Who Was Alive
William Gilbert
Granger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

William Gilbert

English philosopher who served as President of the Royal College of Physicians

Born 24 May 1544 · died 30 November 1603, aged 59
Also known as William Gilberd, William Gilbert of Colchester, William Gylberde

Who was alive at the same time as William Gilbert?

  1. Michelangelo, 1475 – 1564
  2. Martin Luther, 1483 – 1546
  3. Hernán Cortés, 1485 – 1547
  4. Mimar Sinan, c. 1490 – 1588
  5. Jacques Cartier, 1491 – 1557
  6. François Rabelais, 1494 – 1553
  7. Suleiman the Magnificent, 1494 – 1566
  8. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, 1500 – 1558
  9. John Calvin, 1509 – 1564
  10. Michel de Montaigne, 1533 – 1592
  11. Elizabeth I, 1533 – 1603
  12. Akbar, 1542 – 1605
  13. William Gilbert, 1544 – 1603
  14. Miguel de Cervantes, c. 1547 – 1616
  15. Giordano Bruno, 1548 – 1600
  16. Francis Bacon, 1561 – 1626
  17. Lope de Vega, 1562 – 1635
  18. Galileo Galilei, 1564 – 1642
  19. William Shakespeare, 1564 – 1616
  20. Johannes Kepler, 1571 – 1630
  21. Peter Paul Rubens, 1577 – 1640
  22. Thomas Hobbes, 1588 – 1679
  23. René Descartes, 1596 – 1650
  24. Diego Velázquez, 1599 – 1660

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 William Gilbert was born, Michelangelo was 69, Martin Luther was 60, Elizabeth I was 10, Hernán Cortés was 58 or 59 and Akbar was 1.

When William Gilbert died, William Shakespeare was 39, Galileo Galilei was 39, René Descartes was 7, Francis Bacon was 42 and Johannes Kepler was 31.

Born during William Gilbert’s lifetime: William Shakespeare, Galileo Galilei, René Descartes, Miguel de Cervantes, Francis Bacon, Johannes Kepler, Peter Paul Rubens and Diego Velázquez.

Not quite contemporaries: Nicolaus Copernicus died about a year before William Gilbert was born, Rembrandt was born about 3 years after William Gilbert died, Erasmus died about 8 years before William Gilbert was born and John Milton was born about 5 years after William Gilbert died.

What happened in William Gilbert’s lifetime

Where William Gilbert’s contemporaries were born

William Gilbert is labelled; the others are the best-known people we track who lived at the same time. Each dot is a birthplace from Wikidata (78 of 81 placed); tap one to open that person.
Birthplaces as a list

Compare William Gilbert

The 150 best-known contemporaries

175 of the people we track were surely alive at the same time as William Gilbert. The 150 best known are listed here. See also everyone alive in 1574.

