitted to the Society of Jesus a few months before his death in 1891.
Go to Profile#2822
Georg Sverdrup
1848 - 1907 (59 years)
Georg Sverdrup was a Norwegian-American Lutheran theologian and an educator. Background He was born at Balestrand in Sogn og Fjordane, Norway to Karoline Metella Suur and Harald Ulrik Sverdrup, a member of the Norwegian Parliament, whose brother Johan Sverdrup was Prime Minister of Norway between 1884 and 1889.
Go to Profile#2823
Karl Ludwig Schmidt
1891 - 1956 (65 years)
Karl Ludwig Schmidt was a German Protestant theologian and professor of New Testament studies at the University of Basel. He taught that the accounts of the New Testament were to be regarded as fixed written versions of oral Gospel tradition. In 1919, his book Der Rahmen der Geschichte Jesu showed that Mark's chronology is the invention of the evangelist. Using form criticism, Schmidt showed that an editor had assembled the narrative out of individual scenes that did not originally have a chronological order. This finding challenged historians' ability to discern a historical Jesus and he...
Go to Profile#2824
Tommaso Tamburini
1591 - 1675 (84 years)
Tommaso Tamburini was an Italian Jesuit moral theologian. Life Also known under the name of R. P. Thoma Tamburino. He was born at Caltanisetta in Sicily, and entered the Society of Jesus when fifteen years old; there he became distinguished for a talent for teaching. After a successful course of studies he held the professorship of philosophy four years, of dogmatic theology seven years, of moral theology seventeen years, and during thirteen years was rector of various colleges. He died at Palermo.
Go to Profile#2825
Hadrian à Saravia
1532 - 1613 (81 years)
Hadrian à Saravia, sometimes called Hadrian Saravia, Adrien Saravia, or Adrianus Saravia was a Protestant theologian and pastor from the Low Countries who became an Anglican prebend and a member of the First Westminster Company charged by James I of England to produce the King James Version of the Bible.
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William Nicholls
1664 - 1712 (48 years)
William Nicholls was an English clergyman and theologian, known as an author on the Book of Common Prayer. Life He was the son of John Nicholls of Donington, now Dunton, Buckinghamshire. He was educated at St Paul's School under Thomas Gale, and went up with an exhibition to Magdalen Hall, Oxford, where he matriculated as a commoner on 26 March 1680. He later migrated to Wadham College, and graduated B.A. on 27 November 1683. On 6 October 1684 he was chosen a probationary fellow of Merton College, and proceeded M.A. 19 June 1688, B.D. 2 July 1692, and D.D. 29 November 1695.
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Augustine Reding
1625 - 1692 (67 years)
Augustine Reding was a Swiss Benedictine, the Prince-Abbot of Einsiedeln, and theological writer. Life After completing the classics at the Benedictine College of Einsiedeln, Reding joined the Order of St. Benedict, December 26, 1641. He went on to teach philosophy at the early age of twenty-four. Reding was ordained priest and appointed master of novices in 1649, and obtained the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau in 1654. He was professor of theology at the Benedictine University of Salzburg from 1648 to 1654. He became dean at Einsiedeln...
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Friedrich Wilhelm Ehrenfried Rost
1768 - 1835 (67 years)
Friedrich Wilhelm Ehrenfried Rost was a German theologian, philosopher and classical philologist. He studied theology and philology at the University of Leipzig, receiving his doctorate in 1792. In 1794 he served as a vespers minister at the university church, then relocated to Plauen as rector at the lyceum. In 1796 he returned to Leipzig as conrector at the Thomasschule zu Leipzig, where from 1800 to 1835, he held the post of rector.
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Laurentius Paulinus Gothus
1565 - 1646 (81 years)
Laurentius Paulinus Gothus was a Swedish theologian, astronomer and Archbishop of Uppsala. Biography Gothus was born Lars Paulsson at Söderköping in Östergötland County, Sweden. In 1588, Gothus travelled to Germany and studied in the Rostock University for three years. He was influenced by Pierre de la Ramée and his philosophy.
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Micurà de Rü
1789 - 1847 (58 years)
Micurà de Rü, born Nikolaus Bacher , was an Austrian Ladin-speaking Catholic presbyter and linguist best known for his writings on the Ladin language. Biography He was born as Nikolaus Bacher in vila Rü in San Ćiascian, now part of Badia, South Tyrol.
