Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philologist before turning to philosophy. He became the youngest person to hold the Chair of Classical Philology at the University of Basel in 1869 at the age of 24, but resigned in 1879 due to health problems that plagued him most of his life; he completed much of his core writing in the following decade. In 1889, at age 44, he suffered a collapse and afterward a complete loss of his mental faculties, with paralysis and probably vascular dementia. He lived his remaining years in the care of his mother until her death in 1897 and then with his sister Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche. Nietzsche died in 1900, after experiencing pneumonia and multiple strokes.

15 October 1844

Born on the same birth day (15 October): Agustina Bessa-Luís • Archibald Hoxsey • Asaph Hall • Bohemia (rapper) • Eric Benét • Jesse L. Greenstein • John Robertson (premier) • José Miguel Carrera • Preben Munthe • Todd Solondz • Will Insley

Born in the same month (October 1844): Ernest Myers (author) • Francis William Reitz • Gustave Schlumberger • Henry J. Heinz • John See • Klas Pontus Arnoldson • Louis Riel • Philip Wicksteed • Robert Bridges • Sarah Bernhardt • Sarah Bernhardt