  1. William Shakespeare 1564 – 1616
  2. Galileo Galilei 1564 – 1642
  3. Michelangelo 1475 – 1564
  4. Martin Luther 1483 – 1546
  5. René Descartes 1596 – 1650
  6. Miguel de Cervantes c. 1547 – 1616
  7. Elizabeth I 1533 – 1603
  8. Francis Bacon 1561 – 1626
  9. Johannes Kepler 1571 – 1630
  10. Peter Paul Rubens 1577 – 1640
  11. Hernán Cortés 1485 – 1547
  12. Akbar 1542 – 1605
  13. Diego Velázquez 1599 – 1660
  14. Jacques Cartier 1491 – 1557
  15. Thomas Hobbes 1588 – 1679
  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. Henry VIII 1491 – 1547
  29. Ivan the Terrible 1530 – 1584
  30. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina 1525 – 1594
  31. Caravaggio 1571 – 1610
  32. El Greco 1541 – 1614
  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. Pedro Calderón de la Barca 1600 – 1681
  40. Ignatius of Loyola c. 1491 – 1556
  41. Cardinal Richelieu 1585 – 1642
  42. Henry IV of France 1553 – 1610
  43. Mary I 1516 – 1558
  44. Christopher Marlowe c. 1564 – 1593
  45. John Donne 1572 – 1631
  46. Shah Jahan 1592 – 1666
  47. John Amos Comenius 1592 – 1670
  48. James VI and I 1566 – 1625
  49. Pope Gregory XIII 1502 – 1585
  50. Edward VI 1537 – 1553
  51. Louis XIII 1601 – 1643
  52. Torquato Tasso 1544 – 1595
  53. Hugo Grotius 1583 – 1645
  54. Pope Paul III 1468 – 1549
  55. William Harvey 1578 – 1657
  56. Francis I of France 1494 – 1547
  57. Pieter Bruegel the Elder c. 1525 – 1569
  58. Pope Pius V 1504 – 1572
  59. Nicolas Poussin 1594 – 1665
  60. Catherine de' Medici 1519 – 1589
  61. Pope Urban VIII 1568 – 1644
  62. Francis Xavier 1506 – 1552
  63. Giorgio Vasari 1511 – 1574
  64. Pope Paul V 1552 – 1621
  65. Claudio Monteverdi 1567 – 1643
  66. Ben Jonson 1572 – 1637
  67. Miyamoto Musashi 1584 – 1645
  68. Hürrem Sultan c. 1507 – c. 1560
  69. Fuzuli c. 1488 – 1556
  70. Pope Pius IV 1499 – 1565
  71. Tintoretto 1519 – 1594
  72. Pope Leo XI 1535 – 1605
  73. Tokugawa Ieyasu 1543 – 1616
  74. John Napier 1550 – 1617
  75. Andreas Vesalius 1514 – 1564
  76. Pope Clement VIII 1536 – 1605
  77. Pope Gregory XV 1554 – 1623
  78. Abbas the Great 1571 – 1629
  79. Gustavus Adolphus 1594 – 1632
  80. Anthony van Dyck 1599 – 1641
  81. Pope Julius III 1487 – 1555
  82. Pope Sixtus V 1521 – 1590
  83. Francisco de Quevedo 1584 – 1645
  84. Pope Paul IV 1476 – 1559
  85. Pope Urban VII 1521 – 1590
  86. John of the Cross 1542 – 1591
  87. Jahangir 1569 – 1627
  88. Pope Innocent X 1574 – 1655
  89. Cardinal Mazarin 1602 – 1661
  90. Gerolamo Cardano 1501 – 1576
  91. Humayun 1508 – 1556
  92. William the Silent 1533 – 1584
  93. Francisco de Zurbarán c. 1598 – 1664
  94. Philipp Melanchthon 1497 – 1560
  95. Oda Nobunaga 1534 – 1582
  96. Pope Gregory XIV 1535 – 1591
  97. Lady Jane Grey 1537 – 1554
  98. Murad III 1546 – 1595
  99. Pope Clement X 1590 – 1676
  100. Gian Lorenzo Bernini 1598 – 1680
  101. Pope Alexander VII 1599 – 1667
  102. Pope Clement IX 1600 – 1669
  103. Andrea Palladio 1508 – c. 1580
  104. Paolo Veronese 1528 – 1588
  105. Willem Barentsz c. 1551 – 1597
  106. Hayreddin Barbarossa c. 1478 – 1546
  107. Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor 1503 – 1564
  108. Selim II 1524 – 1574
  109. Toyotomi Hideyoshi 1537 – 1598
  110. Edmund Spenser c. 1553 – 1599
  111. Guy Fawkes c. 1570 – 1606
  112. Philip III of Spain 1578 – 1621
  113. Pierre de Ronsard 1524 – 1585
  114. Henry III of France 1551 – 1589
  115. Tommaso Campanella 1568 – 1639
  116. Pope Marcellus II 1501 – 1555
  117. Charles IX of France 1550 – 1574
  118. Pope Innocent IX 1519 – 1591
  119. Mehmed III 1566 – 1603
  120. Tulsidas c. 1522 – 1623
  121. Gerardus Mercator 1512 – 1594
  122. Samuel de Champlain c. 1570 – 1635
  123. Francis de Sales 1567 – 1622
  124. Iskandar Muda 1583 – 1636
  125. Ahmed I 1590 – 1617
  126. Artemisia Gentileschi 1593 – 1653
  127. Henry II of France 1519 – 1559
  128. Joanna of Castile 1479 – 1555
  129. Gustav Vasa 1496 – 1560
  130. Walter Raleigh c. 1552 – 1618
  131. Boris Godunov 1552 – 1605
  132. Mustafa I 1591 – 1639
  133. Michael of Russia 1596 – 1645
  134. Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor 1552 – 1612
  135. Sigismund III Vasa 1566 – 1632
  136. Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor 1578 – 1637
  137. Bartolomé de las Casas 1484 – 1566
  138. Francis II of France 1544 – 1560
  139. Étienne de La Boétie 1530 – 1563
  140. Margaret of Valois 1553 – 1615
  141. Mumtaz Mahal 1593 – 1631
  142. Bohdan Khmelnytsky 1595 – 1657
  143. Marguerite de Navarre 1492 – 1549
  144. John Knox c. 1514 – 1572
  145. Frans Hals 1580s – 1666
  146. Jusepe de Ribera 1591 – 1652
  147. Michael Servetus 1511 – 1553
  148. François Viète 1540 – 1603
  149. Marie de' Medici 1575 – 1642
  150. Benvenuto Cellini 1500 – 1571