May 17

Born in 1675, Clarke became a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and served as a royal chaplain. He is best known for his correspondence with Leibniz on the nature of space, time, and the existence of God. Clarke’s 1705 work ‘A Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God’ was influential in Enlightenment thought. His philosophical writings defended Newtonian physics and arguments for divine providence. As a clergyman, he preached widely and wrote on the relationship between faith and reason. He died in 1729, remembered as a leading figure in early 18th-century English philosophy.