Nicolaus Copernicus
1473 – 1543 · 70 years · Frombork · Europe
Proposed the heliocentric model, placing the Sun rather than the Earth at the centre of the universe.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 15th century
Portrait: Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Contemporaries around the world
Europe
- Michelangelo — sculptor, painter and architect, 2 years younger
- Martin Luther — church reformer, 10 years younger
- Leonardo da Vinci — painter, scientist and inventor, 21 years older
- Elizabeth I — Queen of England, 60 years younger
- Henry VIII — king of six wives who broke with Rome and created the Church of England, 18 years younger
- Francis I — Renaissance king who brought Leonardo to France, 21 years younger
Eastern Europe & Russia
- Ivan the Terrible — first Tsar of Russia, 57 years younger
- Vasily III — grand prince who completed the unification of the Russian lands, 6 years younger
- Ivan III — Grand Prince of Moscow, 33 years older
- Yermak Timofeyevich — Cossack conqueror of Siberia, 59 years younger
- Sophia Palaiologina — Grand Princess of Moscow, 18 years older
Middle East
- Suleiman the Magnificent — Ottoman sultan, 21 years younger
- Selim I the Grim — sultan who took Cairo and Mecca, 3 years older
- Hurrem Sultan (Roxelana) — wife of Sultan Suleiman I, 32 years younger
- Selim II — sultan who took Cyprus and lost at Lepanto, 51 years younger
- Bayezid II — sultan who took in the Jews expelled from Spain, 26 years older
- Taqi ad-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf — Ottoman astronomer and engineer, 53 years younger
Africa
- Askia Muhammad I — Emperor of Songhai, 30 years older
- Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi — Adal imam and general, 33 years younger
Asia
- Guru Nanak — founder of Sikhism, 4 years older
- Vasco da Gama — navigator, 4 years older
- Babur — founder of the Mughal Empire, 10 years younger
- Ashikaga Yoshimasa — shogun of the Ōnin War and the Silver Pavilion, 37 years older
- Ashikaga Yoshitane — shogun who held office twice and was driven out twice, 7 years older
- Mirabai — mystic poet, 25 years younger
Americas
- Christopher Columbus — navigator, 22 years older
- Bartolomé de las Casas — friar and defender of Native Americans, 11 years younger
- Hernán Cortés — conquistador, 12 years younger
- Moctezuma II — Aztec emperor, 7 years older
- Ferdinand Magellan — navigator, 7 years younger
- Atahualpa — last Inca emperor, 29 years younger
The world in their lifetime
- 1478 Annexation of Novgorod by Moscow — aged 5, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1480 Great Stand on the Ugra River — aged 7, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1488 Dias rounds the Cape of Good Hope — aged 15, Africa
- 1492 Columbus reaches the Americas — aged 19, Americas
- 1492 Fall of Granada — aged 19, Europe
- 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas — aged 21, Europe
- 1498 Vasco da Gama reaches India — aged 25, Asia
- 1501 Founding of Safavid Iran — aged 28, Middle East
- 1508–1512 Sistine Chapel ceiling — aged 35, Europe
- 1511 Portuguese capture of Malacca — aged 38, Asia
- 1517 Luther's Ninety-five Theses — aged 44, Europe
- 1519–1522 Magellan's circumnavigation — aged 46, Americas
- 1520–1566 Reign of Suleiman the Magnificent — aged 47, Middle East
- 1521 Fall of Tenochtitlan — aged 48, Americas
- 1526 First Battle of Panipat — aged 53, Asia
- 1526 Battle of Mohács — aged 53, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1529–1543 Ahmad Gragn invades Ethiopia — aged 56, Africa
- 1532 Capture of Atahualpa at Cajamarca — aged 59, Americas
- 1534 Henry VIII breaks with Rome — aged 61, Europe
- 1542 Orellana sails down the Amazon — aged 69, Americas
- 1543 Copernicus publishes heliocentrism — aged 70, Europe