Who Was Alive
John Napier
Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

John Napier

Scottish mathematician and physicist

Born 1 February 1550 · died 4 April 1617, aged 67
Also known as John Napier of Merchiston, Ioannes Neper

Who was alive at the same time as John Napier?

  1. Michelangelo, 1475 – 1564
  2. Mimar Sinan, c. 1490 – 1588
  3. Jacques Cartier, 1491 – 1557
  4. François Rabelais, 1494 – 1553
  5. Suleiman the Magnificent, 1494 – 1566
  6. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, 1500 – 1558
  7. John Calvin, 1509 – 1564
  8. Michel de Montaigne, 1533 – 1592
  9. Elizabeth I, 1533 – 1603
  10. Akbar, 1542 – 1605
  11. Miguel de Cervantes, c. 1547 – 1616
  12. Giordano Bruno, 1548 – 1600
  13. John Napier, 1550 – 1617
  14. Francis Bacon, 1561 – 1626
  15. Lope de Vega, 1562 – 1635
  16. Galileo Galilei, 1564 – 1642
  17. William Shakespeare, 1564 – 1616
  18. Johannes Kepler, 1571 – 1630
  19. Peter Paul Rubens, 1577 – 1640
  20. Thomas Hobbes, 1588 – 1679
  21. René Descartes, 1596 – 1650
  22. Diego Velázquez, 1599 – 1660
  23. Rembrandt, 1606 – 1669
  24. John Milton, 1608 – 1674

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 John Napier was born, Michelangelo was 74, Elizabeth I was 16, Akbar was 7, Jacques Cartier was 58 and Suleiman the Magnificent was 55.

When John Napier died, Galileo Galilei was 53, René Descartes was 21, Rembrandt was 10, Francis Bacon was 56 and Johannes Kepler was 45.

Born during John Napier’s lifetime: William Shakespeare, Galileo Galilei, René Descartes, Rembrandt, Francis Bacon, Johannes Kepler, Peter Paul Rubens and Diego Velázquez.

Not quite contemporaries: Martin Luther died about 4 years before John Napier was born, Molière was born about 5 years after John Napier died, Nicolaus Copernicus died about 7 years before John Napier was born and Blaise Pascal was born about 6 years after John Napier died.

What happened in John Napier’s lifetime

Where John Napier’s contemporaries were born

John Napier is labelled; the others are the best-known people we track who lived at the same time. Each dot is a birthplace from Wikidata (79 of 81 placed); tap one to open that person.
Birthplaces as a list

Compare John Napier

The 150 best-known contemporaries

187 of the people we track were surely alive at the same time as John Napier. The 150 best known are listed here. See also everyone alive in 1584.

