Michel Foucault was born on 15 October 1926 in Poitiers. A French philosopher and historian of ideas, Foucault studied how power, knowledge and institutions shape society. His books, including Madness and Civilization, The Birth of the Clinic, Discipline and Punish and the multi-volume History of Sexuality, trace how prisons, hospitals, asylums and sciences have defined and controlled people. His concepts such as discourse, biopower and the archaeology of knowledge have influenced fields from sociology to literary theory. He held a chair at the Collège de France and was involved in political activism on prisons, and he died of an illness related to AIDS.
Before and after
- 19 June 1926Founding of NBC
- 13 August 1926Birth of Fidel Castro
- 17 August 1926Birth of Jiang Zemin
- 19 September 1926Construction of Giuseppe Meazza Stadium
- 15 October 1926Birth of Michel Foucault
- 18 October 1926Birth of Chuck Berry
- 5 November 1926Discovery of 32P/Comas Solà
- 19 November 1926Origins of Caodaism
- 5 December 1926Death of Claude Monet
More in Art, literature & culture
- 1918Shche ne vmerla Ukrainy i slava, i volia
- 1920Christ the Redeemer
- 1932Rise of socialist realism
- 21 September 1937Publication of The Hobbit
- c. 1940sRise of abstract expressionism
- 15 January 1943Construction of The Pentagon
The era
This moment belongs to the Modern era (1914 CE to 1945 CE), world wars and a changing world. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.