Who Was Alive

Were Carl Linnaeus and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe alive at the same time?

Yes. Carl Linnaeus and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe were alive at the same time for 28 years, from 1749 to 1778.

Carl Linnaeus was 42 when Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was 28 when Carl Linnaeus died, aged 70.

Carl Linnaeus

Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist (1707–1778); developed the foundations of modern taxonomy

Born 23 May 1707 · died 10 January 1778, aged 70

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. Carl Linnaeus
  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
Carl Linnaeus 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.