Who Was Alive
Christian Wolff
Johann Georg Wille, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Christian Wolff

Prussian philosopher

Born 24 January 1679 (Julian calendar) · died 9 April 1754, aged 75
Also known as Christian von Wolff, Johann Christian von Wolff

Who was alive at the same time as Christian Wolff?

  1. John Locke, 1632 – 1704
  2. Louis XIV, 1638 – 1715
  3. Isaac Newton, 1642 – 1727
  4. Matsuo Bashō, 1644 – 1694
  5. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, 1646 – 1716
  6. Jonathan Swift, 1667 – 1745
  7. Peter the Great, 1672 – 1725
  8. Antonio Vivaldi, 1678 – 1741
  9. Christian Wolff, 1679 – 1754
  10. Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685 – 1750
  11. Voltaire, 1694 – 1778
  12. Benjamin Franklin, 1706 – 1790
  13. Leonhard Euler, 1707 – 1783
  14. Carl Linnaeus, 1707 – 1778
  15. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712 – 1778
  16. Adam Smith, 1723 – 1790
  17. Immanuel Kant, 1724 – 1804
  18. James Cook, 1728 – 1779
  19. George Washington, 1732 – 1799
  20. John Adams, 1735 – 1826
  21. Thomas Jefferson, 1743 – 1826
  22. Francisco Goya, 1746 – 1828
  23. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749 – 1832
  24. James Madison, 1751 – 1836

Drag across the timeline, or use the arrow keys, to see who was alive in any year and the age each person reached that year. Dashed lines mark world events. Faded ends mark uncertain dates.

When Christian Wolff was born, Isaac Newton was 36, John Locke was 46, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was 32, Matsuo Bashō was 34 or 35 and Louis XIV was 40.

When Christian Wolff died, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was 4, George Washington was 22, Voltaire was 59, Immanuel Kant was 29 and Jean-Jacques Rousseau was 41.

Born during Christian Wolff’s lifetime: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, George Washington, Johann Sebastian Bach, Voltaire, Immanuel Kant, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Adam Smith and Thomas Jefferson.

Not quite contemporaries: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born about 2 years after Christian Wolff died, Ludwig van Beethoven was born about 14 years after Christian Wolff died, Molière died about 6 years before Christian Wolff was born and Rembrandt died about 10 years before Christian Wolff was born.

What happened in Christian Wolff’s lifetime

Where Christian Wolff’s contemporaries were born

Christian Wolff is labelled; the others are the best-known people we track who lived at the same time. Each dot is a birthplace from Wikidata (81 of 81 placed); tap one to open that person.
Birthplaces as a list

Compare Christian Wolff

The 150 best-known contemporaries

247 of the people we track were surely alive at the same time as Christian Wolff. The 150 best known are listed here. See also everyone alive in 1717.

