# data[].attributes.body
The Genoese navigator Christophe Columbus
( August 26/October 31, 1451 - May 20, 1506 at 54 years)

Colonizer and explorer whose voyages led to the discovery of the new continent.

By searching for a new route to the East Indies, he inaugurated a long period of European exploration towards the American continent

Columbus is now universally recognized as the first European who "discovered America", where he landed for the first time in the night of October 11 to 12, 1492

The discovery of the Caribbean marks the beginning of the colonization of America by Europeans and makes Columbus a major player in the great discoveries of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries

His first voyage is remembered by the historiography of Western civilization as the major event marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modern times

# data[].attributes.body
Cai Lun (蔡伦 Cài Lún), (c. 50 - 121) was a eunuch, a high official in the Chinese imperial court during the Eastern Han Dynasty. His social name was Jìngzhòng (敬仲). After a dazzling career in the imperial administration, he fell into disgrace and, covered with shame, was forced to commit suicide

In the year 105, this official of the imperial workshops presented a report on paper manufacturing. The success of this report created the "Cai Lun myth". He was considered from then on, and for many centuries, as the father of paper makers. A few decades after his death, however, some scholars disputed his authorship of this invention. Cai Lun would have improved the manufacture of paper but would not be the inventor. The misunderstanding would come from the absence of previous written sources and on the terminology of the word paper ("zhi"). This word would designate, in 105, a material previously known under another name, unknown today.

Cai Lun would have had the idea of making paper from tree bark, hemp, fishing nets and textile waste. This new medium was to replace silk while keeping the name "zhi", which was given to it when it was used for writing. The use of bamboo slats was also gradually replaced by paper.

During the later Han period, the same term (zhi) was used to refer to both paper and silk. It is said that the crown prince of Wei visited the sick emperor Wu hiding his nose behind a piece of "zhi" at the end of the 2nd century BC. Paper or silk? The mystery remains...

In 25 CE, the books of the imperial library are transferred to Luoyang, the new capital. They are declared written on silk (su), on bamboo slats and on zhi. We can therefore assume that at this date, "zhi" refers to paper, and not to silk.

# data[].attributes.body
One of the most important apostles of Christianity

He preached the teachings of Jesus in Palestine, Turkey, Asia Minor and Greece.

He is the author of the Epistles of Paul which will become part of the New Testament.

These "Pauline letters" are the oldest documents of Christianity.

# data[].attributes.body
Confucius (Philosopher, 551-479 BC)
Confucius quote
Confucius, a sage considered the first "educator" of China, is a Chinese philosopher born on September 28, 551 BC. His surname is Kong, his first name Qiu, and his social name Zhongni. He is generally called Kongzi by the Chinese, which means "Master Kong" and was Latinized into Confucius by the Jesuits. His teaching gave birth to Confucianism, which is a way of human development in order to be a "good man" and live in good harmony with his fellow human beings. The importance attached to rituals gives it the aspect of a religion. The main disciples of Confucius are called the twelve Philosophers and honored in Confucian temples. He died on April 11, 479 B.C. in Qufu in the present-day province of Shandong in China.

# data[].attributes.body
Born on December 25, 1642 according to the Julian calendar, but on January 4, 1643 if England had then followed our current count, English physicist, mathematician and astronomer (Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, 1642-London 1727).

A major figure in the history of science, Isaac Newton founded classical mechanics with his theory of universal attraction (→ gravitation). He also contributed to advances in optics and mathematical analysis, while devoting much time to theology and alchemy.