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Wilhelm Lamormaini
1571 - 1648 (77 years)
Wilhelm Germain Lamormaini was a Jesuit theologian, and an influential figure as confessor of the Habsburg emperor Ferdinand II during the Thirty Years' War. Life Lamormaini was born near Dochamps in the Duchy of Luxembourg , since 1482 part of the Habsburg Netherlands. His father, Everard Germain, was a farmer at the hamlet of Lamormenil, hence the name. Lamormaini studied first at the Jesuit gymnasium of Trier, and thence went to Prague, where he received his doctor's degree, and in 1590 entered the Jesuit Order in Brno. Ordained priest at Bratislava in 1596 and afterwards working as a tea...
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Anthony Konings
1821 - 1884 (63 years)
Anthony Konings was a Redemptorist professor, who wrote works of theology which influenced Catholic life in late nineteenth century America. After a course in humanities he entered the diocesan seminary. Feeling a call to the monastic life, after mature deliberation he entered in 1842 the Redemptorist novitiate at St. Trond, Belgium, and was permitted to make his religious profession on 6 November 1845. His superiors sent him at once to the house of higher studies to afford him time to prepare for the work of teaching. He was ordained priest in Wittem, on 21 December 1884 . After being engage...
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Joseph Pletz
1788 - 1840 (52 years)
Joseph Pletz was an Austrian doctor of theology, imperial chaplain, and abbot of the monastery of the Holy Virgin of Pagrany, Hungary; imperial counselor, consistorial counselor, deacon-emeritus of the metropolitan chapter of St. Stephen at Vienna; director of the theological studies in the Austrian empire, referent of the same assistant of the imperial commission of studies, director and president of the theological faculty; and, in 1835, ex-rector magnificus of the University of Vienna, member of the high schools of Vienna, Pesth, and Padua, etc.
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François Feuardent
1539 - 1610 (71 years)
François Feuardent was a French Franciscan theologian, and preacher of the Ligue. Life Feuardent was born at Coutances, Normandy. Having studied humanities at Bayeux, he joined the Friars Minor. After the novitiate, he was sent to Paris to continue his studies, where he received the degree of Doctor in Theology and taught at the university.
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Johann Friedrich Wucherer
1803 - 1881 (78 years)
Johann Friedrich Wucherer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, author, and co-founder of the Society of Inner Missions with Wilhelm Löhe, based in Neuendettelsau. Early life and education Wucherer was born in Nördlingen and went on to study at the University of Erlangen. After completing his studies he worked for some time as an assistant minister in Nördlingen before he was appointed as the hospital-preacher in Nördlingen in 1832.
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Friedrich Staphylus
1512 - 1564 (52 years)
Friedrich Staphylus was a German theologian, at first a Protestant and then a Catholic convert. Biography Staphylus was born at Osnabrück. His father, Ludeke Stapellage, was an official of the Bishop of Osnabrück. Left an orphan at an early age, he came under the care of an uncle at Danzig, then went to Lithuania and studied at Cracow, after which he studied theology and philosophy at Padua.
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Hervaeus Natalis
1260 - 1323 (63 years)
Hervaeus Natalis was a Dominican theologian, the 14th Master of the Dominicans, and the author of a number of works on philosophy and theology. His many writings include the Summa Totius Logicae, an opusculum once attributed to Thomas Aquinas.
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Gustaf Dalman
1855 - 1941 (86 years)
Gustaf Hermann Dalman was a German Lutheran theologian and orientalist. He did extensive field work in Palestine before the First World War, collecting inscriptions, poetry, and proverbs. He also collected physical articles illustrative of the life of the indigenous farmers and herders of the country, including rock and plant samples, house and farm tools, small archaeological finds, and ceramics. He pioneered the study of biblical and early post-biblical Aramaic, publishing an authoritative grammar and dictionary , as well as other works. His collection of 15,000 historic photographs and 5,...
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Theodor Weber
1836 - 1906 (70 years)
Theodor Hubert Weber was a German theologian and professor of philosophy. Biography Weber was born in Zülpich. He was the second bishop of the German Old Catholic Church, and one of the more important followers of Anton Günther's philosophy.
