Francesco Algarotti
Count Francesco Algarotti was an Italian polymath, philosopher, poet, essayist, anglophile, art critic and art collector. He was a man of broad knowledge, an expert in Newtonianism, architecture and opera. He was a friend of Frederick the Great and leading authors of his times: Voltaire, Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens, Pierre-Louis de Maupertuis and the atheist Julien Offray de La Mettrie. Lord Chesterfield, Thomas Gray, George Lyttelton, Thomas Hollis, Metastasio, Benedict XIV and Heinrich von Brühl were among his correspondents.
11 December 1712
Born on the same birth day (11 December): Carlos Gardel • Gilbert Roland • James Ellsworth (wrestler) • Justin Currie • Morrie Turner • Onyeka Okongwu • Yasiin Bey