Who Was Alive
William Penn
Peter Lely, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

William Penn

English entrepreneur and philosopher

Born 4–14 October 1644 (Julian calendar) · died 19–30 July 1718 (Julian calendar), aged 73

Who was alive at the same time as William Penn?

  1. Thomas Hobbes, 1588 – 1679
  2. René Descartes, 1596 – 1650
  3. Diego Velázquez, 1599 – 1660
  4. Rembrandt, 1606 – 1669
  5. Molière, 1622 – 1673
  6. Blaise Pascal, 1623 – 1662
  7. John Locke, 1632 – 1704
  8. Baruch Spinoza, 1632 – 1677
  9. Louis XIV, 1638 – 1715
  10. Isaac Newton, 1642 – 1727
  11. Matsuo Bashō, 1644 – 1694
  12. William Penn, 1644 – 1718
  13. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, 1646 – 1716
  14. Jonathan Swift, 1667 – 1745
  15. Peter the Great, 1672 – 1725
  16. Antonio Vivaldi, 1678 – 1741
  17. George Frideric Handel, 1685 – 1759
  18. Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685 – 1750
  19. Montesquieu, 1689 – 1755
  20. Voltaire, 1694 – 1778
  21. Benjamin Franklin, 1706 – 1790
  22. Leonhard Euler, 1707 – 1783
  23. Carl Linnaeus, 1707 – 1778
  24. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712 – 1778

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 Penn was born, Isaac Newton was 1, René Descartes was 48, Molière was 22, John Locke was 12 and Rembrandt was 38.

When William Penn died, Isaac Newton was 75, Johann Sebastian Bach was 33, Voltaire was 23, Jean-Jacques Rousseau was 6 and Benjamin Franklin was 12.

Born during William Penn’s lifetime: Johann Sebastian Bach, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Benjamin Franklin, Carl Linnaeus, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Leonhard Euler and Peter the Great.

Not quite contemporaries: George Washington was born about 14 years after William Penn died, Galileo Galilei died about 2 years before William Penn was born, Immanuel Kant was born about 6 years after William Penn died and Adam Smith was born about 5 years after William Penn died.

What happened in William Penn’s lifetime

Where William Penn’s contemporaries were born

William Penn 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 William Penn

The 150 best-known contemporaries

202 of the people we track were surely alive at the same time as William Penn. The 150 best known are listed here. See also everyone alive in 1681.