  1. Isaac Newton 1642 – 1727
  2. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749 – 1832
  3. George Washington 1732 – 1799
  4. Johann Sebastian Bach 1685 – 1750
  5. Voltaire 1694 – 1778
  6. Immanuel Kant 1724 – 1804
  7. Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712 – 1778
  8. Adam Smith 1723 – 1790
  9. Thomas Jefferson 1743 – 1826
  10. Benjamin Franklin 1706 – 1790
  11. Carl Linnaeus 1707 – 1778
  12. John Locke 1632 – 1704
  13. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz 1646 – 1716
  14. Matsuo Bashō 1644 – 1694
  15. Leonhard Euler 1707 – 1783
  16. John Adams 1735 – 1826
  17. James Cook 1728 – 1779
  18. Francisco Goya 1746 – 1828
  19. Louis XIV 1638 – 1715
  20. Peter the Great 1672 – 1725
  21. James Madison 1751 – 1836
  22. Antonio Vivaldi 1678 – 1741
  23. Jonathan Swift 1667 – 1745
  24. Montesquieu 1689 – 1755
  25. Thomas Hobbes 1588 – 1679
  26. George Frideric Handel 1685 – 1759
  27. James Watt 1736 – 1819
  28. David Hume 1711 – 1776
  29. Joseph Haydn 1732 – 1809
  30. Catherine the Great 1729 – 1796
  31. Denis Diderot 1713 – 1784
  32. Jean de La Fontaine 1621 – 1695
  33. Daniel Defoe c. 1661 – 1731
  34. Thomas Paine 1737 – 1809
  35. Samuel Johnson 1709 – 1784
  36. Antoine Lavoisier 1743 – 1794
  37. Pierre-Simon Laplace 1749 – 1827
  38. Frederick the Great 1712 – 1786
  39. Edmund Burke 1729 – 1797
  40. Alexander Pope 1688 – 1744
  41. Christiaan Huygens 1629 – 1695
  42. Jean Racine 1639 – 1699
  43. Alessandro Volta 1745 – 1827
  44. Robert Boyle 1627 – 1691
  45. Jean Le Rond d'Alembert 1717 – 1783
  46. William Herschel 1738 – 1822
  47. Edward Jenner 1749 – 1823
  48. George Berkeley 1685 – 1753
  49. Mikhail Lomonosov 1711 – 1765
  50. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck 1744 – 1829
  51. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 1632 – 1723
  52. Pierre Corneille 1606 – 1684
  53. Charles Perrault 1628 – 1703
  54. George III 1738 – 1820
  55. Pedro Calderón de la Barca 1600 – 1681
  56. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing 1729 – 1781
  57. Louis XV 1710 – 1774
  58. Maria Theresa 1717 – 1780
  59. Giacomo Casanova 1725 – 1798
  60. Marquis de Sade 1740 – 1814
  61. Jeremy Bentham 1748 – 1832
  62. Edward Gibbon 1737 – 1794
  63. Joseph-Louis Lagrange 1736 – 1813
  64. Robert Hooke 1635 – 1703
  65. Johann Gottfried Herder 1744 – 1803
  66. Charles-Augustin de Coulomb 1736 – 1806
  67. Edmond Halley 1656 – 1742
  68. Anders Celsius 1701 – 1744
  69. François de La Rochefoucauld 1613 – 1680
  70. Charles II of England 1630 – 1685
  71. John Dryden 1631 – 1700
  72. Isabelle de Charrière 1740 – 1805
  73. Pope Pius VII 1742 – 1823
  74. Aurangzeb 1618 – 1707
  75. Pierre-Augustin de Beaumarchais 1732 – 1799
  76. Carlo Goldoni 1707 – 1793
  77. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord 1754 – 1839
  78. Anne, Queen of Great Britain 1665 – 1714
  79. Jacques-Louis David 1748 – 1825
  80. Joseph Priestley 1733 – 1804
  81. Pope Benedict XIV 1675 – 1758
  82. Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon 1707 – 1788
  83. William III of England 1650 – 1702
  84. Robert Walpole 1676 – 1745
  85. Pope Pius VI 1717 – 1799
  86. Alexander Suvorov 1730 – 1800
  87. Henry Cavendish 1731 – 1810
  88. James II of England 1633 – 1701
  89. Joseph Addison 1672 – 1719
  90. George II of Great Britain 1683 – 1760
  91. Daniel Bernoulli 1700 – 1782
  92. Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi 1746 – 1827
  93. Emanuel Swedenborg 1688 – 1772
  94. Jean-Paul Marat 1743 – 1793
  95. Christina, Queen of Sweden 1626 – 1689
  96. Christopher Wren 1632 – 1723
  97. Pope Clement XII 1652 – 1740
  98. Nicolas Appert 1749 – 1841
  99. Pope Innocent XI 1611 – 1689
  100. Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux 1636 – 1711
  101. George I of Great Britain 1660 – 1727
  102. Elizabeth of Russia 1709 – 1762
  103. Peter III of Russia 1728 – 1762
  104. Abigail Adams 1744 – 1818
  105. John III Sobieski 1629 – 1696
  106. Vitus Bering 1681 – 1741
  107. John Bunyan 1628 – 1688
  108. Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit 1686 – 1736
  109. Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor 1741 – 1790
  110. Charles II of Spain 1661 – 1700
  111. Pope Clement XIII 1693 – 1769
  112. William Hogarth 1697 – 1764
  113. Henry Fielding 1707 – 1754
  114. Baron d'Holbach 1723 – 1789
  115. Oliver Goldsmith 1728 – 1774
  116. Georg Christoph Lichtenberg 1742 – 1799
  117. Bartolomé Esteban Murillo 1617 – 1682
  118. Pope Benedict XIII 1649 – 1730
  119. Christoph Willibald Gluck 1714 – 1787
  120. Gian Lorenzo Bernini 1598 – 1680
  121. Pope Alexander VIII 1610 – 1691
  122. Pope Innocent XII 1615 – 1700
  123. Ole Rømer 1644 – 1710
  124. Pope Clement XI 1649 – 1721
  125. Pope Innocent XIII 1655 – 1724
  126. Luigi Galvani 1737 – 1798
  127. Mary II 1662 – 1694
  128. Giambattista Vico 1668 – 1744
  129. Charles XII of Sweden 1682 – 1718
  130. Philip V of Spain 1683 – 1746
  131. Catherine I of Russia 1684 – 1727
  132. Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor 1685 – 1740
  133. Nader Shah c. 1693 – 1747
  134. Pope Clement XIV 1705 – 1774
  135. Carl Wilhelm Scheele 1742 – 1786
  136. Olympe de Gouges 1748 – 1793
  137. Giovanni Domenico Cassini 1625 – 1712
  138. Jean de La Bruyère 1645 – 1696
  139. Jacob Bernoulli c. 1655 – 1705
  140. Laurence Sterne 1713 – 1768
  141. Maria Gaetana Agnesi 1718 – 1799
  142. Anna of Russia 1693 – 1740
  143. John Wesley 1703 – 1791
  144. Claude Adrien Helvétius 1715 – 1771
  145. Charles Messier 1730 – 1817
  146. Aphra Behn 1640 – 1689
  147. Giuseppe Piazzi 1746 – 1826
  148. Juana Inés de la Cruz 1651 – 1695
  149. Johann Bernoulli 1667 – 1748
  150. Georg Philipp Telemann 1681 – 1767