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Charles William Schaeffer
1813 - 1896 (83 years)
Charles William Schaeffer was a Lutheran clergyman and theologian of the United States. Biography His parents were Frederick Solomon Schaeffer and Catherine Elizabeth Schaeffer. His father was a Lutheran clergyman, as were his uncles David Frederick Schaeffer, Frederick Christian Schaeffer and Charles Frederick Schaeffer, and his grandfather Frederick David Schaeffer. He grew up in the home of his grandfather and that of stepfather Benjamin Keller. He attended Germantown Academy, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1832, and at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysbu...
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Mathias Hauzeur
1589 - 1676 (87 years)
Mathias Hauzeur was a Belgian Franciscan theologian. Life He was for many years professor of theology. He was a prolific writer and left behind twenty works, while, as a keen controversialist, he attained great celebrity in consequence of his disputation with the Calvinist preacher Gabriel Hotton, which continued from 19 to 22 April 1633, and, was brought by Hauzeur to such a conclusion that the Catholics throughout the vicinity lit bonfires to celebrate his triumph.
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Margaret Dunlop Gibson
1843 - 1920 (77 years)
#2843
Johannes Gezelius the elder
1615 - 1690 (75 years)
Johannes Gezelius the elder , known in Swedish as Johannes Gezelius den äldre and Johannes Gezelius vanhempi in Finnish, was the Bishop of Turku and the Vice-Chancellor of The Royal Academy of Turku .
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Robert Sandeman
1718 - 1771 (53 years)
Robert Sandeman was a Scottish nonconformist theologian. He was closely associated with the Glasite church which he helped to promote. His importance was such that Glasite churches outside Scotland were known as Sandemanian.
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Pedro Hurtado de Mendoza
1578 - 1651 (73 years)
Pedro Hurtado de Mendoza , also called Puente Hurtado de Mendoza, was a Basque scholastic philosopher and theologian. Philosophical work He was a teacher of theology and philosophy in Valladolid and he occupied a chair at the University of Salamanca.
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Jean-Baptiste Terrien
1832 - 1903 (71 years)
Jean-Baptiste Terrien was a French Jesuit dogmatic theologian. Life He entered the Society of Jesus at Angers, 7 December 1854; he then taught philosophy for two years and dogmatic theology for twenty-two at the seminaries of Laval , 1864–80, and Saint Helier , 1880–88. After being spiritual father at Laval, he was appointed professor of dogmatic theology and taught three years, 1891–94, at the Catholic Institute of Paris, remaining afterwards in this city as spiritual father and writer.
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Sebastian Hofmeister
1476 - 1533 (57 years)
Sebastian Hofmeister , known in writing as Oeconomus or Oikonomos, was a Swiss monk and religious Reformer who was prominent in early debates of the Reformation. Hofmeister joined the Franciscan order in Schaffhausen before studying for several years in Paris. There he studied Hebrew and the classical languages and received a doctorate in theology in 1519. By 1520, he was sent to Zürich as a lecturer and later in the same year to Constance. It was in Zurich where he first met the Swiss Reformer Huldrych Zwingli, who influenced him a great deal. Hofmeister would begin preaching the Reformation at Lucerne, resulting in his expulsion from that town.
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Johann Jakob Wick
1522 - 1588 (66 years)
Johann Jakob Wick was a Protestant clergyman from Zürich. Wick lived in the Zürich of Heinrich Bullinger, the successor of Huldrych Zwingli. He studied theology in Tübingen, and was pastor of Witikon, at the city hospital, and the Predigerkirche. Afterwards he was canon and second archdeacon at the Grossmünster. Wick is the collector of the Wickiana.
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Ernst Tillich
1910 - 1985 (75 years)
Ernst Tillich was a German theologian. He survived the twelve Nazi years, but nevertheless spent much of the period in state detention, including more than three years in the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen. Subsequently, between 1951 and 1958, Tillich led the Kampfgruppe gegen Unmenschlichkeit , a US funded militant campaigning anti-communist organisation, based in West Berlin, which supported resistance to the one-party dictatorship that had established itself as the German Democratic Republic in October 1949.
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Francis Line
1595 - 1675 (80 years)
Francis Line, SJ , also known as Linus of Liège, was a Jesuit priest and scientist. He is known for inventing a magnetic clock. He is noted as a contemporary critic of the theories and work of Isaac Newton. He also challenged Robert Boyle and his law of gases.
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