  1. Isaac Newton 1642 – 1727
  2. Johann Sebastian Bach 1685 – 1750
  3. Voltaire 1694 – 1778
  4. René Descartes 1596 – 1650
  5. Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712 – 1778
  6. Molière 1622 – 1673
  7. Benjamin Franklin 1706 – 1790
  8. Carl Linnaeus 1707 – 1778
  9. John Locke 1632 – 1704
  10. Rembrandt 1606 – 1669
  11. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz 1646 – 1716
  12. Matsuo Bashō 1644 – 1694
  13. Blaise Pascal 1623 – 1662
  14. Leonhard Euler 1707 – 1783
  15. Louis XIV 1638 – 1715
  16. Peter the Great 1672 – 1725
  17. Baruch Spinoza 1632 – 1677
  18. Antonio Vivaldi 1678 – 1741
  19. Diego Velázquez 1599 – 1660
  20. Jonathan Swift 1667 – 1745
  21. Montesquieu 1689 – 1755
  22. Thomas Hobbes 1588 – 1679
  23. George Frideric Handel 1685 – 1759
  24. David Hume 1711 – 1776
  25. John Milton 1608 – 1674
  26. Denis Diderot 1713 – 1784
  27. Jean de La Fontaine 1621 – 1695
  28. Daniel Defoe c. 1661 – 1731
  29. Samuel Johnson 1709 – 1784
  30. Oliver Cromwell 1599 – 1658
  31. Frederick the Great 1712 – 1786
  32. Alexander Pope 1688 – 1744
  33. Christiaan Huygens 1629 – 1695
  34. Jean Racine 1639 – 1699
  35. Johannes Vermeer 1632 – 1675
  36. Pierre de Fermat 1607 – 1665
  37. Robert Boyle 1627 – 1691
  38. Jean Le Rond d'Alembert 1717 – 1783
  39. Charles I of England 1600 – 1649
  40. George Berkeley 1685 – 1753
  41. Mikhail Lomonosov 1711 – 1765
  42. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 1632 – 1723
  43. Pierre Corneille 1606 – 1684
  44. Charles Perrault 1628 – 1703
  45. Pedro Calderón de la Barca 1600 – 1681
  46. Louis XV 1710 – 1774
  47. Maria Theresa 1717 – 1780
  48. Abel Tasman 1603 – 1659
  49. Robert Hooke 1635 – 1703
  50. Shah Jahan 1592 – 1666
  51. Edmond Halley 1656 – 1742
  52. Anders Celsius 1701 – 1744
  53. John Amos Comenius 1592 – 1670
  54. François de La Rochefoucauld 1613 – 1680
  55. Charles II of England 1630 – 1685
  56. John Dryden 1631 – 1700
  57. Aurangzeb 1618 – 1707
  58. Carlo Goldoni 1707 – 1793
  59. Hugo Grotius 1583 – 1645
  60. Anne, Queen of Great Britain 1665 – 1714
  61. William Harvey 1578 – 1657
  62. Evangelista Torricelli 1608 – 1647
  63. Nicolas Poussin 1594 – 1665
  64. Pope Benedict XIV 1675 – 1758
  65. Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon 1707 – 1788
  66. William III of England 1650 – 1702
  67. Robert Walpole 1676 – 1745
  68. Pope Pius VI 1717 – 1799
  69. James II of England 1633 – 1701
  70. Joseph Addison 1672 – 1719
  71. George II of Great Britain 1683 – 1760
  72. Daniel Bernoulli 1700 – 1782
  73. Miyamoto Musashi 1584 – 1645
  74. Emanuel Swedenborg 1688 – 1772
  75. Christina, Queen of Sweden 1626 – 1689
  76. Christopher Wren 1632 – 1723
  77. Pope Clement XII 1652 – 1740
  78. Pope Innocent XI 1611 – 1689
  79. Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux 1636 – 1711
  80. George I of Great Britain 1660 – 1727
  81. Elizabeth of Russia 1709 – 1762
  82. John III Sobieski 1629 – 1696
  83. Vitus Bering 1681 – 1741
  84. Francisco de Quevedo 1584 – 1645
  85. Philip IV of Spain 1605 – 1665
  86. John Bunyan 1628 – 1688
  87. Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit 1686 – 1736
  88. Pope Innocent X 1574 – 1655
  89. Cardinal Mazarin 1602 – 1661
  90. Charles II of Spain 1661 – 1700
  91. Pope Clement XIII 1693 – 1769
  92. William Hogarth 1697 – 1764
  93. Henry Fielding 1707 – 1754
  94. Francisco de Zurbarán c. 1598 – 1664
  95. Bartolomé Esteban Murillo 1617 – 1682
  96. Pope Benedict XIII 1649 – 1730
  97. Christoph Willibald Gluck 1714 – 1787
  98. Pope Clement X 1590 – 1676
  99. Gian Lorenzo Bernini 1598 – 1680
  100. Pope Alexander VII 1599 – 1667
  101. Pope Clement IX 1600 – 1669
  102. Pope Alexander VIII 1610 – 1691
  103. Pope Innocent XII 1615 – 1700
  104. Ole Rømer 1644 – 1710
  105. Pope Clement XI 1649 – 1721
  106. Pope Innocent XIII 1655 – 1724
  107. Mary II 1662 – 1694
  108. Giambattista Vico 1668 – 1744
  109. Charles XII of Sweden 1682 – 1718
  110. Philip V of Spain 1683 – 1746
  111. Catherine I of Russia 1684 – 1727
  112. Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor 1685 – 1740
  113. Nader Shah c. 1693 – 1747
  114. Pope Clement XIV 1705 – 1774
  115. Giovanni Domenico Cassini 1625 – 1712
  116. Jean de La Bruyère 1645 – 1696
  117. Jacob Bernoulli c. 1655 – 1705
  118. Laurence Sterne 1713 – 1768
  119. Maria Gaetana Agnesi 1718 – 1799
  120. Anna of Russia 1693 – 1740
  121. John Wesley 1703 – 1791
  122. Claude Adrien Helvétius 1715 – 1771
  123. Aphra Behn 1640 – 1689
  124. Baltasar Gracián c. 1603 – 1658
  125. Juana Inés de la Cruz 1651 – 1695
  126. Artemisia Gentileschi 1593 – 1653
  127. Ibrahim of the Ottoman Empire 1615 – 1648
  128. Johann Bernoulli 1667 – 1748
  129. Georg Philipp Telemann 1681 – 1767
  130. Peter II of Russia 1715 – 1730
  131. Charles III of Spain 1716 – 1788
  132. Alexis of Russia 1629 – 1676
  133. Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor 1640 – 1705
  134. Mehmed IV 1642 – 1693
  135. Maria Sibylla Merian 1647 – 1717
  136. Pierre Bayle 1647 – 1706
  137. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach 1714 – 1788
  138. Michael of Russia 1596 – 1645
  139. Suleiman II 1642 – 1691
  140. Ahmed III 1673 – 1736
  141. Guru Gobind Singh 1666 – 1708
  142. Canaletto 1697 – 1768
  143. Shivaji 1627 – 1680
  144. François Fénelon 1651 – 1715
  145. Jean-Philippe Rameau 1683 – 1764
  146. Antoine Watteau 1684 – 1721
  147. Bohdan Khmelnytsky 1595 – 1657
  148. Cyrano de Bergerac c. 1619 – 1655
  149. Jean-Baptiste Lully 1632 – 1687
  150. Prince Eugene of Savoy 1663 – 1736