Who Was Alive

Were Benjamin Franklin and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe alive at the same time?

Yes. Benjamin Franklin and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe were alive at the same time for 40 years, from 1749 to 1790.

Benjamin Franklin was 43 when Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was 40 when Benjamin Franklin died, aged 84.

Benjamin Franklin

American polymath and statesman

Born 17 January 1706 · died 17 April 1790, aged 84

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

German writer, artist, natural scientist and politician

Born 28 August 1749 · died 22 March 1832, aged 82

  1. Isaac Newton
  2. Benjamin Franklin
  3. George Washington
  4. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  5. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  6. Napoleon
  7. Abraham Lincoln
  8. Charles Darwin
  9. Karl Marx
  10. Leo Tolstoy
Benjamin Franklin and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in bold, with some of their best-known contemporaries. Drag across to see the age each reached in any year. Faded ends mark uncertain dates.