Lucretius
~99–55 BCE · Roman · Late Roman Republic
Known for: Wrote De Rerum Natura — the poem that explained atoms, evolution, and the meaninglessness of death 2,000 years early
Titus Lucretius Carus wrote De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things), a philosophical poem explaining Epicurean physics and philosophy. The poem describes atoms, the void, the mortality of the soul, the origin of civilization, and the formation of worlds — anticipating modern science by millennia.
The poem was lost for centuries and rediscovered in 1417 by Poggio Bracciolini — an event that Stephen Greenblatt argues in The Swerve helped launch the Renaissance.
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