  1. William Shakespeare 1564 – 1616
  2. Galileo Galilei 1564 – 1642
  3. Michelangelo 1475 – 1564
  4. René Descartes 1596 – 1650
  5. Miguel de Cervantes c. 1547 – 1616
  6. Rembrandt 1606 – 1669
  7. Elizabeth I 1533 – 1603
  8. Francis Bacon 1561 – 1626
  9. Johannes Kepler 1571 – 1630
  10. Peter Paul Rubens 1577 – 1640
  11. Akbar 1542 – 1605
  12. Diego Velázquez 1599 – 1660
  13. Jacques Cartier 1491 – 1557
  14. Thomas Hobbes 1588 – 1679
  15. John Milton 1608 – 1674
  16. Suleiman the Magnificent 1494 – 1566
  17. Giordano Bruno 1548 – 1600
  18. Michel de Montaigne 1533 – 1592
  19. Mimar Sinan c. 1490 – 1588
  20. John Calvin 1509 – 1564
  21. François Rabelais 1494 – 1553
  22. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor 1500 – 1558
  23. Lope de Vega 1562 – 1635
  24. Oliver Cromwell 1599 – 1658
  25. Tycho Brahe 1546 – 1601
  26. Nostradamus 1503 – 1566
  27. Francis Drake c. 1540 – 1596
  28. Ivan the Terrible 1530 – 1584
  29. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina 1525 – 1594
  30. Caravaggio 1571 – 1610
  31. El Greco 1541 – 1614
  32. Pierre de Fermat 1607 – 1665
  33. Luís de Camões c. 1525 – 1580
  34. Philip II of Spain 1527 – 1598
  35. Charles I of England 1600 – 1649
  36. Titian c. 1490 – 1576
  37. Teresa of Ávila 1515 – 1582
  38. Mary, Queen of Scots 1542 – 1587
  39. Pierre Corneille 1606 – 1684
  40. Pedro Calderón de la Barca 1600 – 1681
  41. Ignatius of Loyola c. 1491 – 1556
  42. Cardinal Richelieu 1585 – 1642
  43. Henry IV of France 1553 – 1610
  44. Abel Tasman 1603 – 1659
  45. Mary I 1516 – 1558
  46. Christopher Marlowe c. 1564 – 1593
  47. John Donne 1572 – 1631
  48. Shah Jahan 1592 – 1666
  49. John Amos Comenius 1592 – 1670
  50. François de La Rochefoucauld 1613 – 1680
  51. James VI and I 1566 – 1625
  52. Pope Gregory XIII 1502 – 1585
  53. Edward VI 1537 – 1553
  54. Louis XIII 1601 – 1643
  55. Torquato Tasso 1544 – 1595
  56. Hugo Grotius 1583 – 1645
  57. William Harvey 1578 – 1657
  58. Evangelista Torricelli 1608 – 1647
  59. Pieter Bruegel the Elder c. 1525 – 1569
  60. Pope Pius V 1504 – 1572
  61. Nicolas Poussin 1594 – 1665
  62. Catherine de' Medici 1519 – 1589
  63. Pope Urban VIII 1568 – 1644
  64. Francis Xavier 1506 – 1552
  65. Giorgio Vasari 1511 – 1574
  66. Pope Paul V 1552 – 1621
  67. Claudio Monteverdi 1567 – 1643
  68. Ben Jonson 1572 – 1637
  69. Miyamoto Musashi 1584 – 1645
  70. Hürrem Sultan c. 1507 – c. 1560
  71. Fuzuli c. 1488 – 1556
  72. Pope Pius IV 1499 – 1565
  73. Tintoretto 1519 – 1594
  74. Pope Leo XI 1535 – 1605
  75. Tokugawa Ieyasu 1543 – 1616
  76. Pope Innocent XI 1611 – 1689
  77. Andreas Vesalius 1514 – 1564
  78. Pope Clement VIII 1536 – 1605
  79. Pope Gregory XV 1554 – 1623
  80. Abbas the Great 1571 – 1629
  81. Gustavus Adolphus 1594 – 1632
  82. Anthony van Dyck 1599 – 1641
  83. Pope Julius III 1487 – 1555
  84. Pope Sixtus V 1521 – 1590
  85. Francisco de Quevedo 1584 – 1645
  86. Philip IV of Spain 1605 – 1665
  87. Pope Paul IV 1476 – 1559
  88. Pope Urban VII 1521 – 1590
  89. John of the Cross 1542 – 1591
  90. Jahangir 1569 – 1627
  91. Pope Innocent X 1574 – 1655
  92. Cardinal Mazarin 1602 – 1661
  93. Gerolamo Cardano 1501 – 1576
  94. Humayun 1508 – 1556
  95. William the Silent 1533 – 1584
  96. Francisco de Zurbarán c. 1598 – 1664
  97. Philipp Melanchthon 1497 – 1560
  98. Oda Nobunaga 1534 – 1582
  99. Pope Gregory XIV 1535 – 1591
  100. Lady Jane Grey 1537 – 1554
  101. Murad III 1546 – 1595
  102. Pope Clement X 1590 – 1676
  103. Gian Lorenzo Bernini 1598 – 1680
  104. Pope Alexander VII 1599 – 1667
  105. Pope Clement IX 1600 – 1669
  106. Pope Alexander VIII 1610 – 1691
  107. Pope Innocent XII 1615 – 1700
  108. Andrea Palladio 1508 – c. 1580
  109. Paolo Veronese 1528 – 1588
  110. Willem Barentsz c. 1551 – 1597
  111. Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor 1503 – 1564
  112. Selim II 1524 – 1574
  113. Toyotomi Hideyoshi 1537 – 1598
  114. Edmund Spenser c. 1553 – 1599
  115. Guy Fawkes c. 1570 – 1606
  116. Philip III of Spain 1578 – 1621
  117. Pierre de Ronsard 1524 – 1585
  118. Henry III of France 1551 – 1589
  119. Tommaso Campanella 1568 – 1639
  120. Pope Marcellus II 1501 – 1555
  121. Charles IX of France 1550 – 1574
  122. Pope Innocent IX 1519 – 1591
  123. Mehmed III 1566 – 1603
  124. Baltasar Gracián c. 1603 – 1658
  125. Osman II 1604 – 1622
  126. Tulsidas c. 1522 – 1623
  127. Gerardus Mercator 1512 – 1594
  128. Samuel de Champlain c. 1570 – 1635
  129. Francis de Sales 1567 – 1622
  130. Iskandar Muda 1583 – 1636
  131. Ahmed I 1590 – 1617
  132. Artemisia Gentileschi 1593 – 1653
  133. Murad IV 1612 – 1640
  134. Ibrahim of the Ottoman Empire 1615 – 1648
  135. Henry II of France 1519 – 1559
  136. Joanna of Castile 1479 – 1555
  137. Gustav Vasa 1496 – 1560
  138. William Gilbert 1544 – 1603
  139. Walter Raleigh c. 1552 – 1618
  140. Boris Godunov 1552 – 1605
  141. Mustafa I 1591 – 1639
  142. Michael of Russia 1596 – 1645
  143. Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor 1552 – 1612
  144. Sigismund III Vasa 1566 – 1632
  145. Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor 1578 – 1637
  146. Bartolomé de las Casas 1484 – 1566
  147. Francis II of France 1544 – 1560
  148. Étienne de La Boétie 1530 – 1563
  149. Margaret of Valois 1553 – 1615
  150. Mumtaz Mahal 1593 – 1631