The Temple of Athena Nike at Acropolis, Athens. Built around 420 BC, excavated in the 1830s. Painting from 1877 by Carl Werner

In the year 1687, the French explorer Robert Cavelier is murdered by a crew member while searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River (Mar 19), Isaac Newton’s Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica is published in London, and becomes the foundation of modern physics (Jul 11), Venetian forces besiege the Ottoman garrison in the Acropolis of Athens whereupon the Temple of Athena Nike is demolished (Sep 23) and half the Parthenon destroyed when a cannon ball hits a powder magazine (Sep 16) - and all these fine people were born:

1687-xxxx Marketta Mikontytär Saukko** (b Saukkojärvi) mother of Mikko Eliaanpoika Saukko - Alavus, Sweden-Finland (1758/71)

1687-0127 Balthasar Neumann* German architect/ military artillery engineer - Eger, Bohemia, Holy Roman Empire (1753/66)

1687-0201 Johann Adam Birkenstock* German composer/violinist – Alsfeld, Hessen, Holy Roman Empire (1733/46)

1687-0422 Mikael Hising* wealthy businessman/also active in Finland - Köping, Sweden (1756/69)

1687-0512 Johann Heinrich Schulze* polymath/ best known for his discovery that the darkening in sunlight of various substances mixed with silver nitrate is due to the light, not the heat - Colbitz, Duchy of Magdeburg, Holy Roman Empire (1744/57)

1687-0624 Johann Albrecht Bengel* clergyman/ Greek-language scholar - Winnenden, Württemberg, Holy Roman Empire (1752/65)

1687-0917 Durastante Natalucci* Italian historian - Picicche di Trevi (1772/84)

1687-1004 Robert Simson* mathematician - West Kilbride, Ayrshire, Scotland (1768/80)
1687-1005 Maria Maddalena Martinengo* beatified nun - Brescia, Duchy of Milan (1737/49)

1687-1107 William Stukeley* antiquarian/clergyman – Holbeach, Lincolnshire, England (1765/77)

1687-1205 Francesco Geminiani (B) Italian violinist/composer - Lucca, Republic of Lucca (1762/74)

Updated 17.4.2023-1
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